First of all, I don’t want to sound like I’m taking myself too seriously. This is a manuscript of a speech; many of the ideas I spoke about tonight came straight from the pages of C.S. Lewis and Ravi Zacharias. I’m posting this because I think God is the source of truth, not because I have all the answers. I hope this stirs some thoughts!

Last night, in Las Vegas, the most deadly shooting in the modern history of this great nation occurred.

At least 58 people have been killed in cold blood. and over five hundred more seriously injured. This is a grievous action, a despicable action. Behind it all is the mounting wall of sorrow and anger in our memory that this is only the latest act in a long line of tragedies that have claimed the lives of scores of men, women, and children. We lament the loss of life. We are angry that a man would kill. Why? Because in life, there is a problem of evil.

Throughout human history, great minds have debated the subject of evil and why it exists in the world. Some, undoubtedly, in this very room, as members of this very society. The philosophers of old and today’s thinkers grapple with this question. When it comes down to it, the problem of evil ultimately concerns PEOPLE, and something deeper than what we merely can observe in the world around us.

But, if the greatest minds in the world have contemplated this issue, how come we haven’t arrived at an answer?

Natural disasters that kill thousands still occur, shootings still happen. Pure logic, even with full knowledge of the facts, will never help us arrive at the answer. In fact, if you deny that morality depends on something outside the scope of the human universe, you deny the problem of evil itself. As the famed and highly intelligent scientist Richard Dawkins once said:

In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.

And yet, we can still undoubtedly call the senseless killing of 58 people in the Las Vegas Strip evil. And yet, we still hold to systems of justice in our courts. And yet, we take up causes for the persecuted, we protest against discrimination, and we know that something is wrong. We know that people have intrinsic value, and that is why evil disgusts us.

Why?

Because deep down, we know that there is a moral law. In our hearts, we know that there is right, and there is wrong. But, as Dawkins said, we cannot discern it from reason, observation, culture, or the world around us. The only answer is that this law was given. Where there is law, there is a lawgiver. But who?

The only answer is that something, someone, infinitely above and beyond the scope of the universe, is and created the standard by which our consciences are bound. The answer is that there is an Author to this moral law, and that this author must be credible to give it. He must be perfect to give this law, and outside the forces of the universe – supernatural – in order to ordain it. If this sounds like the God of Christianity, it’s because it is.

So, if we take this truth — that there is an Author — we can now distinguish that there is evil, that there is good, and that we are compelled to act according to this truth. However, we also know that we are helpless to do anything about it. Evil persists despite our best efforts – in the world, and within ourselves. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, during his stay in a brutal Soviet prison under the reign of Josef Stalin, said this:

Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart — and through all human hearts.

We are not just victims of this problem of evil, we are its perpetrators. We have failed to live up to the author’s purpose. The human condition, in the swirling void of our own “power” and “understanding,” is hopeless and meaningless.

But, we have hope.

The Author of the universe did not finish his story with only morality – if he had, we all would stand condemned and responsible. As only an infinite, powerful, good, and loving God can, he reached down. He reaches down. He placed himself into his creation and gave us hope. He gave us love. He offered the answer, the way to transcend the problem of evil. He offered it in giving himself in the man Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life, loved people perfectly, and defeated the problem of evil through his death and resurrection.

To perfectly uphold the standard we all know we can’t keep, he lived a perfect life.

To uphold the justice we deserved for our violation of the moral law He died.

To reconcile us to the Author, and to give us hope over the moan of meaninglessness and hopelessness, he became alive again, conquered death and evil, and supremely orders all of the universe.

He offers that same life and reconciliation to us now – that whoever would believe that what he did is true, and submit their life to his supremacy and his love, he offers life. When it comes to it, there is no question of good or evil. There is only a question of death or life. We are not good or evil people. We are dead people. And we need to be brought to life. The author of the universe offers us that life through Jesus.

Will you receive it?