Ravi Zacharias says that love is the highest ethic (set of moral principles), “the peak of all intellectual and emotional alignment”, and ”places value upon the other person of worth and as something to be protected.”
Every loves to talk about how lovely love is, but no one likes its consequence. When you fall in love with someone, there is a risk of rejection in confessing that love. This requires free will in many parts: the free will for you to love, the free will for you to confess your love, and the free will for him/her to accept or reject your love.
Free will is a fundamental part of love. However, by arguing that God should stop all evil from happening, we are arguing that God should take away free will, and if God was to take away free will, there would be no love.
The consequence of free will is pain, and God bore the pain of the cross in order to love us. Jesus never complained to God to stop the crucifixion, arguing that it is evil and must be stopped. If God stopped the evil of the wrongful death of Christ, the expression of God’s love would have been lost.
Discussion Questions:
1. Discuss whether there are things in this world more important than love. Why or why not?
2. Discuss Zacharias’ story about the man and his horse and how you’ve wrongly interpreted your “luck” or God’s love according to an event in your life. Is there anything that could happen that will make you question God’s love for you?
3. Discuss and take notes of other questions you have about God and Christianity. Bring it to our youth group meetings for further discussion.