Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
an enabling god
Recently in Florida a mother shot her four children before turning the gun on herself... five dead. The pastor at the funeral said that it was God's will for this to happen. Here's the USA Today coverage. He went on to say that the husband of the killer and father of the dead children forgave his wife while leaning over her casket in the church.
One way this father can mouth words of forgiveness over his murdered children's killer's casket is if he feels under some threat or danger of this God getting to him. Another reason might be that he is in shock and denial and is unable to think the thing clearly at this time. Perhaps under instruction from his pastor, he mouthed the words to find some relief from the overwhelming pain he's experiencing.
My brain does not work this way. Never has, never will. Pain suffered from egregious acts of senselessness doesn't just go away by saying "I forgive you". This man has lost his entire life. Speaking words of forgiveness may even short-circuit his ability to recover from this horrific tragedy.
Assigning meaning onto an invisible God is what the pastor is doing. Making it "God's will", in my mind, it makes God an enabler of murder and suicide. Doesn't it logically follow? The pastor said that God could have stopped it but then didn't, doesn't that make God a party to the outcome? Those in attendance seem to go along with the idea as something good and comforting.
What this sort of thinking really does is devalue human life. That's what it did inside of me when I thought this way. God is exalted and human value is diminished.
Some might say, "We can't know God's will or actions. We don't understand His ways. His ways are so much higher than our ability to understand." Okay... if God is not possible to know, then how come we humans know so much about Him? The pretzel just gets more twisted as more questions are posed in an attempt to excuse the "unknowable" loving God from acts that run diametrically opposed to the nature assigned him by his people. (A pretzel sentence to be sure.)
So, how do I look at an event such as this? I'm not able to explain the specifics. I'm sure it gets very complicated once you go below the surface of this particular family's problems. I would simply say that the natural world we live in is an unpredictable, scary place sometimes. Human beings are the most dangerous creature on earth. We have positive attributes certainly, but we are dangerous too.
The pretzel loses a number of twists when life is observed naturally. It makes life easier in some ways, but there is still pressure put on the participants to make their own life count.
One way this father can mouth words of forgiveness over his murdered children's killer's casket is if he feels under some threat or danger of this God getting to him. Another reason might be that he is in shock and denial and is unable to think the thing clearly at this time. Perhaps under instruction from his pastor, he mouthed the words to find some relief from the overwhelming pain he's experiencing.
My brain does not work this way. Never has, never will. Pain suffered from egregious acts of senselessness doesn't just go away by saying "I forgive you". This man has lost his entire life. Speaking words of forgiveness may even short-circuit his ability to recover from this horrific tragedy.
Assigning meaning onto an invisible God is what the pastor is doing. Making it "God's will", in my mind, it makes God an enabler of murder and suicide. Doesn't it logically follow? The pastor said that God could have stopped it but then didn't, doesn't that make God a party to the outcome? Those in attendance seem to go along with the idea as something good and comforting.
What this sort of thinking really does is devalue human life. That's what it did inside of me when I thought this way. God is exalted and human value is diminished.
Some might say, "We can't know God's will or actions. We don't understand His ways. His ways are so much higher than our ability to understand." Okay... if God is not possible to know, then how come we humans know so much about Him? The pretzel just gets more twisted as more questions are posed in an attempt to excuse the "unknowable" loving God from acts that run diametrically opposed to the nature assigned him by his people. (A pretzel sentence to be sure.)
So, how do I look at an event such as this? I'm not able to explain the specifics. I'm sure it gets very complicated once you go below the surface of this particular family's problems. I would simply say that the natural world we live in is an unpredictable, scary place sometimes. Human beings are the most dangerous creature on earth. We have positive attributes certainly, but we are dangerous too.
The pretzel loses a number of twists when life is observed naturally. It makes life easier in some ways, but there is still pressure put on the participants to make their own life count.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
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