God Charged with “crimes against humanity”

In debates regarding God, religion, and/or philosophy (and all that fun gray area in between) there have been a number of questions that come up on a regular basis. Some of these questions include, but are not limited to: “Why do bad things happen to good people?” or “If God is good why is there so much evil in the world?” or if you rather “How can we even be sure that there is a god, let alone that he cares about us?” Obviously these are some serious questions. I would never profess to be able to answer them but I would like to reflect on them a bit and perhaps share some insight.

Why do bad things happen to good people?

Because there are no good people!

Ok I obviously do not believe that but let’s look at the question. People tend to gravitate to God for the answer to this question, as though God is directly responsible for every action that happens to us as humans. So is he?

When I was younger I was at my grandmother‘s house and I had managed to get myself into some trouble. I do not remember what I had done (probably gotten into the liquor cabinet again) but my grandmother was not pleased with me. On the way to the car I fell and skinned my knee. My grandmother then told me “See! That’s God punishing you for being bad!” As a five year old this was a very scary concept. Was this ever present God always going to be there to pull the rug out from under me or cut my brake lines whenever I mess up?

The answer is no. The bible tells Christians that God is just. This does not mean that God is prepared at a moment’s notice with smite bullets at the ready, it means that on the Day of Judgment (May 14^th so mark your calendar) God will be our Judge and determine our fates. In the everyday, while God knows what we are doing he does not punish us just yet. Were that the case I think some people would have been victims of God’s wrath by now (I am sure you can think of a few)

The fact is I tripped because I was a clumsy 5 year old (and in many ways I still am). We need to recognize the role of ourselves and other people in bringing bad things to us. When something goes wrong are you really a victim? Are you just trying to blame someone? Is God just an easy target? Well be careful because I am pretty sure his aim is better than yours. Many of the “bad things” that happen to people have little or nothing to do with God at all. Many of these “bad things” happen either because people have caused them or failed to prevent them.

If God is good, then why is there so much evil in the world?

Because evil is such GOOD entertainment!

I feel pretty safe in the assumption that God is, in fact, good. This is probably because I am a Christian and God being good is rather important to the forgiveness thing. But did God create evil? Can a good God create evil? Where did evil come from?

Well here is another question to consider: How do we know what good and evil really are? Unlike God we are not omnipotent, we do not know everything and therefore we cannot be sure of or definitions of good and evil. Furthermore, the meaning of the words “good” and “evil” are different depending on worldview and timeframe. There is very rarely a universal absolute good or evil.

Perhaps there is some greater good to be found in the things that we believe are evil. I know it seems terrible to think but often times we learn the greatest lessons from the most terrible of circumstances. If we never encountered obstacles, loss, pain, suffering, or any of these “evils” we would never learn or develop in mind body or faith. Consider: what would life be like without these “evils”?

How can we even be sure that there is a God, let alone that he cares about us?

Are you dead yet? Then he can’t hate you that much.

I have already discussed the existence of God in my first post so I encourage you to give it a read. As for whether or not he cares about us, that is an interesting question.

Let us assume for a moment that God created all things. It then stands to reason that God would care about that which he/she/it/they/ created. In many religions humans are created from either a part of God or “in his image”. If something is part of you, or bares your resemblance to you, it stands to reason that you would take interest and even care about it.

How about from the other direction? Let’s assume that God, having created us or not, hates us. God despises us, our very existence makes God ill. Why would God not destroy us and wipe us from the plane of existence? You would think that if God really does hate humanity, humanity would not have time to consider this before being destroyed in a shower of apocalyptic smite bullets. From this standpoint it seems that God either likes us (I’d say love but I don’t want to move to quickly) or is indifferent. However, by virtue of our continued existence I do not believe God hates us.

Of course all these points are based off presuppositions and in many cases are results of my personal world view. As one of my professors says “your mileage may vary.” But we often consider these questions in times of trouble and we are rather egocentric at the time. “Why would God do this to me?” This is especially true during this time of economic down turn. Many of us struggle to understand what is happening to us and how God fits into it all. I personally believe that God does not hate us, but can offer us strength and support to get through these hard times… However, “your mileage may vary.”