Why Do We Struggle to Love?

Have you ever thought about all the problems in the world? Why is our world infested with war, pain, strife, tears, with no end in sight? This is what in philosophical circles we call the problem of evil. Normally when you sit down and talk about this topic people will always ask, “Well where’s God? What is He doing about it?” Somehow, it became natural to connect all of our problems, all the issues with society, and the evils that people do to one another with God. I’ve seen people point their fingers at Christians, blaming us for believing in a God who doesn’t resolve the issues of the world. When I was studying theology, I sat through many discussions with my friends and one philosopher who used to study with us. They would defend God with arguments of his goodness and grace. They would explain what we as Adventists call “the Great Controversy” where there is a battle between God and Satan for our souls. That the evils of society were caused by him and not God. God is in fact trying to reconcile all of us back to him, the greatest proof of his love and his desire to restore the world was in sending Jesus to die for us. The devil, not God, is to be blamed for the problems of the world.

I’ll be honest, I think we’ve been pointing our fingers in the wrong direction for a long time. Instead of asking why is our world is full with so many problems, we should be asking, “Why do we struggle to love?” Where did that come!? Well it all started with an Instagram video my sister showed me. It was a clip from a Dragon Ball Z movie. And if you don’t know what Dragon Ball Z is, it’s one of the most famous Japanese cartoons that is literally a cultural icon all over the world. Now pay attention because this is going to blow your mind. In this particular movie these androids, robotic humans, were sent out to kill our protagonist, Goku. It’s all part of a revenge plot by Dr. Gero who hated Goku so much that he transferred his mind into this computer that continued to build machines in order to carry out the Doctor’s vengeful vendetta.

Can you imagine hating someone so much that even after you are dead, your computer continues to hunt that person down with your vengeful spirit? How much hate do you need to get to that point? When the androids find Goku and explain their mission to kill him they tell him maybe it would be easier to just let “bye gones be bye gones” to simply forgive or let the issue die with the doctor, but that simply is not an option and they were programmed to kill. And so that’s what they are going to do. Then Goku’s friend, Trunks, steps in and says, “You’re just a slave, a pawn with no free will, is that it?” And then Android 13 says, “Free will? Pitiful humans, war, segregation, hatred, is that what you have done with your freewill?

You might have wondered, “why is he talking about a cartoon,” but it’s amazing, the truths and questions, you find behind what the authors of these cartoons, books, and media are trying to share. Who is really the slave? The android’s programmed to kill or the humans with supposed free will and still choose to kill? Whether you believe humans have been around for 6000 years or not the truth is humans continue to hate, they continue to segregate, they continue to cause war with no real end in sight. There is a fundamental problem with our hearts. Why do we struggle to love? In the modern era, after the enlightenment, people believed, if I can give a rough summary of history, that if we were just educated enough, just moral enough, just good enough, we wouldn’t need God or religion, we can establish a utopia on our own. Humans back then were very optimistic about their potential and what they could be.

I’m sure those ideas influenced Christianity as well because many used to believe Jesus would not come back until after 1000 years of peace here on earth. An idea known as postmillennialism where, “Increasing gospel success will gradually produce a time in history prior to Christ's return in which faith, righteousness, peace, and prosperity will prevail in the affairs of men and of nations. After an extensive era of such conditions Jesus Christ will return visibly, bodily, and gloriously, to end history with the general resurrection and the final judgment after which the eternal order follows.” Basically, the church will be so successful in preaching the gospel that most of the world will be converted and a kingdom of peace and prosperity will be established here on earth and Jesus will just arrive to give the final judgement.

A very positive outlook, except World War 1 happened, and then World War 2, and then Vietnam, throw the Civil Rights issue in, civil wars in other countries, and all the problems that have accumulated until today and now we are in the post-modern era where we are wrestling with truth and trying to discover who we are because that optimistic outlook was shattered by us humans. History proves there is a problem with the human race and it’s not about how much we know, there is a problem in our programming. There is a problem in our hearts and it doesn’t begin with God or the Devil, it begins with us.

The third chapter of Genesis focuses on the fall of man and the origin of sin into our world. Our parents, Adam and Eve deliberately disobeyed God and decided to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I need you to think about this…in a world without sin...no disposition for evil, Eve with her free will decided to listen to Satan who was in the form of a snake. He said she could be like God although she already was, and she freely ate the fruit and disobeyed God. Why…I will never understand. Adam, knowing Eve had sinned and the consequences for her actions was death…could not conceive of losing her. He did not want to lose her nor did he trust that God would have been able to resolve the situation in some way. He freely chose to eat the fruit and disobey God as well. They without sin freely chose to sin and thus plunged the world into sin. Truly the problems in our world were not caused by God, they were certainly influenced by the Devil, but more importantly they are something our parents brought in with their free choice.

How exactly did they bring in these problems you may wonder? And what are the effects of sin? Well if you continue reading the story, Adam and Eve saw they were naked and decided to make clothes with fig leaves. They never felt naked before, so something changed. They hear God walking to towards them in the garden and they decide to run and hide away from him. They’ve never done that before, they have never felt fear, especially of their creator and friend. And when God asks them what they have done, Adam who was quick to eat the fruit with Eve suddenly blames her for their act of disobedience and blames God since he is the one who gave her to him. All at once…trust is broken and the relationship between God and man and man and woman is severed. God turns to Eve and she blames the snake who God also made. The first act of humans after contaminating themselves with sin is to blame others, defend themselves and take no responsibility. Sin distorts love, turning it into selfishness, and destroys relationships.

Did you know that until verse 17 and 20, Adam and Eve were only referred to as man or woman? In verse 17 God calls the man Adam which means earth and this is perfectly juxtaposed with his sentence that he would struggle to produce crops and would return to the dust that he was formed from. He who came from the earth now has a severed relationship with it. Then Adam names the woman Eve for she would be the mother of all the living, you’d never think this is actually a sad verse. But the truth is when man and woman were married, they were to be one in being, never separated. They were identified as man and wo-man, as ish and isha in the Hebrew. They were a part of one another and like God who is 3 in 1 they were supposed to be like him as 2 in 1. Yet, now they are identified as separate beings living together, thus sealing the damage sin had done. The effects of sin are terrible. And the story only gets worse.

Adam and Eve had two sons named Cain and Abel. Chapter 4 of Genesis tells us the two offered sacrifices to God but instead of offering a lamb, Cain offers fresh vegetables which God is not pleased with. Cain is upset and God confronts him. He warns him saying, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” The Hebrew actually says that the desire of sin is to control Cain but that he must rule over it. Sin, whatever it is, has a will and it desires to control each one of us with its evil programming. If we don’t rule over it, it will consume us, causing our rage, jealously, and any negative emotion to grow, until we destroy everything and everyone around us. Just as Cain killed his brother.

Why is the world full of problems? Why do we struggle to love? It’s what Android 13 said, we chose it. War, segregation, hate, it’s our choice, influenced by the programming that sin does in hearts. Humanity has been giving in and allowing themselves to be consumed by sin for thousands of years. Fortunately, we don’t have to, God sent his son Jesus to not only die for our sins but to set us free from it. We can choose to rule over it with his help, but it starts with pointing the finger back at us and admitting, we don’t just have a problem, we are the problem. So what will you do with your free choice? I hope you’ll choose to be the solution.

Android 13 of the Red Ribbon Army. His short monologue was my inspiration for readdressing the problem with sin.