NOTES for Luk 17:1

Evil and sin don't really please us; and it is correct. It is impossible for all that is in the world, some taking place in spite of the truth, in spite of the Creator's will, in spite of good and beauty, to not provoke protestation to a normal person. But it is inherent to us to “be aggrieved" against God because "He allows all this to occur ", relieving responsibility from ourselves for "all that". Why is it so much evil in the world? - a regular question, but badly formulated. The Lord Jesus Christ asks the followers to take the problem of evil completely differently: actively and with responsibility.

"Offences" - All which brings doubt and disappointment in the faith, all which provokes the disgust to people - such is the sense of the Greek word "skandalon" which uses the evangelist. They are already in the world; therefore it's already too late to carry on conversation to know how they happen… "Woe unto him, through whom they come!" - here is what is really important for the moment. And if we refer to the most important questions of our lives, then we can say that The Lord directs the attention of the followers on "what to do", and not on "who is guilty ". He says that the dissemination of evil can be stopped by the will of people, and it isn't some kind of people, but indeed we (you and I). It is impossible that offences come, since they already exist in this world. But it is very important and even major that they don't come through us - it is apparently the only way to resist evil.

It is still substantial that if we make efforts (even in the least degree) not to be the source of evil, the failures on this road and God's forbearance towards us help us to find an answer to two questions: on the origin of evil, and on the reasons of God's forbearance.