In the post for January 9, I talked about how in the Old Testament, God could cut people down at any point in their life if he judged them as bad. But then after Jesus, you had your whole life to make right decisions and you would be judged after living your whole life.
But then I see something like the Earthquake in Haiti. The poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, which certainly has had its trouble with crime - and while I can't cite specific demographics, I'm sure there were plenty of innocent people there. So, for the first time in my life, I am left without an answer to the oldest question in the world:
"If God is all loving and all forgiving, why does crap like this happen?"
I can justify evil in people; God gave us free will. But this is something that is classified as an "Act of God". An earthquake has nothing to do with free will...
For a while, I adopted the belief that bad things happen so Christians can respond to it and show God's love through their charity. But looking at the pictures on the news last night of people suffering, corpses in the streets, and hearing the reports of people digging through the rubble by hand to find their loved ones - I am ashemed that I ever thought that. As if God sets up these little puppet shows for us to respond to - yeah, tell that to the people digging through the rubble.
I know that no one really has an answer to this. I have been told in the past that there are things about God that we will never understand. And while that is probably true, its still an easy answer. Helps us sleep at night. I will add this to my list of ongoing questions and maybe have a better idea about it later in my journey. But for now, I am becoming a jaded Christian...
I am TOTALLY there with you and have been like this for months now. The Haiti earthquake wasn't the catalyst for me as I'm sure it wasn't for you either, but I've been having problems with this same thing. I've always figured it was all what we've done to ourselves due to the fall of Adam and Eve. God set them up in this sweet place with anything they could possibly need/want, but they chose to eat the forbidden fruit. So I've always thought well that's the perfect example of how 2 people were given paradise and perfection and they screwed it up and as "punishment" all these repercussions
ReplyDeletecame about because God warned them. Then, of course a catastrophe like this happens and I'm like HOW is that a reprocussion of a "crappy decision?" Or like in your former thought process how God is a "puppet master" of sorts just so Christians can expound the virtues of Christianty outwardly to the world. It can't be true, right? AGH! I hate cyclical questions that lead me no where. You're not alone though! :o)
Yeah, its frustrating. Especially because I thought reading the Bible every day would make me much more secure in my Christianity, but so far, it's only raised questions in my head. It's like a new episode of LOST that promises answers, but only sets up new questions. We all know how frustrating that is...
ReplyDeleteThere are no easy answers to this in the light of the earthquake in Haiti, and any easy answer you come across is probably and definitely wrong.
ReplyDeleteThe brokenness of the world is not merely of people but of ALL of God's creation. One of the things you see when you read through the whole Bible is that it is, well, EPIC. Huge. And involves ALL of creations. Including the mountains, seas, everything.
I reject the idea that pain happens just as a way to show good, like God is a puppet master. It grieves God to see pain. He does not cause suffering.
But the answer to the classic question of why is there suffering is not simply just a Job-like philosophical discussion but the center of our faith. Because the answer must begin and end at the foot of the cross.
God saw His people suffering in the brokenness of creation and sent His son to die, take on evil and death itself, and then be given a renewed body through God, thereby beginning the renewal of ALL of creation. How this plays out is MORE than just "well that means don't cry, buddy, cuz you'll be in heaven," an answer I find unsatisfactory and I think many find insulting. Instead, this means that God in light of the cross and through the Holy Spirit is actively restoring this world here and now.
The first thing that must be said that the question of "where is God in all this suffering" is that He is suffering with those who suffer. This is seen and spoken throughout Scripture, culminating in the manifestation of God coming down to be ONE of us and know our suffering, then dying and suffering on a cross and taking on the sin of the whole world. Because of this, I have faith (not 100 percent scientific certainty, but something better -- faith) that God is with those who most need comforting, he is with the widows and orphans and will not leave them in their time of suffering.
The other thing I'll say is that -- actually, there are few other things I can say, cuz there are no easy answers. I jsut know that God is grieving because of all the pain and suffering, he is calling us to BE with those who suffer and provide in our abundance with them just as he is with those who suffer and provides for them, and that what happened on a cross 2000 years ago must be the starting point on our humbled, broken search for wisdom in times of immense uncertainty.