Roger's got a post on his blog about God owing humanity an apology because he *allows* or causes bad things to happen. His most recent example was the thousands of lives lost in the Tsnami, the goat f'k that was Katrina, etc. To begin my theological position, you have to accept that The Fall happened, and when The Fall happened it was not just human beings that fell. All of Creation fell. The book of Romans says that all of Creation groans to be set free from the curse of the fall/the return of Christ. See also Jeremiah 12.
But, back to the point at hand - I believe that when God *allows* bad things to happen what He's really allowing is for us to have to deal with the consequences of our own actions? Who caused The Fall? The Serpent had a really slick argument to entice them, but ultimately it was their choice to chomp on the apple. So, human beings caused The Fall, and all of creation suffered for it. In response to the increase in the frequency and ferocity of natural disasters, Al Gore tells us that Global Warming is causing this. Who causes Global Warming? We do. We didn't have to. For as far back as I can remember, scientists have been warning about Global Warming. But, until recently, has anyone really been doing anything to cut down on our greenhouse emissions? Nope. We exercised our own freewill to ignore all the warnings - to not recycle, to not conserve, to drive gas guzzling tanks, build a city below sea level and then have no real plan of evacuation for those people living there, etc, etc. We did it. Not God, us.
I don't think there's a single one among us who seriously wishes God hadn't given us Free Will. But, when we rage at God for allowing us to suffer the consequences of exercising our Free Will, isn't that exactly what we're saying? That we wish He hadn't given us Free Will? Or, are we saying that we just don't want to take the consequences of Free Will? We want to sow our wild oats, and then get mad at God for not giving us a crop failure. Isn't that 1) unbelievably ungreatful, 2) unbelievably arrogant? Who the heck do we think we are to judge God? If God stopped paying attention to us for one nano-second, we would cease to exist.
C.S. Lewis said: "The ancient man approached God (or even the gods) as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man the roles are reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock. He is a quite kindly judge: if God should have a reasonable defence forbeing the god who permits war, poverty, and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God's acquittal. But the important thing is that Man is on the Bench and God in the Dock."
But, back to the point at hand - I believe that when God *allows* bad things to happen what He's really allowing is for us to have to deal with the consequences of our own actions? Who caused The Fall? The Serpent had a really slick argument to entice them, but ultimately it was their choice to chomp on the apple. So, human beings caused The Fall, and all of creation suffered for it. In response to the increase in the frequency and ferocity of natural disasters, Al Gore tells us that Global Warming is causing this. Who causes Global Warming? We do. We didn't have to. For as far back as I can remember, scientists have been warning about Global Warming. But, until recently, has anyone really been doing anything to cut down on our greenhouse emissions? Nope. We exercised our own freewill to ignore all the warnings - to not recycle, to not conserve, to drive gas guzzling tanks, build a city below sea level and then have no real plan of evacuation for those people living there, etc, etc. We did it. Not God, us.
I don't think there's a single one among us who seriously wishes God hadn't given us Free Will. But, when we rage at God for allowing us to suffer the consequences of exercising our Free Will, isn't that exactly what we're saying? That we wish He hadn't given us Free Will? Or, are we saying that we just don't want to take the consequences of Free Will? We want to sow our wild oats, and then get mad at God for not giving us a crop failure. Isn't that 1) unbelievably ungreatful, 2) unbelievably arrogant? Who the heck do we think we are to judge God? If God stopped paying attention to us for one nano-second, we would cease to exist.
C.S. Lewis said: "The ancient man approached God (or even the gods) as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man the roles are reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock. He is a quite kindly judge: if God should have a reasonable defence forbeing the god who permits war, poverty, and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God's acquittal. But the important thing is that Man is on the Bench and God in the Dock."
posted by Waltzing Matilda at 7:49 PM
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