This world is a messy one to live in. I think that no one would argue with that. There are some awful people who do some pretty twisted things. When we hear on the news that a terrorist has been arrested, we rejoice. When we hear that a murderer has been caught and is off the streets, we breathe sighs of relief. However, in the world that we live in, it is not always the case that justice, at least as we see it, is served. There are occasions, several in fact, that really good people suffer tragic circumstances, for seemingly no reason.
Unfortunately, the first thing people do during times like these is point the finger at God. There are often several ways that this goes down:
1) Blame God. Ask "How could a good God do something so horrible to me?"
2) Treat God as the "Almighty Smiter"...i.e. "I must have done something horrible, and God is punishing me."
3) Refuse to acknowledge that God has any part in it whatsoever..."It's MY life, and I refuse to acknowledge any divine circumstances. At all."
Each one of these are, honestly, understandable in their own ways. It's our human nature to question, to doubt, etc. However, based on what I know of God and His love for mankind, I refuse to believe that any of these are true. The one I was always fed the most as a young Christian was #2. "You have to find a purpose for all of this! There is no reason you would be going through this unless God was teaching you something." The only problem I have with this philosophy is that it insinuates that God is the CAUSE of these awful times...which I don't really believe.
The only scripture that debates my thoughts on the subject is in Job, when God allows Job to be put through torturous things in order to test his faith. That said, here's the conclusion I've come to:
-Due to the fact that we have free will, we have made many bad choices that have allowed awful things to come into this world.
-God loves us so much that He takes the big mess and uses it for good in the world.
-There are times that things are just unexplainable, and we have to cling to what we know of God and His great love for us to get us through, and trust that He will take care of us.
It's easy to say all of these things when I am not in the midst of tragedy. There are people all around me who are suffering from cancer, from losing a loved one, from losing a job, etc. But I hope that when I am faced with these things, I can remember to stop necessarily asking "Why?" and to instead cling to God for comfort and refuge.
I will come back and add to this post later, I think, but right now my brain is all jumbled from multitasking. :)
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3 comments:
So I"m trying to figure out now if I totally failed you in Christian Doctrines? So why do bad things happen to good people? My conclusion is that we live in a fallen world, where the rain falls on the "just and the unjust"... a place where all of us pay the price for oil spills and wars…and of course, this world is not humankind's final destination. The totality of life is much greater than what happens to us in this world. I think sometimes we fail to see that fact, even as Christians. I'm just glad you are thinking about and through these things!
Not sure if this is a slam or a compliment! lol Honestly I was at school during my conference when I wrote this entry...wasn't able to fully sit down and concentrate. It's just been on my mind a lot lately due to the overflow of cancer I'm seeing all around me. It's hard to be on the outside seeing the beauty that God is orchestrating through it all when some of the people inside the situation only see God as the cause, not the remedy.
No slam intended, unless it was slamming me! (Sometimes I wonder if I say anything worth hearing to my students! Indeed, I always push myself to be a better teacher) No, I"m honored that you blog through the process on life's questions.
I often wonder why God would bring us into a world so full of pain, hurt and disease. My only conclusion could be that life is so valuable and so precious that even just a brief time of "breath" on this earth is worth it. To share love, even for a few years before cancer, heart disease or accident takes us must be worth it. I think our failure is not to understand the frailty of life and the importance of agape. KEEP BLOGGING ON THE HARD QUESTIONS!
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