Questions & Answers

I am thankful that you have the opportunity to speak with this gentleman who is questioning God's goodness and apparently wrestling with a burdened conscience as well. Your brief description of his questions may well indicate that he has not been served with law and gospel in an adequate way and he could use help in trusting God's goodness above and beyond God's use of sinful actions (like war and hatred) in this world.

I would begin by focusing primarily on the reality and universality of human sin and God's ultimate solution to human guilt through Jesus Christ and his saving work for us all. This is not a direct answer to the question of participating in war as a soldier nor the reality that God allows "innocent" civilians to suffer during wartime, but it sets a foundation that will be needed to allow this gentleman to trust God's promises and divine wisdom in ruling the world. If we do not trust God as our Savior from sin and guilt, we will not trust his promises that he allows sin and wicked deeds to take place and then uses them for good purposes (that go beyond our ability to understand fully.)

While the Bible records many examples of war, violent deaths, civilian casualties, and military high and low points—and all of these may be useful to help demonstrate how God works providentially in this world, the quickest answer is perhaps simply to say this:

1. When you serve as a faithful soldier representing your country in a just war (with a just cause, appropriate means, etc.), God only asks that you obey the civil authorities. See Romans 13:1-7. So if this man's conscience is troubling him about serving as a soldier, this might help. (But he still needs to focus on Christ regardless).
2. When it comes to wicked and most unpleasant deeds, God may at any time 1) forbid or prevent them, 2) allow them to take place (giving means and opportunity but not sinful motive), and if he allows them, 3) limit and direct them for his broader purposes for everyone involved, and 4) use them for the ultimate good of his dear people (believers) and to serve his ultimate glory. In doing all of this he acts in ways that may make no sense to us at the time. Remember the day we call "Good Friday." For a time it appeared to believers as horrible, unacceptable, and evidence God had lost control. But it was very "good" indeed and was a part of God's master plan to deal graciously with his people and to deal severely with unbelievers.
3. When we learn God's love and goodness in Jesus Christ and receive the gift of Christian faith through the Holy Spirit in the gospel, he allows us to walk by faith, not by sight. That is, we learn to trust divine promises and assurances when we cannot "prove" that things are fitting and good in the long run. For this former soldier, as a forgiven sinner relying on Jesus Christ, he will be led to trust that his killing in war was serving God's purposes—to bring fellow believers among the enemy to glory, to serve God as his instrument of judgment for those who despised the gospel, to demonstrate the evil of war and value of peace so that others involved may seek divine wisdom and comfort and encouragement through the gospel that is intended for all mankind, etc.
4. The biggest temptation your friend faces is what everyone asking these kinds of questions faces: the temptation to allow human sentiment and judgment on what is good and bad, right and wrong, loving and unloving to stand in judgment on divine providence and decisions on those issues. When we are brought to trust the work and promises of Jesus Christ, we also learn to stand in awe of our good and gracious God rather than to stand in judgment of him.

Your children are asking a question that the strong majority of people ask sooner or later. Because, as you say, we assume that "everything comes from something," it makes logical sense to assume that God came from something at some point in time.

Our only answer is to express what the Bible tells us about God. God didn't come from anything. He always was and always will be. Passages like Psalm 90:2 and Psalm 93:2 touch on this subject. "Eternity" and "everlasting" are terms that we finite creatures use to express the concept of something that has no end and/or no beginning. God has no beginning or end. He is outside the realm of time. The problem in saying this, of course, is that we cannot comprehend the idea of being beyond time or being without beginning or end. What Solomon expressed in Ecclesiastes 3:11 is humbling but true. We are informed of the concept but cannot fathom it.

I suggest that in talking about this to your children you simply emphasize that (1) God is different from everyone and everything else. Everything else comes from something (ultimately from God himself), but God doesn't. He is simply different; and (2) God is especially different in the kind of love he shows to us. He loves us so much that, even though we disobey him and often disrespect him, he sent Jesus to take away the guilt of our sin and adopt us into his family as dear children.

In this way, your answer can redirect the curiosity of your children to a subject they (and we) can better understand and appreciate. When we are more fully occupied with the gospel, we grow more content with what we do not know.

God certainly could prevent all bad and evil from taking place in this world. And more often than we may realize it, he does precisely that, frustrating the evil plans and purposes of those who hate him and his people (read Psalm 2 where God laughs at the rebellious plans of the kings of the earth!).

At times when God does permit man's evil, what God is doing is using one sinner as a tool of his justice to punish another sinner. Think of how he used the sinful nation of Babylon to punish the sinful nation of Judah. In turn, Persia conquered Babylon, and then Greece conquered Persia, etc.

But it would go against clear Scripture to say God causes evil. God is nothing but pure goodness (Psalm 118:1), and nothing comes down from heaven but good and perfect gifts (James 1:17).

Have you ever thought about how many things you know and believe without having seen them? Take gravity for instance. No one has ever seen gravity, but I see evidence of it is all around. As a matter of fact, we depend on it for almost all of our everyday activities. Gravity holds our cars on the road. It keeps us from floating away into space. We would be in serious trouble without it.

Look at God in very much the same way that you look at gravity. You have never seen him, but you see evidence that he must exist in the world. Whether taking in a soft summer sunset or a late night display of the constellations, know that someone took some serious time and effort to get things just right. The Bible puts it this way, "Every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything." (Hebrews 3:4)

Have you ever taken time to look closely at the world in which we live? Get up a little earlier than normal tomorrow and let the sunrise speak for itself. You decide which is more impressive, the beauty of the sunrise or the fact that is has risen every day in the history of the world. You will hear an inaudible voice in that sunrise. It is God's voice. (Psalm 19:1-4)

Perhaps you are more impressed with detail. Take time to count the hairs on one of your arms from your wrist to your elbow. As you notice the delicacy with which each hair is connected, consider how hard plastic surgeons work to duplicate a "normal" hair pattern. They never do get it quite right, do they? All of this is part of God's great attention to detail and more evidence that he does exist.

We have never seen God, but, like gravity, we know he is here. He has taken the time to leave evidence of his existence all around the world in which we live. Take time to notice it. You will see that he is very real. If you want more, definite information, take time to get to know him better in the Bible.