Do you think that you have discovered something new and unusual in your doubts towards the teachings of the church and of the scripture? You have questioned God and said: how can a loving God cause or allow all of the bad things that I see to happen?
Religious people, trying to defend God, have made excuses for God in an attempt to answer this question. The apologist goes to the world to apologize for the sins of God. We are told to have patience with God, to forgive God.
But what of God’s word to us? Has not God answered this question, surely burning on the hearts of people since the beginning of time?
No.
The word from God does not answer this question! It is silent. You can look and search in your bible and you will not find the answer. You can find people asking the question. You can find some peoples’ answer to the question, just like anywhere and anytime you could find peoples’ answers to the questions of the day.
Most of the book of Job in the bible is Job asking this question of God. His friends take up chapter after chapter giving their weak an hollow answers, expounding and “apologizing” and criticizing with great poetry and structure and argument. And yet at the end of it all, God tells them they are ignorant, proud, and wasting time with their speeches. And when you expect God to answer, he does not, at least not a direct answer, an explanation, as we would request of him.
Then what do we do, where do we go with this question?
Perhaps God is answering, through a story. A story that requires listening to God. That we give God our attention for a moment instead of insisting that all eyes stay on ourselves and our questions.
And it turns out that God does have a story. A love story. An adventure story. A story of sacrifice, of death and destruction, of life and forgiveness. A story for all times and all places. It is the story of God. Nowhere does God say “stop asking your questions.” But listening to a story does require a certain pause in one’s speech. And an honest question does pause for an answer does it not?
1 comment:
I have dealt with the popular question you pose, and I have a question. Why do people blame God for all the bad things that happen? I think Satan has a lot to do with bad things. Each of us have a choice to trust and follow God or to trust ourselves and go with the flow. Trust ourselves? Accept whatever happens--like taking prayer out of schools, striking the name of Jesus from what is politically correct? If I were God, that would hurt. He loves us so much He sent His only Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (with Him). I choose to trust and follow Him through whatever happens. He promised He would never leave us or forsake us, and He keeps His promises.
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