Congregation Book Study, Week of November 7-13, 2022, Why is there so much evil and suffering?, Lesson 26, Points 1-7, Answers.

Congregation Book Study, November 7-13, 2022, Lesson 26, points 1 to 7, Answers.

Congregation Bible study (30 min.): lff lesson 26.

1. What did Satan do to bring evil into the world?

He made the first human beings believe that Jehovah was depriving them of something good, thus he managed to make them rebel against God.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

What he did was tell the first lie to our first parents, which influenced them to also rebel against Jehovah, because he practically told them that if they wanted to be happy they had to disobey God.

2. What decision did Adam and Eve make?

Jehovah told them that they should not eat from a garden tree, but they disregarded the command he had given them and ended up disobeying, eating from the garden tree that was forbidden for them. Which brought imperfection to their descendants and they rejected the rulership of God. 

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

They made the sad decision to disobey Jehovah that is why they ate me of fruits that God had told them not to eat, that is how they came to sin and reject God. 

3. How has Adam and Eve's decision affected us?

When they disobeyed Jehovah they became imperfect beings and this imperfection passed on to their descendants and thus ended up fulfilling what Romans chapter 5 verse 12 says that because of their sin death came to us.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

It affected us a lot, since due to this we are imperfect and as a consequence we suffer dire situations and we also get to know death.

4. The culprit of our suffering

Is God to blame for suffering and evil?

Jehovah is not guilty of suffering, since we are sure of this, because James chapter 1 verse 13 says that God does not test people with bad things. But if there is a culprit and the Bible shows him What is the devil since he is the one who is ruling this world.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

Of course not, because as the Bible says, God does not test with bad things. We also know very well that who rules this world is satan and he is to blame for all the bad things that are happening to us now.

5. The result of Satan's rule

What lie did Satan tell? (See verses 4 and 5).

Satan lied to them and told them that if they ate from the tree they would become like God, but we see that this did not happen, it was a big lie.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

How do we know Satan is the father of lies and that is why this time he told another lie, he told them that they ate the fruit that God had commanded them that they could not eat, they were not going to die on the contrary they were going to be like God and know the good and the bad.

How did Satan insinuate that Jehovah was depriving human beings of something good?

When Eva told him that God knew that the day they ate from the tree their eyes would be opened and they would be like God, thus showing that Jehovah did not want them to eat from the tree because they would become just like him.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

He implied it by saying that God knew that the day they ate the fruit their eyes would be opened. Which shows that Satan was insinuating that Jehovah was depriving human beings of something good, but the opposite is true, Jehovah puts rules or mandates to protect us.

According to Satan, do humans need Jehovah to rule over them to be happy?

Satan wants you to worship him, that's why he made you believe that happiness does not depend on serving Jehovah or obeying him, but that one can choose what to do and choose what is good and what is bad.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

According to him, no, since as we saw before he says that Jehovah deprives us of good things, implying that we do not need God and the results show the opposite.

During the time that Jehovah has not been the ruler of the world, how has humanity fared?

History shows that Ecclesiastes chapter 8 verse 9 has been fulfilled. All the time that man has been governed, no improvements have been seen, rather we have seen increased wars and suffering, death. Therefore, it is demonstrated that the human being is not made to govern himself. 

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

Well, as the text says, we have gone from bad to worse because man has dominated others to the harm of all of us since everyone seeks their own benefit, regardless of whether it affects others or not. And that explains what is the root of all our problems.

6. It hurts Jehovah to see us suffer

How does it feel to know that Jehovah is aware of our problems and that it pains him to see us suffer?

Knowing that fills us with hope because we know that Jehovah will not remain with his arms crossed even in the time he has been giving for humans to realize that we need his help, he has always been there, trying to help his servants with his problems as 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 7 says, he has been willing to help us with our concerns. 

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

Personally, I feel very happy, because I know that my heavenly father cares about me, so I can hope with total confidence that at the right moment he will act and end all our ills.

7. God will end the suffering of all mankind

Read Isaiah 65:17 and Revelation 21:3, 4, and discuss the following:

Jehovah promises that he will remove everything that has caused mankind to suffer and that he will repair all the damage. Does that promise comfort you? Why?

Of course it does, it comforts me a lot because it gives me hope to move on, since at some point everything bad will come to an end.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

It comforts us because we know that the suffering we are experiencing is momentary and that the fact that Jehovah is going to repair the damage caused by suffering and death makes us happy that we are going to experience what our first parents rejected. A paradise where human beings can live happily without being affected by problems

What would you say?

We can say that this is not true, that suffering has come to us from the decisions that our first parents have made and that most suffering sometimes depends on the decisions that one makes, and that God is doing everything so that we can have a better future.

 ABSTRACT

Satan and the first two human beings are the main culprits of the evil in the world. It hurts Jehovah a lot to see us suffer and he will soon end the suffering.

Review

What lie did the Devil tell Eve?

Satan told Eve that she would not die if she ate the fruit that Jehovah had commanded them not to eat, and furthermore made her believe that Jehovah was depriving her of something good and that it was unfair to them.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

We can say that this is not true, that suffering has come to us from the decisions that our first parents have made and that most suffering sometimes depends on the decisions that one makes, and that God is doing everything so that we can have a better future.

How has Adam and Eve's rebellion affected us?

It has brought us a lot of suffering, since we are imperfect and we have to suffer the effects of death and added to that we have the evil in the human being to govern.

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

And due to imperfection we have to fight with the same lies and influences that satan through many means bombards us so that we make the same mistake as our first parents. Since we do understand the seriousness of the matter, we will feel motivated to do our best to obey all the rules and commands that Jehovah gives us through his word in the Bible.

Why do we say that Jehovah is pained to see us suffer?

Because he himself says so in his word the Bible and when he sees us suffer he has always been willing to help us with our concerns, and we have even seen that he is doing everything possible for this hour of paradise such principle was lost. 

ADDITIONAL COMMENT

We know this because it is for this reason that he spends so much time with us, and he knows everything we are going through. he is also our creator and like a loving father it hurts him to see his children suffer, in the same way to Jehovah.