I hear this a lot: “If there is a God, then why does He let bad things happen to good people?”
I don’t blame anyone for thinking this. If you are a Christian, then this is a legitimate question to ask of the tradition you know, and if you are not a Christian, then this is a legitimate question to ask of the Christians you know.
But, I have a couple problems with it. First, that glaring He; yeah, it cuts right at my soul. Second, it’s that word “let.” God lets bad things happen.
Maybe it would surprise you to learn that I don’t believe in an omnipotent God. I don’t believe that God is all powerful. I don’t believe God knows the future. And, I definitely don’t believe God is a he!
I’ve thought this way for more than two years of very deep study, so it’s sometimes hard for me to remember how radical it sounds. Some people ask whether a God who is not all powerful is worthy of worship. I mean, you can’t pray to this God and then expect some kind of intervention. God does not have that power.
I don’t completely buck tradition. This God I talk to is all loving. And, I don’t need to accept contradiction in order to believe this. I don’t have to somehow explain to myself why a God who is all loving lets people suffer. I don’t have to explain why God intervenes to save some people and not others. I don’t have to marvel at the miracle of one person surviving that plane crash when 200 other people died.
God does still have power. It’s just persuasive power, and not coercive power. God cannot force you to do anything. You make your own decisions. You are free. But, God loves you. God wants what’s best for you, and in every second, God is working in the world to persuade you to make better decisions. The question is whether you’re listening or not.
When you suffer, God suffers. When you cause others to suffer, God feels their pain and yours, and works to persuade you to make the best possible decisions given what you’ve already done. Sometimes God can only persuade you to make the least worst decision. And, always–ALWAYS–you can say no!
This might sound completely radical to you. Or, it might sound a little too warm and fuzzy. I understand.
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You know… The opening question is something that I’ve often asked too. This is an interesting reflection that I’d never thought about before.
How painful it must be for a God that looks down on us, and loves us all, but can’t do anything to stop the hurt and pain. It’s very humanising.
It actually sounds very logical. I sometimes feel deeply religious people look to God too much to solve their problems, when they’ve been given the opportunity to solve a problem themselves and learn from that.
I like your thoughts, but I don’t agree with them. Mainly because I like thinking that God is all powerful and that when I mess up it’s not all on me. But I do like the idea of an all-loving God.
What you are saying makes sense, but it is definitely a bit radical. I have no idea what to believe when it comes to God. I think I am still trying to figure it out.
The problems with the argument of “good things to bad people” are multiple, but right off it is rather ad misericordiam to state and doesn’t refute any assertion. I don’t know why people automatically assume when they try to attack religion that God is loving when they try to assign their own view of love on a higher being.
Not compltely relating to the post but I have a few questions I’ve always wanted to ask a Christian and you seem like one who’d answer them truthfully.
If there was a god then how do you know that your religion is right when there are so many?
Do you believe in heaven and hell as the afterlife or do you think heaven and hell is on earth?
Several years ago, I was at a new-age Christian church where they spoke about a “Mother and Father God.” I was immediately uncomfortable, which is surprising as I am not a devout Christian. I suspect the years of attending Mass with my friends’ families altered the way I think of God.
people obviously have different opinions about every aspect of God and who he/she is and what powers he/she has, and i think that comes with the territory of there being God — God is what each individual needs him/her to be in their lives. at least, that’s what i think.
with that said, i absolutely whole-heartedly agree with the last 2 paragraphs you wrote. i don’t think i could have written my own thoughts more clearly than that!
I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree on some of your beliefs.
I call God a “he” mostly out of habit. I’m open to him being of either gender or no gender at all. And like you, I think God is a all loving God.
However, I can’t reconcile him as an entity with limited power. If he had the capacity to give us free will, create this world (even through the realm of science) and influence us on some basic level, then surely he is more powerful then people give him credit for.
I’ve always heard the theory of God being a passive watcher. I’ve never really liked it. It makes him appear to be almost cruel, simply watching, hoping that the poor woman in Columbia isn’t killed by drug traffickers, or that another life isn’t taken by a suicide bomber, the list goes on an on.
I have no clue as to why God isn’t swooping down and rescuing those suffering in certain regions of the Middle East, Africa, or other nations where there is so much suffering. I just know someone has to care about these people who are dying because of war, hunger, and disease and it might as well be us.
I don’t think your thoughts are radical, just we don’t agree on everything. =)
Here is what I like to believe. I believe that bad things happen, so we can learn to appreciate the good. I also do not, and never have believed that god is all powerful and could stop all the bad stuff that is happening in the world. I believe that god gave us free will and paths (optional paths, just like the old Goosebump books where you get to pick what to do, option a,b,or c. You are in charge of what happens) It is not his job to come in an correct everything. People are responsible for their own actions and while it may affect more than that person it is not nor has it ever been gods job to fix it. Which is another reason why I am not a firm believer in prayer. What will happen will happen, and no one can tell me “oh this happened because we all prayed a lot” B.S.
As mostly an objective observer, I think this post and the comments are fascinating. Glad you’re blogging this now!
Excellent post, and I largely agree. What use god has for a gender I’ll never know. I do have a hard time reconciling god as creator with a limited being, however. If god is the source of all, it’s hard to picture that as a limited source. If god is not, then what is? Even a cyclical big bang and big crunch just has you going in circles with nothing to set off the round.
Either way, you’ve made me think, and I’m happy for it.
I like your perspective about him being persuasive and not coercive.
It’s difficult for a lot of people to accept. What’s worse for me, though, is thinking that there is a God who could prevent the mass suffering on Earth (not the little stuff, but genocides and wars), and doesn’t.
I don’t know that I’m right (see my post from last Monday). I certainly don’t think Christianity is more right than other religions, but it’s what I practice. If we had to be sure of the absolute truth of things in order to act, we never would act!
No, I don’t believe in heaven or hell (on earth or in the afterlife). There might be something like heaven after we die, but I don’t think we roam up in the clouds looking down.
It was a difficult think for me to address to. I held on to He for a while. But, now I prefer not to call God father and mother or he/she. I just call God, God and avoid all pronouns.
I agree that we’re all going to have our own ideas of God (otherwise, I wouldn’t study theology), but I disagree that God is just what we need God to be. It’s a tricky task full of a lot of doubt, but what we’re trying to do is describe the reality of God. It’s not purely subjective, though it’s definitely always tainted by subjectivity.
We might really have to agree to disagree when I tell you I don’t believe God created the world (at least in the traditional sense) or gave us freedom.
I’m definitely not talking about deism. God is not a passive observer. Actually, God couldn’t be more the opposite. God is related to everything, feels everything, and exerts influence (though not coercion) in every moment.
I believe he created the world through nifty science.
I have no clue as to what that means from an academic standpoint, but I always thought he had to do it. Maybe it wasn’t 7 days, and evolution is what brought us here, but I think he helped influence it.
LOL, I’m just all over the place.
Yes, that is problematic, but not if you don’t believe God is The Creator. It’s hard to explain in a short comment, but, though I believe that God creates, I don’t believe that God is the sole creator. Maybe I’ll write a post about that some time.
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