Problems with God part 2
Last time I talked about hypocrites and the fact that most people say they don't go to church because of the hypocrites. Pointing to the fact that we're not perfect isn't good enough, it's about pointing to the fact that through Jesus we are perfect. However, if we as a church still act "perfect" we're blowing it. So, when they say they have issues about hypocrites, ask them if they go to Wal-Mart. If they say "Yes" (which most anyone will say assuming they live somewhere in the world with electricity and people), ask them why they do that when there are hypocrites there. In fact, Wal-Mart's stated mission/vision seems to contradict what they actually do (ruining the world economy by being the biggest thing since the wheel) in business practices. That's where it all winds up. No matter where we go, people are never going to be perfect. Monks in a monastery still screw up. It's human nature and we won't overcome that. We try, but we cannot overcome human nature all the way. So... I said we'd look at more issues people have with the church/Christianity.
Number two is people who say "I have a problem with God because I cannot believe in a God who allows such horrible things to happen (i.e. AIDS, babies dying, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, etc.)" This is actually one of the better arguments, because it points to something that is extremely difficult to understand. This has been referred to as "the problem of evil" in classical theology.
To lay out the issue more clearly, I'll rephrase things. If God is so good and loving, and He loves us the way He says He does, why does He allow bad things to happen to us? This issue has haunted the church since the dawn of Christianity, because we see two completely opposed things being said and taking place. Here's how I lay it out: I say I love my son so much that I will do absolutely anything to take care of him, but when something comes along that he can't handle I just remain out of the way and let him deal with it. Does that sound loving? Not really, yet that is what it looks like to us from our perspective. Take the example I just gave and lets expand some more. I say I love my son and I say I will do anything for him and he is dealing with bullies at school. Yes, my first reaction is to get up, go over there, and royally thrash some little second grader over my knee. But, if I do that, will my son ever learn how to deal with the bullies on his own? No! He'll be handicapped by reliance only on me because he will never learn how to deal with that kind of issue on his own. That would be a bad situation for Gavin to be in! Part of his growing process is learning how to deal with things that occur in his world as well as to rely on his father's strength. He knows that in his troubles he can come to me for help and guidance, I won't fix his problems myself (I'm tempted to) but I will always help him. Now, let's look at this example and how it applies to God.
God says He loves us utterly and completely and that He will do anything and everything for us, but hurricanes, holocausts, murders, rapes, terrorism, and other tragedies happen. It seems from our perspective that God doesn't love us because He didn't stop these things. But, looking at my perspective as father to my son, I see how God can allow bad things to happen. He knows that if He does everything for us (the "poof" quick, no work required fix) we will never learn how to do anything ourselves. Not only that, but adversity/trials/trouble strengthens us, our convictions, and makes us who we are. Think about it. If you never had any trouble in life, would you be who you are today? I know I wouldn't be me without the things I've gone through, the lessons I've learned, and the junk I had to wade through. Does it mean God doesn't love me that it all wasn't handed to me on a silver platter? No. It means He loves me enough to want me to be who He made me to be, not some puppet on a string.
Which brings me to the second half of the explanation. God does love us and bad things happen. Those two parts of the question should be rather explanatory, but here's where things begin to get a bit deep. Hang on and read close.
God, despite knowing all that will happen, leaves us free to choose. That is part of love, love cannot be forced, but requires freedom. So, because God loves us, He leaves us free to choose pain and suffering or to choose peace and joy. But, how does that relate to the issue at hand? Simple, many of the tragedies of life occur as a direct result of a choice someone made (i.e. 9/11, murders, rape, etc.). If we weren't free to choose, much of the suffering in the world would instantly disappear. That's the easy part. The hard part begins to be looking at the "natural" things that happen and cause tons of suffering. Hurricanes, famine, tornadoes, still-births, children who die before their parents, cancer, AIDS are all natural phenomena. How can a loving God allow the world He created to do this? Part of the answer is our choices affect the world around us (think weather patterns being affected by gases we emit from things we make or other things we do causing issues with nature [I don't mean global warming, the people who push that need to examine their propaganda versus actual science, but that's another blog post someday...]) the other part of the answer returns to the idea of God as a father. Our choices affecting the world is easy to understand (or it should be!) because for everything we do there has to be some kind of consequence (god, bad or ugly). The idea of a loving father allowing us to have to go through so much suffering caused by things he could prevent almost seems ludicrous, but it is a lot of the answer. As I said earlier, we need to learn how to deal with things by ourself, not just be given everything on a silver platter. Natural disasters and other tragedies happen and make things horrible in our lives, but there is always a choice inside the tragedy. How we respond says a lot about who we are and what is at our core. Many people will turn to God only when something completely outside of their control happens and there is no chance of their controlling/fixing it. This doesn't mean God makes these things happen so that people will have no choice but to turn to Him, but just like me allowing my son to go through bad experiences without my intervention, it is about shaping us into the people we need to be instead of who we are. God is there waiting with help ready to be given (maybe not the help we THINK we NEED) in the middle of anything we face, just like I am ready to give my son help in every situation (not deal with it for him, but to help him deal with it). Think about it some and we'll pick back up in the next uber long post...
Number two is people who say "I have a problem with God because I cannot believe in a God who allows such horrible things to happen (i.e. AIDS, babies dying, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, etc.)" This is actually one of the better arguments, because it points to something that is extremely difficult to understand. This has been referred to as "the problem of evil" in classical theology.
To lay out the issue more clearly, I'll rephrase things. If God is so good and loving, and He loves us the way He says He does, why does He allow bad things to happen to us? This issue has haunted the church since the dawn of Christianity, because we see two completely opposed things being said and taking place. Here's how I lay it out: I say I love my son so much that I will do absolutely anything to take care of him, but when something comes along that he can't handle I just remain out of the way and let him deal with it. Does that sound loving? Not really, yet that is what it looks like to us from our perspective. Take the example I just gave and lets expand some more. I say I love my son and I say I will do anything for him and he is dealing with bullies at school. Yes, my first reaction is to get up, go over there, and royally thrash some little second grader over my knee. But, if I do that, will my son ever learn how to deal with the bullies on his own? No! He'll be handicapped by reliance only on me because he will never learn how to deal with that kind of issue on his own. That would be a bad situation for Gavin to be in! Part of his growing process is learning how to deal with things that occur in his world as well as to rely on his father's strength. He knows that in his troubles he can come to me for help and guidance, I won't fix his problems myself (I'm tempted to) but I will always help him. Now, let's look at this example and how it applies to God.
God says He loves us utterly and completely and that He will do anything and everything for us, but hurricanes, holocausts, murders, rapes, terrorism, and other tragedies happen. It seems from our perspective that God doesn't love us because He didn't stop these things. But, looking at my perspective as father to my son, I see how God can allow bad things to happen. He knows that if He does everything for us (the "poof" quick, no work required fix) we will never learn how to do anything ourselves. Not only that, but adversity/trials/trouble strengthens us, our convictions, and makes us who we are. Think about it. If you never had any trouble in life, would you be who you are today? I know I wouldn't be me without the things I've gone through, the lessons I've learned, and the junk I had to wade through. Does it mean God doesn't love me that it all wasn't handed to me on a silver platter? No. It means He loves me enough to want me to be who He made me to be, not some puppet on a string.
Which brings me to the second half of the explanation. God does love us and bad things happen. Those two parts of the question should be rather explanatory, but here's where things begin to get a bit deep. Hang on and read close.
God, despite knowing all that will happen, leaves us free to choose. That is part of love, love cannot be forced, but requires freedom. So, because God loves us, He leaves us free to choose pain and suffering or to choose peace and joy. But, how does that relate to the issue at hand? Simple, many of the tragedies of life occur as a direct result of a choice someone made (i.e. 9/11, murders, rape, etc.). If we weren't free to choose, much of the suffering in the world would instantly disappear. That's the easy part. The hard part begins to be looking at the "natural" things that happen and cause tons of suffering. Hurricanes, famine, tornadoes, still-births, children who die before their parents, cancer, AIDS are all natural phenomena. How can a loving God allow the world He created to do this? Part of the answer is our choices affect the world around us (think weather patterns being affected by gases we emit from things we make or other things we do causing issues with nature [I don't mean global warming, the people who push that need to examine their propaganda versus actual science, but that's another blog post someday...]) the other part of the answer returns to the idea of God as a father. Our choices affecting the world is easy to understand (or it should be!) because for everything we do there has to be some kind of consequence (god, bad or ugly). The idea of a loving father allowing us to have to go through so much suffering caused by things he could prevent almost seems ludicrous, but it is a lot of the answer. As I said earlier, we need to learn how to deal with things by ourself, not just be given everything on a silver platter. Natural disasters and other tragedies happen and make things horrible in our lives, but there is always a choice inside the tragedy. How we respond says a lot about who we are and what is at our core. Many people will turn to God only when something completely outside of their control happens and there is no chance of their controlling/fixing it. This doesn't mean God makes these things happen so that people will have no choice but to turn to Him, but just like me allowing my son to go through bad experiences without my intervention, it is about shaping us into the people we need to be instead of who we are. God is there waiting with help ready to be given (maybe not the help we THINK we NEED) in the middle of anything we face, just like I am ready to give my son help in every situation (not deal with it for him, but to help him deal with it). Think about it some and we'll pick back up in the next uber long post...
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