Episode 2320 - Lesson 9 - Friday - February 28 - Further Thought

Read Ellen G. White, “The Origin of Evil,” pp. 492–504, in The Great Controversy.“Nothing is more plainly taught in Scripture than that God was in no wise responsible for the entrance of sin; that there was no arbitrary withdrawal of divine grace, no deficiency in the divine government, that gave occasion for the uprising of rebellion. Sin is an intruder, for whose presence no reason can be given. It is mysterious, unaccountable; to excuse it is to defend it. . . . Had he [Satan] been immediately blotted from existence, they [the inhabitants of heaven and of other worlds] would have served God from fear rather than from love. The influence of the deceiver would not have been fully destroyed, nor would the spirit of rebellion have been utterly eradicated. Evil must be permitted to come to maturity. For the good of the entire universe through ceaseless ages Satan must more fully develop his principles, that his charges against the divine government might be seen in their true light by all created beings, that the justice and mercy of God and the immutability of His law might forever be placed beyond all ­question.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, pp. 492, 493, 499.Discussion Questions:Many people wonder how a sinless creature like Lucifer could sin for the first time. Why is sin so “mysterious” and “unaccountable”? How can we explain this first sin without excusing it or justifying it? That is, why would explaining its origin be the same as justifying it?Why did God not simply blot Satan out of existence right away? Why must evil “be permitted to come to maturity”? How is this “for the good of the entire universe through ceaseless ages”?Why is it so important to understand that the conflict between God and Satan is not one of sheer power but a conflict of a dif­ferent kind? How does a conflict over character make sense in ways that a conflict over sheer power could not?How does understanding the nature of the conflict pull back the curtain, so to speak, on ways in which your own life might be a microcosm of the cosmic conflict? In what ways are you even now experiencing the reality of this conflict? How should you respond in ways that show whose side you truly are on?