Wednesday, January 30, 2019

WEEKLY COMMENTARY: When Tragedy Strikes ---- Where Is God?


Many years ago, I took my family on a winter vacation to the Saranac Lake area in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York.  It was during the school break between Christmas and New Year's.

In the mid-1930's, the nearby Village of Lake Placid had been the site of a Winter Olympics, so today there remain Olympic ice rinks. toboggan runs and other Olympic facilities open to the public.

We were joined by six Summit families, and we shared a large rented house with a grand fireplace and a good supply of firewood.  So, in the early evenings, when the wives and kids headed off to bed, the dads would relax by the fire and chat over a glass of wine or beer.

One dad was newly returned from an overseas business trip.  By chance he had been to a country which had just suffered an earthquake.  He was quite consumed by the devastation he has seen.  Buildings had collapsed, falling on occupants and passersby, and some 23 people had been killed.  Of course, there had also been the loss of electric power and clean water, and the streets were filled with rubble.

"Why did this tragedy happen," he asked us, "Where was God?"

          ---- Theory #1After a moment or two, one of the dads suggested that God has his reasons for making this happen, and that we are in no position to judge God.  The dad said there was some purpose in this suffering, but that it was beyond our ability to understand.  Furthermore, if God initiated this tragedy, who were we to now ask God for help in our prayers?  So, if God is so powerful, He doesn't have to be fair!

          ---- Theory #2:   A second dad had a different thought:  Tragedy in our lives is for our own good, he said.  It teaches us to be strong.  Perhaps God does painful things to us as His way of helping us, shaping us up ---- like a drill sergeant in the Marine Corps.  Can't suffering be educational?  Can't it cure some of our faults and make us better people?  Just as a parent sometimes must punish a child?"

          ---- Theory #3:  But dad #3 had a negative reaction to this.  "To explain suffering by saying it is attempting to "cure" our faults, suggests that tragedy is a remedy.  If God is really just testing us, he must know by now that many of us will fail the test.  If He is only giving us burdens we can bear, we have seen His miscalculations far too often.
          "Also, why does there seem to be an unfair distribution of suffering in the world?  Does God really give everyone just what they deserve and need?  Why do totally unselfish people suffer, people who never did anything wrong?"
          "And, what about when a friend tells a sufferer that the suffering has a purpose?   It really does not help the sufferer or explain the suffering.  It is meant primarily to defend God, to use words and ideas to transform bad into good, pain into privilege.  Such answers are thought up by people who believe that God is a loving parent who controls all that happens to us,  and on the basis of that belief they adjust and interpret the facts to fit their assumptions."

          ---- Theory #4:  Dad #4 had a very different opinion.  "God is not doing this to us.  Our  God is a god of justice and not of power.  Thus, he can still be on our side when bad things happen to us.  He can know that we are good and honest people who deserve better.  Our misfortunes are none of His doing, and so we can turn to him for help.
          "Regardless of how our tragedies are caused," he continued, "God stands ready to help us cope with the tragedies, if we can only get beyond the feelings of guilt and anger that separate us from Him.  Could it be that, 'How could God do this to me?' is the wrong question for us to ask?  We should ask, 'God, see what is happening to me?  Can you help me?'  We should therefore turn to God, not to be judged or forgiven, not to be rewarded or punished, but to be strengthened and comforted." 

          ---- Theory #5:  Dad #5 had yet a different approach:  "Assume that God is the cause of our suffering.  But our God is a god of justice and righteousness.  Our God is all-powerful and causes everything that happens in the world.  Our God is also just and fair.  He stands up for people so they get what they deserve.  The good prosper and the wicked are punished.  He gives people exactly what they deserve.  In a time of tragedy people should think it is the victim who should be blamed, not God ---- then, the tragedy doesn't seem quite so irrational and threatening.  Because God punishes people for their sins, it is our misdeeds, they can say, that cause our misfortunes."
          "However, people may feel guilty as they assume they were somehow responsible for their misfortune.  They may wonder which of their actions caused the suffering, as they review what may have been said, done or not done.  Others will ask if pointless suffering for some unspecified sin is a contribution to the improvement of mankind?  But, blaming the victim does help fortunate people believe their good fortune is deserved, rather than being a matter of chance.

          ---- Theory #6:  "Could it be that things happen to people for no reason ---- that God has lost touch with the world, and nobody is in the driver's seat?  If God is not in charge of all things, then who is?  Worse yet, could it be that God does not care what happens to us?
          "Although bad things do sometimes happen to good people, it may be that they are not willed by God.  For example, could it be that God doesn't decide which families will give birth to a handicapped child?  Perhaps God would like people to get what they deserve in life, but He cannot always arrange it.  Are we forced to choose between a good God who is not totally powerful, or a powerful God who is not totally good?  Perhaps we should choose to believe in God's goodness."
          "When we were children, we came to realize that our parents were not all-powerful, and that a beloved broken toy had to be thrown out if our parents could not fix it, but not because they did not want to fix it.  Likewise, there may be some things God would like to fix, but He does not control them.  The Bible speaks repeatedly of God as the special protector of the poor, the widow and the orphan, without raising the question of how it happened that they became poor, widowed or orphaned in the first place."

It was getting late, but next it was my turn.  "It is hard to follow so much sincere wisdom, spoken by you guys," I said.  "But I confess that my simple human brain cannot reconcile these many conflicting perspectives on the nature of God.  I always seem to return to what a beloved Bible scholar has said many times ---- "It is a mystery!"
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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal spiritual growth this winter at CPC.
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