Jumpstarter 5 of 10

Direct Answer The transcript doesn’t list specific “hardest” tragedies, but Bercot’s framework implies the hardest cases will be sufferings that don’t look like a direct human choice—calamities that feel detached from moral decisions—because his explanation emphasizes evil originating from human and angelic free will, not from God.

Support from Transcript:

• He states plainly: “It isn’t God who created evil. It’s we ourselves… and… angels like Satan who have chosen the path of evil.”
• He quotes James 1:14 to locate temptation’s source: “each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires.”
• He insists “God is never behind evil things,” and clarifies that “cannot be tempted by evil” speaks to God’s personal nature.
• Methodius: “God did not make evil… whoever failed to keep the law after being created… with… free will is called evil.”
• He says evil is authored by “mankind, in conjunction with… wicked angels and demons,” and God “could stop evil… by taking away our free will,” but won’t.