Where is God At Times Like These? A meditation in the wake of a violent atrocity [Prayer Ping]

Archdiocese of Washington.org ^ | 12-14-12 | Msgr. Charles Pope

[Salvation]

Where is God At Times Like These? A meditation in the wake of a violent atrocity.

By: Msgr. Charles Pope

One of the great mysteries to to believer and non-believer alike is the mystery of evil and suffering.  If there is a God who is omnipotent and omniscient how can he tolerate evil, injustice, and suffering of the innocent? Where was God yesterday when the shootings in Connecticut occurred?  Where is God when a young girl is raped, when genocide is committed, when evil men hatch their plots? Why Did God even conceive the evil ones, and let them be born?

The problem of evil cannot be simply answered. It is a mystery. It’s purpose and why God permits it are caught up in our limited vision and understanding. The scriptures say how “all things work together for the good of those who love and trust the Lord and are called according to his purposes.” But how this is so is difficult for us to see in many circumstances.

Anyone who have ever suffered tragic and senseless loss or observed the disproportionate suffering that some must endure cannot help but ask, why? And the answers aren’t all that satisfying to many for suffering is ultimately mysterious in many ways.

I have some respect for those who struggle to believe in the wake of tragedy. I do not share their struggle but I understand and respect its depths and the dignity of the question. At the end of the trail of questions, often asked in anguish, is God who has not chosen to supply simple answers. Perhaps if he were our simple minds could not comprehend them anyway. We are left simply to decide, often in the face of great evil and puzzling suffering, that God exists or not.

As in the days of Job, we cry out for answers but little is forthcoming. In the Book of Job, God speaks from a whirlwind and He questions Job’s ability to even ask the right questions, let alone venture and answer to the problem and presence of evil and suffering. If He were to explain, it seems all that we would hear would be thunder. In the end he is God and we are not. This must be enough and we must look to the reward that awaits the faithful with trust.

Perhaps the most perplexing aspect of suffering is its uneven distribution. In America we suffer little in comparison to many other parts of the world. Further, even here, some skate through life strong and sleek, wealthy and well fed. Others endure suffering, crippling disease, inexplicable and sudden losses, financial setbacks, and burdens.

It is a true fact that a lot of our suffering comes from bad choices, substance abuse and lack of self-control. But some suffering seems unrelated to any of this.

And the most difficult suffering to accept is that caused on the innocent by third parties who seem to suffer no penalty. Parents who mistreat or neglect their children, the poor who are exploited and used, caught in schemes others have made, perhaps it is corrupt governments, perhaps unscrupulous industries, or crazed killers.

Suffering is hard to explain or accept simply. I think this just has to be admitted. Simple slogans and quick answers are seldom sufficient in the face of great evil and suffering. Perhaps when interacting with an atheist of this third kind, sympathy, understanding and a call to humility goes farther than forceful rebuttal.

A respectful exposition of the Christian understanding of evil might include some of the following points. Note, these are not explanations per se (for suffering is a great mystery) and they are humble for they admit of their own limits.

1. The Scriptures teach that God created a world that was as a paradise. Though we only get a brief glimpse of it, it seems clear that death and suffering were not part of the garden.
2. But even there the serpent coiled from the branch of a tree called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and EVIL. So even in paradise the mystery of evil lurked in minimal form.
3. In a way the tree and the serpent had to be there. For we were made to love. And love requires freedom and freedom requires choices. The Yes of love must permit of the No of sin. In our rebellious “no” both we and the world unraveled, death and chaos entered in. Paradise was lost and a far more hostile and unpredictable world remained. From this fact came all of the suffering and evil we endure. Our sins alone cause an enormous amount of suffering on this earth, by my reckoning that vast majority of it. Of the suffering caused by natural phenomenon this too is linked to sin, Original Sin, wherein we preferred to reign in a hellish imitation rather than serve in the real paradise.
4. This link of evil and suffering to human freedom also explains God’s usual non-intervention in evil matters. Were God to do so routinely, it would  make an abstraction of human freedom and thus removes a central pillar of love. But here too there is mystery for the scriptures frequently recount how God does intervene to put an end to evil plots, to turn back wars, shorten famines and plagues. Why does he sometimes intervene and sometimes not? Why do prayers of deliverance sometimes get answered and sometimes not? Here too there is a mystery of providence.
5. The lengthiest Biblical treatise on suffering is the Book of Job and there God shows an almost shocking lack of sympathy for Job’s questions and sets a lengthy foundation for the conclusion that the mind of man is simply incapable of seeing into the depths of this problem. God saw fit that Job’s faith be tested and strengthened. But in the end Job is restored and re-established with even greater blessings in a kind of foretaste of what is meant by heaven.
6. The First Letter of Peter also explains suffering in this way: In this you rejoice, although now for a little while you may have to suffer through various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:6-7) In other words, our sufferings purify and prepare us to meet God.

7. Does this mean that those who suffer more need more purification? Not necessarily. It could also mean that a greater glory is waiting for them. For the Scriptures teach Therefore, we are not discouraged; rather, although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison(2 Cor 4:16-17) Hence suffering “produces” glory in the world to come. With this insight, those who suffer more, but with faith, will have greater glory in the world to come.
8. Regarding the apparent injustice of uneven suffering it will be noted that the Scriptures teach of a great reversal wherein many who are last shall be first (Mat 20:16), where the mighty will be cast down and the lowly exulted, where the rich will go away empty and poor be filled. (Luke 1:52-53) In this sense it is not necessarily an blessing to rich and well fed, unaccustomed to any suffering. For in the great reversal the first will be last. The only chance the rich and well healed have to avoid this is to be generous and kind to the poor and those who suffer (1 Tim:6:17-18).
9. Finally, as to God’s apparent insensitivity to suffering, we can only point to Christ who did not exempt himself from the suffering we chose by leaving Eden. He suffered mightily and unjustly but also showed that this would be a way home to paradise.

To these points I am sure you will add. But be careful with the problem of evil and suffering. It has mysterious dimensions which must be respected. Simple answers may not help those who struggle with the problem of suffering and evil. Understanding and an exposition that shows forth the Christian struggle to come to grips with this may be the best way. The “answer” of scripture requires faith but the answer appeals to reason,  and calls us to humility before a great mystery of which we see only a little. The appeal to humility before a mystery may command greater respect from an atheist of this sort than pat answers which may tend to alienate.

[ansel12]

I always thought that God is interested in what is in our hearts, not the details of our deaths or our longevity, God knew those children, he knew the shooter, he knows the parents, and brothers and sisters, and aunts, and best friends of the kids, he knows us on this thread, it is all part of the human experience.

If my child dies of cancer, it doesn’t bother God, he welcomes her home, but he is interested in how she dealt with it, how I dealt with it, how the doctors, the nurses, the guy that made her wig, the guy in the bar that I spilled my guts to, all of us individual humans dealt with it, and with all of the rest of life and their losses and wins, or whether they should even use words like “losses and wins” when talking about life.

This earthly period is when God lets us, nature, rattlesnakes and hurricanes, and car accidents and earthly existence carry on, as he pays attention to what is in our hearts as things happen, and influence us, and how life shapes us.

I have never understood these questions about ‘where is God’, ‘why am I dying’, ‘why is my child dying of bone cancer’, ‘why did God let this steering column go through my chest’, or ‘God blessed me with winning the 20 million dollar lottery’, ‘Oh, looky, God let that rock fall just seconds before I walked over there’, I just don’t think that he gets involved in such things to a degree that we need to incorporate it into our thinking, start miracle score keeping, and miracle talking. I think the things that God finds important, are different (naturally) than many of the things that we find important.

We all suffer, but without suffering, we may as well be rocks carved with prayerful hands.
How many times have we heard the cliche, “God let my wife and child die, I don’t believe in him anymore”, what the heck is that about? The wife, the child, you, all have your own individual relationship with God, and it is the afterlife that is all important.

This is a tragedy to we humans (God already has the children, they and he are doing just fine), but it isn’t God’s doing, or lack of doing.

I wished that I knew more about theology, because I think that this is Christianity 101 and I don’t understand how the media, or the left, and even many Christians think that God created a rock garden of worshipful Christian sculptures who never become rough and ugly, and who don’t live on our own domain, or in our own existence.

[Biggirl]

Sadly, we are not only are dealing with human flesh and blood, but also we are in the midst of a spiritual warfare situation here, BIGTIME.

[Biggirl]

The sad reality is that, the day that the same libs threw God out, sadly, are the same libs who invited the devil in.

[Biggirl]

Please do see posts numbers 22 and 23. Thank-you.

[Biggirl]

All you need is to BELIEVE!

[ansel12]

Huh?

[Biggirl]

Those are the posts that I had post, posts 22 and 23.

[Biggirl]

As a CT FRper, and living 40 minutes away from this horrible shooting incident, prayers for the repose of the souls of those who died and for confort and support to those who are left behind.

[HarleyD]

We suffer because we live in a broken world that we ourselves created. We ignore God. We do everything we can against His commandments that are meant to give us a good life. We boo God in public and agree with those who relish in practicing evil. We pass laws that are against the moral values of God. And when OUR evil lends itself to this sort of thing, then we complain, "Where is God?" We laugh at those who believe and say, "See, this proves that there is no God otherwise He would never have allowed this." This is mockery of God.

Meanwhile, God is constantly working in all things-even events like this-to help us come to Him. He wants to comfort and heal us, trying to draw us back to Him. May God use this opportunity to help people understand our brokeness so that we may repent and turn to Christ to be healed.

[Tax-chick]

Very good.

[poobear]

Thank you for this post Salvation. Yes, God is a mystery. Good and evil are a part of our struggle.

May God Bless the parents of those children. Somehow...

Prayers up.

[Biggirl]

AMEN to that.

[lupie]

Amen. And if were not for God’s common grace, this type of thing, and much worse, would be an every minute occurence. Those who have not repented and turned to Christ hate God and are filled with all sorts of evil. We do not realize how much evil is held back by God’s Providential hand.

We should not be saying - “where is God”, but should realize how active He really is in this fallen world whereby He keeps this from being common. We should be saying, “Thank you Lord for only allowing this to happen on a rare occasion. As much as people hate God, the world does not deserve such continued favor. Thank you for reminding us of how truly evil sin is, and how truly good and righteous and just you are. Help us to love you more. Help us to tell others about you before it is too late for them.”

[lightman]

Where is God in a time like this?

At the same place where He was when his Only-Begotten Son was nailed to a cross on a hill outside of Jerusalem.

[RegulatorCountry]

Sin entered into the world and by sin came death.

[quintr]

for later

[Thorliveshere]

I will. Thanks.

[Salvation]

Yes, we cannot ask God “Why?” but we can ask him, “What do we do now, Lord?”

We can ask the “Why?”, but it really doesn’t do that much good.

[Salvation]

**May God use this opportunity to help people understand our brokeness so that we may repent and turn to Christ to be healed.**

Amen!

[Mrs. Don-o]

"That would be the same “God” that supposedly made the lunitic and then set him apon those children?"

Big C, since you phrased that as a question, allow me to hazard a response.

I do not think God "makes" anyone a lunatic, paranoid schizophrenic, murderously sick and evil. Not by His ordaining will -- a will which is seen in His magnificent Creation, which is all good, good after good.

You have an inkling of this if your heart has ever responded to the magnificence, simplicity and loveliness of natural things.

When Jesus walked this earth He was always acting to repair the ruined world and restore this goodness. There's a not a lunatic he encountered that he didn't restore to his right mind. He gave healing to sin-sick souls.

People say bitter things about God because they are revolted, frustrated and in deep pain over the intractability of evil. I share this, too. But looking around, I see that God is still acting through those who nurture, rescue, and restore.

How much more urgent we must be in the part of this mission which is ours.