Storyline Part 2

Sunday night we started out moving from the perfection of original creation to the brokenness of the current world that we see all around us. If God made everything and it was perfect, what happened? We then looked at Genesis 3 for the answer to this question.

Each week at Storyline, we have a box in the back where people can write down questions that they have and we'll take some time the following week to answer them. This week's question is one I think we all will wrestle with at some point.

- Why did God allow sin to happen and why did he not create people without the ability to sin right up front?

The short answer to this is "The Bible doesn't give us an answer." But that doesn't give us much help as we try and understand what is going on. It does give us some clues and insights into some possibilities though. In relation to how sin began in Satan, John Piper says "We are not given the final answer of how the origin of sin in the soul of a holy being takes place. But neither are we left to wonder if God was surprised or if he had to revamp all his plans." One thing is for sure. God is not surprised by anything. If he was, he couldn't be God.

Some say that God allowed these things to happen because he wanted us to love him and love is not forced. God wanted us to have the opportunity to choose good over evil and that is the reason.  Billy Graham has a great article explaining this thought.

Others say that God allowed these things to happen so that ultimately the defeat of Satan would show Christ as the ultimate beauty and good. By triumphing over Satan and all that he has done, Christ is supremely glorified over all creation. Desiring God has a great article explaining this.

While we will never get an exact answer to this question, we can know for certain than God is ultimately making everything right again, through Jesus, for his glory.

Grace and Peace

Starting off

Things all across the world are falling apart.  Whether it’s fighting in the Middle East, the Ukraine, or Mexico, we are reminded constantly of the brokenness of this world. And it’s not just in far off lands. The local news is repeatedly bombarding us with stories of struggle and strife here at home. If you’re anything like me, you’ve wondered constantly if there is any solution to this mess or if there is way that it will all get better.

Throughout history, people have looked to the Bible for answers to these problems. But in our current times, there are conflicting messages about what the Bible teaches. On Sunday nights, we are going to be gathering together with folks from different backgrounds to see exactly what God is sharing with us in His story. We will gather together to look at the big picture of what the Bible teaches and see how that intersects with our current world. This will not be a time where we just sit and listen to someone talk to us about what the Bible says, instead it will be a conversation where we can ask questions and really wrestle with the things that the Bible teaches. We will be gathering in the Gym of the Family Ministries Center here at Mount Carmel at 6:00 pm. There will be free child care for your children so feel free to bring them along as well.