Perhaps for your whole life you have been looking into the church from the outside. There are many reasons why you cannot walk in through those doors but something about what goes on intrigues you. There is a battle inside of you of whether or not you can participate in this religion/gathering. There is the reality of life which sucks ass and then there’s the hope of something better which you want to claim as true. But for some reason you can’t help but to see that the hope does not outweigh what is bad. So here I would like to address a few of those issues. For the next few blog posts, I will try to address one specific question/topic and do my best to give some form of answer. I don’t expect to answer all of your questions or give you any sense of peace but I hope that this will at least begin to take away some of the myths of Christianity and what it implies to your life.
Question 1)
If there is a God who is good, why is there so much crap in the world?
Answer 1)
I’m assuming this isn’t the first time you’ve asked the question nor will this be the first time you hear the answer. You have heard that it is due to sin and humans choosing to disobey God rather than to obey Him. This caused a fracture in the relationship with God which has allowed suffering, evil and all the bad stuff to enter our world and lives. This is essentially true but I think that it is a very narrow-minded question if that’s where it ends.
We must begin to address how we are to react to suffering and what suffering implies to our lives.
Suffering and evil are all over the Bible in everyone’s life. There is a misconception that a Christian who loves God is going to be free of poverty, disease, suffering, etc. but that is just not biblical. Suffering in the Bible often involves 2 things (at least off the top of my head) which go hand in hand. Suffering seems to often be the result of some form of sin but suffering seems to always be a gateway for people to find their strength and hope in God.
We see in the life of the Israelites who were extremely close to entering into the Promised Land but due to their disobedience and unbelief, God condemned them to 40 more years of wandering in the desert. God could have very well allowed them into the land as they did not trust in Him but their whole existence afterward would be one lacking a relationship with their creator (which would have never allowed the rest of the world to know God). Through their 40 years in the desert, God put the Israelites to the test; to the point where they had nothing and
their very survival depended on His goodness to provide. God allowed and even ordained suffering because their faith was in jeopardy.
Suffering even enters into the life of the one person who never did anything wrong. His faith was never in question and his name was Jesus. He had to suffer on the cross because there was sin in the world which we have committed. As a result of that sin, Jesus Christ would suffer a death that was physically horrendous and culturally humiliating. In his time of suffering which was due to the sin and disobedience of others, his faith in the Father wa
s tested. Obediently he suffered understanding that this was the will of the Father so that the sins of the world would be atoned for. The doctrine and theological implications are great but in our context we only need to understand that Jesus also suffered (who did nothing wrong). In Christ’s suffering, he had to continue to depend and rely on the strength and goodness of the Father.
So what does this mean to you? I feel that these are the words God would use to speak to you:
“You are my good creation and I love you. I don’t like you being hurt and I don’t like that you are suffering. But you need to see that what is worse and more dreadful is you not loving me. I am not being egomaniacal. I not only give life but I am life. I want you to partake in the gift of life. I don’t like that you starve. I don’t like that you feel lonely. I don’t like that you suffer from diseases. As horrible as these things are, I need you to see that I will do whatever it takes for you to draw near me, even sacrificing my own son to prepare a way. I will force a whole nation to not believe in me if that is what it takes for you to love me. I am a loving God, king and father. I do not abandon you. I will allow you to suffer if that’s what it takes for you to receive true life and true joy. Remember though, you do not suffer alone, I have suffered with you on the cross. I have suffered so that you may have joy. I love you. I love you with all your imperfections and inabilities. I love you with all the wrong things you have done. You are my child whom I love and want to be with.”
So to conclude this post, I have a question for you. Do you question the goodness and existence of God because of the horrible things in your life? If so, how is your relationship and faith in God? Are you defining what is good or is He? Is there room for growth? Is he trying to force you to trust in Him?
Faith in Him won’t relieve you from any suffering but it will give you a picture of the end goal which is Him. If you put your suffering’s relief as the end goal, you will only find yourself in a mirage if you achieve peace. God refuses to be #2. He will not tolerate it and He will not only do what He can to force Himself to be #1, He will do all that He can to make Himself as great in your life as possible because He knows He is the greatest treasure.
Similar to working out, you need to break down your muscles and go through much pain, sweat and blood to get stronger. It doesn’t matter how much you work out or how advanced you are, you must continue to push yourself through more pain to get even better. There is no true plateau, you MUST continue to press on. God will not let you be satisfied in Him in one place, He will not stop until He is absolutely supreme, which is when we are with Him in eternity.
***** Please leave comments and questions if there are any. I don’t mean for this to be confrontation or controversial. Let’s be civil and hold dialogue. I realize I might be wrong, so let’s be adults and discuss this from many points of view.*****
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