Questions and Answers

Is God Responsible For The Innocent That Die In Wars?
By Adam Bartlett

It is an unfortunate reality in the history of mankind that wars have caused the deaths of millions upon millions of innocent people including children. This is most certainly among one of the top things that are hard to understand in human existence. Not only questions of "why" does this happen but the incomprehensible loss of innocent lives. I believe to get any level of understanding about this situation we must first understand the principles of how the spiritual realities play into it.

It is undeniable that man is a finite being in the flesh but we also have a spiritual composition as well. It is in this spiritual atmosphere that we learn more about what causes humans to do the things they do. According to the Bible we are made up of Body, Soul and Spirit.

1 Thessalonians 5
23: And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the "spiritual" realm, which we cannot see there is a battle going on for our souls. The enemy has but one objective and that is to destroy every human being.

John 10
10: The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

The enemy's goal is to destroy us any way possible and one way he accomplishes this is to cause man to fight against man. He can accomplish his goal on a large scale by creating wars among mankind. Man has the freedom to choose to follow God or to deny Him and follow their own pursuits in life. This freedom in many cases affects more than just the individual involved. It affects family, friends, and basically anyone that deals with this person during their life. I would like to break it down ever further by show you an example from Scripture.

Ephesians 6
12: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

2 Corinthians 10
3: For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
4: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5: Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;


James 1
13: Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
14: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
15: Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.


I would like to try to explain the connection with these three scriptures. We must first understand the concept that there is a real spiritual enemy out there that has only one goal and that is to destroy every human being. Now, how does he accomplish this? Everything we do is based on our human senses. We function by our three basic functions of intellectual activity, what we hear, what we say, and what we see. The enemy wants to pervert these senses and cause us to act in the way he wants. Since we are born into a sinful flesh body we are bound to it's impulses until we are born again.

The enemy places a thought in our mind either by what we see or what we hear. We then have two options; one, if this thing is pleasing to God then we can proceed with it. If it is not then we have to take that thought into captivity unto Christ. How do we do that? People respond to things differently. Some can pray and say, "Lord, I do not want that thought in my mind, please take it from me." Some may sing praise or worship songs to get their mind on spiritual things. Whatever works for each individual is what is important. The main goal is to get that thought out of your mind as quickly as possible.

The longer it lingers in your mind the more susceptible you are to its influences. Now, keep in mind that we have power through the Holy Spirit to take control over these thoughts. Those that are not born again are without that power and they have to make those decisions about those thoughts based on their own strength and morality. Keep in mind also that these thoughts are occurring non stop every minute of every day.

Here is the basic concept of what I have just said. You will receive a thought and then you must decide if this thought is acceptable or not. If it is not then you must act on it to stop it. If you do not stop it then you keep thinking on it and sooner or later you act on it. When you act on it you have then committed to that thought and its originator. My point is this; if you continually give consent to the evil thoughts implanted by the enemy then you eventually become controlled by him. This is how people can do unthinkable things against humanity without remorse.

Now place this on a larger scale and it is easy to see how wars originate and how there can be total disregard for innocent lives in the process. Now the question of why does God allow this and why. The Bible tells us that God is not a respecter of persons and that He will not protect even His followers from persecution, trials, and tribulation.

Matthew 5
45: That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Acts 10
34: Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

Ephesians 2
2: Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

Summary

From what we know in scriptures and many instances in the Old Testament examples we know that God does "Allow" these things to happen. Does that mean He causes them or is responsible? No. God allows a way out of every situation and circumstance but He does give us the freedom to choose which path we will take. Unfortunately there are many times in which innocent people are affected by our choices. Knowing that the enemy seeks to only destroy humans in any way possible we have to understand what to look for. It is really a matter of spiritual warfare upon human existence in which we have been given a choice to choose sides.

God does know all things and obviously He could intervene in all situations and cause all innocent people to be protected and all evil actions to cease. If that were to happen though, then were would be our freedom to choose? We would be robots with no ability to make a decision and in that sense serve out of compulsion and not genuine love. It is also an evidence of the spiritual reality when we see the results of the constant battle between good and evil played out everyday in the world. There is no excuse for denying the reality of the spiritual battle that rages among us each day. It would be really hard to believe in an afterlife or spiritual entities without the reality of what we see through our daily experiences.

The only consolation available is that we know God is Just and Righteous and even those innocent people that are killed because of sinful man will be judged by God's rule and not our understanding. Even at best our understanding of matters like this are blurred, but we can only keep our eyes on the prize ahead and rely on God to show us in the end the answers to our many questions.

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