Hello Jess,
It's taken me a while to respond to your latest question because I'm not sure where to start. To simply answer why I think God allows children to hurt, be hurt, get sick or even die doesn't seem the right thing to do. Because the answer sounds way too simple without some major theological foundations being put out there first.
I mentioned the "mean dude" in a previous post. I talked about believing that evil exists and I believe also that because of free will, God has allowed us the freedom we think we want. And then we just go on ahead and totally wreck the place. So things like cancer or hydrocephalus are a result of what you'll hear Christians call "a fallen world."
That's all I'm going to say because I think that maybe we should talk a bit more about this. What do you think about it? Do you think God causes the bad things to teach us lessons? Or do you think maybe that stuff isn't from Him? What other questions does that bring up?
I think if we talk more about this, the answer to your question about children being hurt might become more clear to you. Not that our human minds can EVER make sense of the injustices done to children, I don't believe we're supposed to be comfortable with that, but maybe we can understand a little more that God's role in it is always love.
Take your time and throw more questions out. I'll make Midnight Cafe answer them :)
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4 comments:
Thanks, Heather! ;)
I'm sorry, Jess, that I've been dragging my feet about answering some of your last questions, too. It might be helpful for you to hop on over to my blog and read this post: http://themidnightcafe.blogspot.com/2009/02/working-out-of-faith-theology.html
I don't know how to talk about this in a brief, succinct sort of way. As I've said in my own blog, all of my life seems to be a working out of faith and theology. So, it takes a long time to talk about it.
I don't know if God necessarily makes bad things happen to us, more like he allows them to happen to us. There are some naturally bad things that happen in life (like cancer and such) that he could take away, but I believe that he allows us to go through things like that to help us grow. I wish I had a better answer for you.
Hey y'all - midnight cafe invited me to check out your blog, and this is my first visit....I don't have any perfect answer for this, but here is what I do know: There is a story in John 11 about a family Jesus was close to, 2 sisters (Mary and Martha) and their brother (Lazarus) - and Lazarus got sick, and the sisters sent word to Jesus about it. But, for some unknown reason, Jesus didn't hurry to them to heal Lazarus, but instead waited 2 days, and by the time he got there, Lazarus had died. First Martha runs out to meet him, and says exactly what I would have said, "If you had been here, Lazarus wouldn't have died." Then Martha runs out to meet him, falls at his feet, and, weeping, says the same thing - "If you had been here, my brother -- your friend, wouldn't have died." Why Jesus didn't come sooner - I don't know. Why he allowed Lazarus to get sick in the first place, I don't know. But what I do know is what he did when he saw her weeping, "He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled...Jesus wept." He didn't scold her for her confusion, he didn't give her a bunch of Christian platitudes about how this tragedy would eventually strengthen her faith - he just cried. He saw his friend's pain and He cried.
And I think he does the same with us. He sees the suffering and the evil in the world, he sees our pain and our heartache - and His heart aches with ours. He does not sit in heaven with His arms crossed across his chest until we learn our lesson from the punishment He has doled out...but rather He cries right along with us.
Hey monkeytoesmama! So glad you made it over here. And thank you. It's good to hear your thoughts.
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