Delight In Him - Top Christian Views Online, Faith in God, Spiritual Life

The Problem of Evil

The problem of evil in the world is certainly the most serious issue in any discussion of God. But it seems to me clear that the existence of evil does not in any way pertain to the existence of God: it is relevant rather to the nature of God. We might ask if He is all-good and all-powerful given the existence of evil. But once we recognize the inevitability of God's existence, we're baffled by the fact that there's evil in the world He created. While I admit that no explanation of evil and pain can alleviate its misery, I still think that we have some idea of why there is evil.

FREE WILL

One of the chief attributes differentiating us from inanimate matter and animal life is our ability to choose freely. If we could not make free choices we could not love, we could not create and achieve, we could not be all that makes us human. A union of love between God and the human person is possible only if the human person is free, free to choose for better and for worse, free to accept or reject God.  Find more at http://www.delightinhim.com/the-problem-of-evil.html

The Human Rights Delusion

We live in a momentous era of human history wherein most people in most countries acknowledge and affirm the existence of human rights. The International Criminal Court, established in 2002, is a permanent court that can and does prosecute heads of states for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Since 1948, human rights have been enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, unanimously approved by the United Nations General Assembly.

 

And our beloved Declaration of Independence is the single greatest affirmation of human rights against state power when Thomas Jefferson exclaims: "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The Founding Fathers believed that human rights are inalienable, and, as such, they are universal and absolute - they are the rights of all people, in all places, at all times, regardless of their nationality or religion (referred to as "objective" rights). They were convinced that King George's rule needed to be ended because he was violating the basic human rights of the colonists.

Follow the link for more discussion http://www.delightinhim.com/the-human-rights-delusion.html

The Fight to End Slavery

The institution of slavery has existed for thousands and thousands of years.  It predates written records and it still exists today.  The Code of Hammurabi in Mesopotamia, 1800 B.C., one of the earliest written records, mentions slavery as an already established institution.  While some have used the Bible, and twisted its words, to justify this wicked system, it is only within the Judeo-Christian tradition that the first and most influential reformers arose to abolish this practice.  Indeed, it is in the Book of Exodus, where Moses led the Israelite slaves out of the Kingdom of Egypt, in which we hear of the first movement to free slaves.  It is not until around 1000 A.D. that the first country, Hungary, led by the first Christian king, Stephen I, declared that any slave that enters the Kingdom of Hungary would be freed immediately.       

The abolition of slavery was not inevitable. There are an estimated 27 million slaves worldwide today.  (BBC “Millions forced into Slavery”; Kevin Bales, Disposable People, Free the Slaves). There are powerful economic reasons for this institution.  Without moral leadership, even some of the most advanced ancient civilizations, the Greeks and the Romans, encouraged its growth. Now, enslavement takes place in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.  Countries deprived of Christian moral leaders (please see some below) have been slow to abolish the institution: such as Somalia in 1920, Afghanistan in 1923, Sudan and Iraq in 1924, Nepal in 1926, Iran in 1928, Burma in 1929, Morocco in the 1930s, Nigeria and Ethiopia in 1936, Qatar in 1952, Yemen in 1962, United Arab Emirates in 1963, Oman in 1970, Niger in 2003, and Mauritania in August of 2007.  Even in Saudi Arabia, the spiritual home of Islam, a great moral religion, slavery was not outlawed until 1962.  That means if that you could get a visa to Saudi Arabia, which is next to impossible, and you met a man or woman on the streets who was 46 or older, he or she could very well be a freed slave.  This is not an ancient struggle; but a living one.  

Christian Reformers:

William Wilberforce
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wilberforce#Conversion
    Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery (1807)

Frederick Douglass
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass
    Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845)

Booker T. Washington
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booker_T_Washington
    Up From Slavery (1901)

Martin Luther King, Jr.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King%2C_Jr.
    Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963)