When Towers Fall

Here's an excerpt from When Towers Fall, R.C. Sproul's contribution to the August issue of Tabletalk.

When a catastrophe happens in our world, it is virtually certain that a question will come up: "Where was God?" People always seem to question how a good God could allow a terrible thing to happen.

The same question came up in Jesus' time, as we see from an incident recorded in Luke's Gospel:

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." (13:1–5)

Some people asked Jesus a question about an atrocity that had occurred at the hands of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. It seems that some people who were in the midst of worship were massacred by Pilate's soldiers. The people who came to Jesus were troubled about this and asked Him how God could have allowed it to happen to His chosen people.

Continue reading When Towers Fall.