Answer to Confusion – Sunday, April 19, 1942
The world scene we now behold and those events which have led up to it, have brought about a growing cynicism and unbelief. Upon the lips of many, in all nations and among all peoples, we find the accusing question: “Why would an Omnipotent and All-Wise and just and merciful God permit such events to transpire? Failing to find the answer that brings peace to their troubled hearts, men, in increasing numbers, lose faith and hope and understanding, and cry out in bitterness against a Providence, the power and existence of whom they deny.
Let answer here be made to all who find themselves in such skepticism and confusion: One of the first and far-reaching principles of the plan of life is the free agency of man—the right of choice. It was so in the heavens before time began and shall continue to be so worlds without end. Indeed, a challenge to this right of self-determination was the cause of the war in heaven and has been one of the moving causes of all war since that time.
In other words, the Lord, God, our Father in Heaven, does not force men to be good. If He did, there would be no reward for being good, and no development would come therefrom. The souls of men are stifled when they are made to live according to someone else’s pattern, or forced into someone else’s mold. And so the Father of all men gives us commandments—principles—rules of life—which, if observed, will lead us to our highest possibilities, and, so far as the Creator is concerned, it is given unto each man to determine to what extent he will live by those rules. That these fundamentals have been largely ignored, the events of our day eloquently testify, but the fault cannot be charged to the Lord our Creator. The difficulties are of our making—collectively—and individually, too, in many instances.
How long the present course of events will be permitted to continue, no man knows, but of this we may be sure—the innocent who suffer with the guilty will not be forgotten; the Lord, God, is able, in His own time, to overrule all things for good; and each man will be dealt with according to the choices he has made. In the meantime, the righteous need never fear, for as it is written, “the judgments of the Almighty are righteous altogether.”
By Richard L. Evans, spoken from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, April 19, 1942, over Radio Station KSL and the Nationwide Columbia Broadcasting System. Copyright – 1942.
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April 19, 1942
Broadcast Number 0,661