It seems that no one has seen the face of God
directly. Most of us believe there is some kind of God, who at one
time established the many forms of life on Earth, and organized physical forces
of great complexity, which generally give predictable results in their actions
---- there seems to be some order in our universe.
However, despite this, sometimes a person does contract a
fatal disease, dies in a natural disaster, or dies in an automobile accident or
other no-fault cause of premature death. We call these incidents
"tragedies"
Losing one's job, living in poverty or being unable to find
timely medical assistance, are examples of "hardships".
If God is the supreme power who created us, the earth and
the skies, why are our lives sometimes interrupted by tragedy or
hardship?
Human understanding of how God works appears to be largely
beyond our mortal abilities, but over the centuries much thought has attempted
to explain this mystery. The result has been the development of numerous
theories, which take us into the realm of faith.
Which of the following
theories about God do you find the most compelling?
Theory #1: I do God's will out of love for God, not
out of self-interest. I can be an obedient, moral person, but I act out
of love for God, my creator, without my calculating that moral and obedient
people will be rewarded with good fortune. I can love and be loyal to
Him, even if God perhaps does not show much love to me in return.
Theory #2:
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. Nothing happens without His will. Our
God stands up for people getting what they deserve, so that the good prosper
and the wicked are punished. He gives people exactly what they deserve.
Friends and family of
victims sometimes think the victim should be blamed so that evil doesn't seem
quite so irrational and threatening to themselves. They believe that
because God punishes people for their sins, it is one's own misdeeds that have
caused their misfortunes. But, what if one does not know what the causal
misdeed was. Some ask if pointless suffering for some unspecified sin is
really a contribution to humankind? Blaming the victim helps fortunate
people believe that their good fortune is deserved, rather than being a matter
of chance.
Why does there appear to
be such an unfair distribution of suffering in the world? Does God really
give everyone what they deserve and need? Why do totally unselfish people
suffer, people who never do anything wrong?
Theory #3:
Sometimes victims of misfortune try to console themselves with the idea that
God has his reasons for making this happen to them, reasoning that they are in
no position to judge God. They believe there is some purpose in this
suffering, but that it is beyond our ability to understand. Furthermore,
if God has initiated the tragedy or hardship on us, how can we now,
in our prayers, ask God to help us?
Theory #4: 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?
Bad things happen to good
people in this world, but it may not be God who wills it. 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?
When we were children we
came to realize that our parents were not all-powerful, and that a broken toy
had to be thrown away when they could not fix it, not because they did not want
to fix it. Likewise, perhaps there are some things God would like to fix,
but He does not control them. The Bible repeatedly speaks 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.
Theory #5: Tragedy in our lives is for our
own good. It teaches us to be strong. Perhaps God does painful
things to us as His way of helping us ---- like a drill sergeant in the Marine
Corps. Can't suffering be educational? Perhaps it can cure us of our
faults and make us better people, just as a parent must sometimes punish a
child?
Theory #6: In troubled times, we are not compelled
to feel that God has judged and condemned us. We can be angry at
what has happened, without feeling that we are angry at God. Furthermore,
we can recognize that our anger at some of life's unfairness is coming from
God, in our instinctive compassion upon seeing how other people suffer.
He teaches us to be angry at injustice, and to feel compassion for the
afflicted. We can feel that our indignation is God's anger at unfairness,
working through us.
Theory #7: God is not doing this to us. He 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, God
stands ready to help us cope with the situation, if we can just 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 will turn to God, not to be judged or forgiven, not to
be rewarded or punished, but to be strengthened and comforted.
Theory #8: When all else fails, some people
try to explain suffering by believing that it comes to liberate us
from a world of pain and in the case of death, leads to a better place.
Death takes us out of this world of sin and pain. The victim is now in a
happier land where there is no pain, no grief.
Sometimes, when our souls
yearn for justice, because we so desperately want to believe that God will be
fair to us, we fasten our hopes on the idea that life in this world is not the
only reality. Somewhere beyond this life is another world where "the
last will be first" and those whose lives were cut short here on earth
will be reunited with those they loved, and will spend eternity with
them. No living person can know anything about the reality of that
hope. The non-physical body that left us when we die, we call our
"soul". Belief in a world to come where innocent souls are
compensated for their suffering can help us endure the unfairness of life in
this world, without losing faith. But it can also be an excuse for not
being troubled or outraged by injustices around us, and not using our God-given
intelligence to do something about it.
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These thoughts are brought to you by the CPC Adult
Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage your spiritual growth this
Spring.
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