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Pieces of Advice
With all of the chaos, illness, poverty, crime, etc in our world, how can you say that God is a loving God? Janet
Your question presupposes that God causes everything that happens. If that were true, there would be no such thing as free will. Evil and its consequence of sin (Some Christians will use the name "Satan".) causes all of the things you mentioned and then some. Because we have free will, we and our institutions often follow the desires of evil instead of the will of God. Even though we and our institutions often use our free will to our and the world's detriment, God will not let that be the last word. God will always make good come out of evil. Genesis 50:20 says, "Even though you intended it for harm, God intended it for good." The verse refers to the brothers of Joseph who sold him into slavery because they were jealous of their father's love for Joseph. God did not stop the sin of Joseph's brothers. But the story continues so that Joseph ultimately has a position of power that saves his brothers and the Hebrews. God makes good come out of evil because God is a loving God.
Why are we told that we have to do good works so that we go to heaven when we die? Kate
We do not have to do good works to receive eternal life with God. That is an unmerited, free gift of God's grace because of God's abundant and unconditional love for us. Acts 16:31 says, "Believe on Jesus Christ and be saved, you and your household." The Christian doesn't do good works because he has to. He does them because he wants to. It is the will of God that we meet the needs of others. A Christian does good works that benefit others because he loves God. He chooses to respond to God's love for him by doing the will of God. Good works without a faithful and loving heart for God are empty works. Good works with a faithful and loving heart for God are part of Christian living.
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