A childish notion of what's good.

Imagine a child fighting with another child over a toy the first child owns.

What is the child’s view of things? Virtue entails getting back what belongs to him, right.

What is a parent’s view of things? Virtue would be finding a way to share with that other child.

What is the Christian’s view of things? Virtue would be offering to give the toy to the child as a blessing.

Without actually saying that every grabby child should be given his ill-snatched booty, let’s consider how the child reacts to either his parent’s advice or the Christian’s advice.

He hates it, right? He will either refuse to comply or else comply sulkily or perhaps even throw a tantrum of frustration. It certainly would never occur to him that he is simply too immature to see the wisdom of these superior alternatives. Nevertheless, we do. Why? Because as parents and Christians, we understand things better than he does.

So here’s the question: Why does a loving God permit evil in the world? Why won’t He just do what’s right!