9781433573606-epdf

Picturing Moral Horror
does not act without God’s leave. He acts only with permission
and limitation (Job 1:12; 2:6; Luke 22:31; 2 Cor. 12:7).
God decides finally the extent of Satan’s damage. He is not
separate from God’s judgment. He serves it—unwittingly.
KEY QUESTION
Now here is the question that brings the meaning of the
coronavirus into sharper focus. Why did God bring a physical
judgment on the world for a moral evil? Adam and Eve
defied God. Their hearts turned against God. They preferred
their own wisdom to his. They chose independence
over trust. This defying and preferring and choosing was a
spiritual and moral evil. It was sin in the soul first, not in
the body. It was first Godward, not manward.
But in response to moral and spiritual rebellion, God
subjected the physical world to disaster and misery. Why?
Why not leave the physical world in good order and bring
misery on the human soul, since that’s where it all started?
AN ANSWER
Here’s my suggestion: God put the physical world under
a curse so that the physical horrors we see around us in
65