My Belated Reply to President Rodrigo Duterte's "Stupid God" Remark
As I finally go back to reading Genesis. I remembered the very blasphemy that Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte did as he asked the question of who is this stupid God. It should be a good question to ask and Christians must be ready to answer when they are asked (1 Peter 3:15-17). You have to remember that Romans 13:1-7 asks people to submit to authority. At this point, this is the very situation where Filipino Christians have a very serious responsibility of praying for their country's leader. This is also where one must be a Daniel when the leader is a Nebuchadnezzar. It may have been some weeks since he made the tirade but I still feel the need to be a Daniel if ever God made President Duterte a Nebuchadnezzar.
President Duterte was once a Roman Catholic. He supposedly became "born again". He even made January as Bible month for the Filipinos but there's no doubt that he's still not saved as evidenced by his anti-God tirade. He has a very poor understanding of God because he isn't saved at all! The Scriptures are but murky waters to the unsaved. It should be a huge responsibility to pray for the salvation of one's leaders. He blasted the Creation account without thinking twice and he believes in a god (notice the emphasis of small g in contrast to G) that didn't create Hell and thinks God is stupid for doing so. This is a serious question and I hope that he will repent of his sins and truly receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.
So what's the problem with President Duterte's view? He clearly doesn't understand that in the same fall of mankind that God promises a Savior. God gave man the free will even if He knew beforehand that man will misuse it. Genesis 3:15 says that the Seed of the Woman will arrive to crush the head the serpent who is none other than Satan. God the Father knew the solution for the fall of mankind. He even provided the Tree of Life as a provision. Remember the choice was up to Adam and Eve. Instead of eating from the Tree of Life they decided to hide from God after they ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
God gave mankind their free will so they can love Him freely. Coercion is not the answer. There was a time I started question to why God gave free will to mankind. I even feel mad or upset with God to why He gave mankind free will because it is so used for the wrong purposes. I wanted God to just take away all that free will so there will be no more world chaos. Then I realized that without free will then how can anybody love God freely and enjoy His fellowship? A mindless machine that's programmed to simply do certain tasks cannot enjoy its owner's companionship because it has no free will. God did not make mankind to be mindless robots without free will. Instead, He wants mankind to worship Him freely and out of love and the only fear He wants is reverential fear. Yet, mankind has misused this free will ever since the fall of mankind. People can use their free will wrongly yet they can also use it correctly.
Why did God create Hell? God is merciful yet He will never go against His immutable holiness. God created Hell originally for Satan and his demons. However, mankind's wayward path has put them into the same path as Satan and his demons. God is too holy to allow even the slightest sin. God created Hell as the fit and just punishment for sin yet He still made a way for man not to end there for eternity. Man tries to reach God in every way humanly possible but fails. The solution is once again in Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:20 says that Jesus who knew no sin became that sin offering for the salvation of mankind. That's one thing that President Duterte had missed because he's not saved.
Why did God create Hell? God is merciful yet He will never go against His immutable holiness. God created Hell originally for Satan and his demons. However, mankind's wayward path has put them into the same path as Satan and his demons. God is too holy to allow even the slightest sin. God created Hell as the fit and just punishment for sin yet He still made a way for man not to end there for eternity. Man tries to reach God in every way humanly possible but fails. The solution is once again in Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:20 says that Jesus who knew no sin became that sin offering for the salvation of mankind. That's one thing that President Duterte had missed because he's not saved.
This would be the time for Filipino Christians to keep praying for an unsaved official. Remember that the unsaved authority figure is still mission field. Is the leader of your nation still not saved? Then pray for that authority figure. Pray for his or her salvation before it's too late.