If there is no God, then the atrocities of the Holocaust were not necessarily evil, they are just a matter of opinion.
If it is wrong to steal a car and run over the owner and her three children, then evil exists and God exists!
Hitler enjoyed killing innocent people (among other things) because he was power-mad — he became all-powerful in his own warped mind. Mother Teresa enjoyed helping people. Hitler hated Jews. Mother Teresa loved everybody. Unless there is a standard above Hitler and Teresa, then neither was right and neither was wrong (we, as believers, know there is a standard above both: God’s moral standards).
We all react in a certain way when we see injustice — when someone harms innocent people. Yet we all fall short of keeping the laws we enforce. We know the law says, “don’t,” but something in us says, “it’s okay, do it.” We know the laws of nature, but we break them.
Our human nature is both good and evil.
It is divine moral standards that point us to God. Perfect righteousness is God’s nature. The world (society as a whole) is getting worse because society has turned its back on God. Society denies its own faults and blames God for failures and the injustice in society itself. Without God in our thinking, innocent people suffer and eventually society self-destructs — we destroy each other.
Humanity needs to rise above itself to find the true meaning of life, which is transcendent God. Without God, life has no real meaning beyond the now. For those who seek the best in life, they will find their fulfillment in Christ. God has planted eternity in the hearts of humanity.
We are free to do wrong. But is that what freedom is for? We are free to love and serve our neighbor. Everyone is our neighbor.
True freedom (set free by Christ) means the believer is set free from the law and the curse of the law and the fear of death (Romans 3:13; 4:3; 6:7,18; 7:6; 8:2; Colossians 2:20; Hebrews 2:15).
Liberty is not license! The greatest experience of liberty is bondage to and in Christ.
- In the flesh, unbelievers understand freedom in grace as antinomic.
- In the Spirit, believers understand freedom as liberty to follow Christ, to serve others, and to love our fellow man.
The same freedom has two meanings — one of the flesh and one of the Spirit — which oppose each other; therefore, two viewpoints emerge: one negative (the flesh), one positive (the Spirit).
God’s mercy and peace are packaged in grace by means of the cross. The fruits of the Spirit manifest from grace. The fruits of the flesh are manifestations of the sin nature.