Don't stop me if you've heard this one: You're a trolley runway switch operator. A trolley is coming down the tracks. It's breaks are shot, and it's not going to stop. The trolley is going down a set of tracks that leads to five people tied down to the track. There is another track parallel to that one where only one person is tied down to the track. Pulling the switch will divert the trolley from its current course and it will run over and kill one person. If the switch is not pulled, the trolley will stay its course and runover and kill five people. What color are the trolley runway switch operator's eyes?
Was that not the riddle you were expecting me to give? Maybe you thought I might ask you, "Do you pull the switch and kill only one person or not pull the switch and kill five people?" I could ask you that, but it wouldn't be practical. Why? Because you're never going to face a situation where you will have to choose between sinning and sinning.
If you were the trolley runway switch operator in this made-up (unsolvable) moral riddle, then whatever happens on that runway would be on your head. You couldn't just stand by and say you were a bystander. You would be responsible for what happens on that runway the same way Adam was responsible for his wife Eve. The Bible says, "Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner" (1 Timothy 2:13-14). The Bible also says the first sin that entered into the world is on Adam's head and not Eve's, because Adam was responsible for Eve (Romans 5:12). Just as Eve's deception was Adam's responsibility, so too would you be responsible for your failure to stop any preventable murder on your trolley car tracks. Everyone will be held guilty for their actions, and will be responsible for their sins. God's Word says, "The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them" (Ezekiel 18:20).
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| If you would have killed all six people in the trolley problem, then you would have demonstrated your approval of sin, and anyone who approves of sin deserves death (Romans 1:32). |
Well, with the trolley problem you'd face as the runway switch operator, you'd have no choice but to sin in your position. You could murder five people, or you could murder one person, but either way it would be murder. Committing that murder would be a sin on your head; a sin that came about from a situation where you had no choice but to sin. Would God allow such a situation like that to exist? No.
When you enter into a situation where you will have the opprotunity to sin, you enter into what the Bible would call a moment of tempatation. "Temptation" in the original Greek text is πειρασμός (peirasmos), and it means a prooving of, or an experience with something (namely evil) desinged to discipline by implication or adversity. To shortten that up; "Temptation" is testing, or being tested. When you face "temptation," you face a moment where you you will be tested on your understanding of good and evil (right and wrong). To fall into a "tempation" is to decide to do evil, when you could have done good. To be delivered (or rescued) from a "temptation" is to decide to do good, when doing evil was a more appealing option. This is what is meant in the Lord's prayer where we, as Christians, are commanded to pray to our Father in heaven "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one" (Matthew 6:13). The evil one is the devil, and it his schemes and wickedness that causes everyone to be put into moments of "temptation". Even Jesus faced temptation from the evil one, but He never fell and was always delivered out of "temptation". He relyed on the Word of God over any evil thing the devil offered Him, and so He was able to resist the devil (Matthew 4:1-11). As God promises His people, if you submit yourself to God and His words, you will "resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7).
So, with the trolley problem you would be hypothetically placed in a moment of "tempation" wherein your only options would be to committ murder (sin) or committ murders (sin). According to the holy Scriptures, you'll never be in a situation like that. The Word of God says, "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it" (1 Corinthians 10:13). What that means is that every "tempation" you face on earth will not be a no way out situation. You will always have the option when faced with committing sin to not have to committ sin. God will not let you be tested by a trick question. If you are in Christ, then He has provided you with His Word to give you right knowledge on good and evil, He has provided you with brothers and sisters in Christ to give you strength, and He has given you a trustowrthy relationship with Him to keep you from doing evil.
Rest assured, you will never face "tempation" that you cannot fall into. Know, though, that you will face "temptation" that will be hard to overcome on your own. It's not always easy to do the right thing. Even Jesus when faced with the "tempatation" of going to the cross and suffering as no one has ever suffered prayed to God that He would not have to endure something so terrible. He prayed that twice (Matthew 26:39, 42). Yet, He also prayed to God that not His will be done but God's will be done. It would be a sin for Jesus to not go to the cross according to God's will, but Jesus knew the Scriptures, received comfort from His angels (Luke 22:43) and was given strength from His Father to face His last "temptation" on earth and be delivered from it.
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| The choice was to flee and not suffer, or glorify His Father and save you. He chose His Father and You (Hebrews 12:2). |
That choice Jesus made was the ultimate sollution to the greatest moral riddle ever posed in history. One man tied Himself down to the tracks, pulled the switch Himself to divert God's wrath from crushing not just five people but all of humanity so that it could instead crush one man, the Son of God. Jesus laid down His life for everyone, so that everyone who puts their faith in Him will never die but will live forever (John 3:16). It is written, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends" (John 15:13). That is exactly what Jesus did. He chose to die, so that no one else will ever have to.
Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow
- Elvina M. Hall
Sources
- The Bible (New International Version)
- Wikipedia: The Trolley Problem
- Bible Hub: Temptation
- Newsboys: Jesus Paid it All