6. WHY IS THERE STILL EVIL? |
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Have you ever felt like you couldn't get your life together? That you weren't able to do the good things that you wanted to and the things you wanted to avoid, you ended up doing? Why is it easier to quit a diet than to keep it going? Is there something in us that wars against our good resolutions? Let's look at two stories that seem to answer these very questions.
Ali and Burcu waited a long time to have a baby. They wanted to make sure that everything would be perfect. After they had worked a while, saved enough money, and felt their jobs were secure they decided the time was right. During the pregnancy they went to the doctor regularly, bought the baby furniture, and painted the apartment. They had made all the preparations and not a moment to soon because the baby was born a week earlier than expected. They knew it was going to be a boy and had already given him the name Zafer.
The first year wasn’t too hard. Zafer needed to be fed, dressed, and his diaper changed. He slept well at night and when he woke up Burcu would wrap him tightly, lay him in her legs, and rock him back and forth. Even though everyone called him ugly and dirty, they all knew he was cute. He did all the normal things that babies do, he started to sit up, crawl, stand, and eventually walk. As far as they were concerned, Zafer was the best baby in the world and they didn’t think there would be any problems.
As Zafer approached 18 months, the doctor told them what to expect. He would start to get a character of his own, communicate his needs more clearly, and maybe even need some punishment. As they left the office, they spoke to one another.
“Zafer won't ever give us any problems! Our son is perfect and he's always behaving well.” Ali resounded.
But Burcu felt a little differently. Ali was always at work and she was the one who was with him a majority of the time. One day when she was in the salon, she told Zafer to not play with the DVD player and moved him to another part of the room. Zafer got up, walked over to the DVD player, stopped, looked at his mother, and then started touching it. She didn’t understand how he could blatantly disobey her. She tried it again and he did the same thing. It was only after she bribed him with a toy that he stopped. And it broke her heart when the disobedience got worse. He would nod his head no when she wanted him to do something, he would scream when he didn’t get his way or hit her, and when she asked him to come to her he would run in the opposite direction. Burcu knew it wasn’t a matter of not understanding because if she had a new toy or candy in her hand when she called him, he would come right away. It wasn’t long before Ali started noticing the same things. They were shocked and didn’t understand how their cute little boy, whom they showered with love and affection, could act this way. He showed no appreciation for all that they had done and it was as if he wanted to be the ruler of the house!
It is very interesting that over 4000 years ago, the prophet Noah witnessed the same thing.
After Noah and his sons left the ark, the Bible says that Ham, Shem, and Japheth had children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. As the earth’s population grew, surely the descendants of Noah and his sons would learn a lesson from the flood. They would look to their ancestor Noah and long to be just like him, the man who was called righteous by God. They would avoid the sinful behaviors that destroyed those who lived before the flood and follow God’s commandments. If they worked hard enough, maybe the earth could be even better than before. But, as we continue to read the Biblical account we will see that wasn’t the case.
In Genesis 10:8, we read that Cush (a son of Ham) had a son named Nimrod. He was the rst on the Earth to be considered a mighty man, a hunter before the Lord. Interestingly, Nimrod’s name means rebel and his actions show that the object of his rebellion was God. Remember, God told Noah and his sons to spread out and repopulate the Earth. But Nimrod, instead of encouraging people to spread out began building cities for them to dwell in. It says in Genesis 10:10 that the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh which were all in the Land of Shinar. These cities were in the area of modern day Iraq. In verse 11, we also learn that he built other cities. You can’t have a kingdom without a king, so who do you think the king of those cities was? You got it, Nimrod!
Let's continue the story in Genesis chapter 11 verses 1-4:
1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in
the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.
What do these verses reveal to us? At that time, there was only one language on the whole earth, but more importantly the sons of man (i.e., those who didn’t follow God) wanted to build a city and tower for two reasons. They wanted to make a name for themselves and they didn’t want to be dispersed over the whole earth. Does it sound like these people wanted to follow God’s command to spread out? Oddly enough it had only been 71 years since God destroyed the earth with a flood and gave humanity a second chance through Noah and his sons. But within two generations they were already ignoring God. But no matter how hard you try, God is and he can’t be ignored. We can continue by reading verses 5-7:
5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the LORD said, Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.
Once again we see God personally involved with the events of this planet. The Bible says he came down to see this city and tower and was displeased. He, who knows the beginning from the end, saw what the sons of man were up to. If they continued down this path, they would be worse than before. They would accomplish everything they set their hearts to. And God already knew not only what they would do, but also what drove them to do those things. He knew that the sons of man were no different than those who lived before the flood and the result of their godless lives would only produce wickedness, violence, perversion, and lawlessness. In other words, they would do that which was in their nature. Let’s see what God did in verses 8 and 9:
8 So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
The sons of man needed to be stopped. God had already made a promise to not destroy the Earth with a flood, so he took away the very thing that enabled them to work together, the ability to communicate. As the order for more bricks descended from the highest floors, confusion set in. The Bible doesn’t give any details of what it must have been like for the workers, but we can take a guess. It was probably like trying to pass a message to your friend on the other side of the stadium during a Fenerbahçe match. After a couple of tries, you just give up. As the people laid down their tools and listened to the foreign languages echoing through the city streets, they probably gathered with the ones they could understand and made a plan to leave. Regardless of whether they wanted to or not, the Bible says they began to disperse. Perhaps the following story can give us better insight as to what these verses are telling us.
One day, a scorpion looked around and decided that he wanted a change. So he set out on a journey through the forests and hills. He climbed over rocks and under vines until he reached a river. The river was wide and swift, and the scorpion couldn't see any way across. So he ran upriver and then checked downriver, all the while thinking that he might have to turn back. Suddenly, he saw a frog sitting in the rushes on the bank of the stream. He decided to ask the frog for help getting across the stream.
"Hello Mr. Frog!" called the scorpion across the water, "Would you be so kind as to give me a ride on your back across the river?"
"Well now, Mr. Scorpion! How do I know that if I help you, you won’t try to kill me?" asked the frog hesitantly.
"Because," the scorpion replied, "If I try to kill you, then I would die too. Everyone knows that scorpions can't swim!"
Now this seemed to make sense to the frog. But he asked. "What about when I get close to the bank? You could still try to kill
me and get back to the shore!"
"This is true," agreed the scorpion, "But then I wouldn't be able to get to the other side of the river!"
"Alright then...how do I know you won’t wait until we get to the other side and then kill me?" said the frog.
"Ahh..." crooned the scorpion, "Because you see, once you've taken me to the other side of this river, I will be so grateful for your help, that it would hardly be fair to reward you with death, now would it?"
So the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. He swam over to the bank and settled himself near the mud to pick up his passenger. The scorpion crawled onto the frog's back and the frog slid into the river. The muddy water swirled around them, but the frog stayed near the surface so the scorpion would not drown. He kicked strongly through the first half of the stream, his flippers paddling wildly against the current.
Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog's back. A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs.
"You fool!" croaked the frog, "Now we will both die! Why on earth did you do that?"
As they began to sink, the scorpion shrugged and said, “I couldn’t help myself, it’s my nature.”
One would think that righteous children would come from a righteous man. And one would think that those children would know how to act and obey God. Instead, the grandchildren of Noah were no better than the people who drowned in the ood only 71 years earlier. They too had a seed of rebellion. We know that Noah, his sons, and all the animals and birds were on the ark. But it seems that there was something else, an inclination towards selfishness, pride, vanity, and rebellion. A lust for all that is not of God and a displeasure for that which is. After 4000 more years, has anything changed? There was another question we asked and we will ask it again. Is this an aspect of our fate that can't be changed? Of course to nd the answer we will need to continue searching.
Discussion Questions
Ali and Burcu waited a long time to have a baby. They wanted to make sure that everything would be perfect. After they had worked a while, saved enough money, and felt their jobs were secure they decided the time was right. During the pregnancy they went to the doctor regularly, bought the baby furniture, and painted the apartment. They had made all the preparations and not a moment to soon because the baby was born a week earlier than expected. They knew it was going to be a boy and had already given him the name Zafer.
The first year wasn’t too hard. Zafer needed to be fed, dressed, and his diaper changed. He slept well at night and when he woke up Burcu would wrap him tightly, lay him in her legs, and rock him back and forth. Even though everyone called him ugly and dirty, they all knew he was cute. He did all the normal things that babies do, he started to sit up, crawl, stand, and eventually walk. As far as they were concerned, Zafer was the best baby in the world and they didn’t think there would be any problems.
As Zafer approached 18 months, the doctor told them what to expect. He would start to get a character of his own, communicate his needs more clearly, and maybe even need some punishment. As they left the office, they spoke to one another.
“Zafer won't ever give us any problems! Our son is perfect and he's always behaving well.” Ali resounded.
But Burcu felt a little differently. Ali was always at work and she was the one who was with him a majority of the time. One day when she was in the salon, she told Zafer to not play with the DVD player and moved him to another part of the room. Zafer got up, walked over to the DVD player, stopped, looked at his mother, and then started touching it. She didn’t understand how he could blatantly disobey her. She tried it again and he did the same thing. It was only after she bribed him with a toy that he stopped. And it broke her heart when the disobedience got worse. He would nod his head no when she wanted him to do something, he would scream when he didn’t get his way or hit her, and when she asked him to come to her he would run in the opposite direction. Burcu knew it wasn’t a matter of not understanding because if she had a new toy or candy in her hand when she called him, he would come right away. It wasn’t long before Ali started noticing the same things. They were shocked and didn’t understand how their cute little boy, whom they showered with love and affection, could act this way. He showed no appreciation for all that they had done and it was as if he wanted to be the ruler of the house!
It is very interesting that over 4000 years ago, the prophet Noah witnessed the same thing.
After Noah and his sons left the ark, the Bible says that Ham, Shem, and Japheth had children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. As the earth’s population grew, surely the descendants of Noah and his sons would learn a lesson from the flood. They would look to their ancestor Noah and long to be just like him, the man who was called righteous by God. They would avoid the sinful behaviors that destroyed those who lived before the flood and follow God’s commandments. If they worked hard enough, maybe the earth could be even better than before. But, as we continue to read the Biblical account we will see that wasn’t the case.
In Genesis 10:8, we read that Cush (a son of Ham) had a son named Nimrod. He was the rst on the Earth to be considered a mighty man, a hunter before the Lord. Interestingly, Nimrod’s name means rebel and his actions show that the object of his rebellion was God. Remember, God told Noah and his sons to spread out and repopulate the Earth. But Nimrod, instead of encouraging people to spread out began building cities for them to dwell in. It says in Genesis 10:10 that the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh which were all in the Land of Shinar. These cities were in the area of modern day Iraq. In verse 11, we also learn that he built other cities. You can’t have a kingdom without a king, so who do you think the king of those cities was? You got it, Nimrod!
Let's continue the story in Genesis chapter 11 verses 1-4:
1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in
the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.
What do these verses reveal to us? At that time, there was only one language on the whole earth, but more importantly the sons of man (i.e., those who didn’t follow God) wanted to build a city and tower for two reasons. They wanted to make a name for themselves and they didn’t want to be dispersed over the whole earth. Does it sound like these people wanted to follow God’s command to spread out? Oddly enough it had only been 71 years since God destroyed the earth with a flood and gave humanity a second chance through Noah and his sons. But within two generations they were already ignoring God. But no matter how hard you try, God is and he can’t be ignored. We can continue by reading verses 5-7:
5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the LORD said, Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.
Once again we see God personally involved with the events of this planet. The Bible says he came down to see this city and tower and was displeased. He, who knows the beginning from the end, saw what the sons of man were up to. If they continued down this path, they would be worse than before. They would accomplish everything they set their hearts to. And God already knew not only what they would do, but also what drove them to do those things. He knew that the sons of man were no different than those who lived before the flood and the result of their godless lives would only produce wickedness, violence, perversion, and lawlessness. In other words, they would do that which was in their nature. Let’s see what God did in verses 8 and 9:
8 So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
The sons of man needed to be stopped. God had already made a promise to not destroy the Earth with a flood, so he took away the very thing that enabled them to work together, the ability to communicate. As the order for more bricks descended from the highest floors, confusion set in. The Bible doesn’t give any details of what it must have been like for the workers, but we can take a guess. It was probably like trying to pass a message to your friend on the other side of the stadium during a Fenerbahçe match. After a couple of tries, you just give up. As the people laid down their tools and listened to the foreign languages echoing through the city streets, they probably gathered with the ones they could understand and made a plan to leave. Regardless of whether they wanted to or not, the Bible says they began to disperse. Perhaps the following story can give us better insight as to what these verses are telling us.
One day, a scorpion looked around and decided that he wanted a change. So he set out on a journey through the forests and hills. He climbed over rocks and under vines until he reached a river. The river was wide and swift, and the scorpion couldn't see any way across. So he ran upriver and then checked downriver, all the while thinking that he might have to turn back. Suddenly, he saw a frog sitting in the rushes on the bank of the stream. He decided to ask the frog for help getting across the stream.
"Hello Mr. Frog!" called the scorpion across the water, "Would you be so kind as to give me a ride on your back across the river?"
"Well now, Mr. Scorpion! How do I know that if I help you, you won’t try to kill me?" asked the frog hesitantly.
"Because," the scorpion replied, "If I try to kill you, then I would die too. Everyone knows that scorpions can't swim!"
Now this seemed to make sense to the frog. But he asked. "What about when I get close to the bank? You could still try to kill
me and get back to the shore!"
"This is true," agreed the scorpion, "But then I wouldn't be able to get to the other side of the river!"
"Alright then...how do I know you won’t wait until we get to the other side and then kill me?" said the frog.
"Ahh..." crooned the scorpion, "Because you see, once you've taken me to the other side of this river, I will be so grateful for your help, that it would hardly be fair to reward you with death, now would it?"
So the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. He swam over to the bank and settled himself near the mud to pick up his passenger. The scorpion crawled onto the frog's back and the frog slid into the river. The muddy water swirled around them, but the frog stayed near the surface so the scorpion would not drown. He kicked strongly through the first half of the stream, his flippers paddling wildly against the current.
Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog's back. A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs.
"You fool!" croaked the frog, "Now we will both die! Why on earth did you do that?"
As they began to sink, the scorpion shrugged and said, “I couldn’t help myself, it’s my nature.”
One would think that righteous children would come from a righteous man. And one would think that those children would know how to act and obey God. Instead, the grandchildren of Noah were no better than the people who drowned in the ood only 71 years earlier. They too had a seed of rebellion. We know that Noah, his sons, and all the animals and birds were on the ark. But it seems that there was something else, an inclination towards selfishness, pride, vanity, and rebellion. A lust for all that is not of God and a displeasure for that which is. After 4000 more years, has anything changed? There was another question we asked and we will ask it again. Is this an aspect of our fate that can't be changed? Of course to nd the answer we will need to continue searching.
Discussion Questions
- Why do children disobey their parents?
- Why do people disobey God?
- The flood cleaned the earth of evil people, but it seems evil was still around. How did it resurface and where was it hidding?
- If everything that we do is rooted in selfishness, pride, and vanity, how can we ever please God?
- Günümüzde birisi bize Allah'ın buyruklarını yerine getirmek yerine kendi isteklerimizin ardından gitmemizi söylerse, ne yapmalıyız?