» Random Thoughts Current Archive [an error occurred while processing this directive]		February 14, 2009 - The Question You Should Be Asking Is How Could God Not Let That Happen?        It's a question often asked when tragedy strikes, "How could God let this happen?"  At the risk of being seen as gravely insensitive, I'm going have to say that I don't think we really have any right whatsoever to ask that question.  In fact so much so that really the only question that should be crossing our minds is "How could God not let that happen?"        The other day I was driving around town when out of nowhere a motorist not only cut right in front of me but proceeded to inexplicably slam on their brakes right before an open intersection that had, and always did have, a green light.  Suffice to say, my Gran Turismo driving skills kicked in as I managed to slam on my own brakes and maneuver myself in time to the ride side of this asinine motorist in front of me, going halfway into the other lane at the same time.  For a second I sat there befuddled at what just happened and sort of waiting for someone to side-swipe me as I was halfway in the other lane after the fiasco.  It never happened and I went along my not-so-merry way.        As I drove on I found myself thanking God that no one was flying by in the other lane, because they would've most assuredly slammed into me as I swerved into the open lane.  I then started thinking that if someone had been there that exact moment and had slammed into me, how frustratingly upset I would've been!  Of all the open feet of space in the lanes, that car just had to be right there at the exact time to crash into me as I was trying to avoid the idiot in front of me (theoretical thinking of course; it wasn't there in reality).  But I thought of how utterly annoying that would've been.  Then I thought of all the times I do get upset at things like that that seemed tailor made to upset me.  Like today when I hit every yellow going-to red light known to man while driving.  Or the times like where I'm trying to get a quarter out of my backpack and barely brush my drink on the table but enough so to knock the whole thing over spilling over onto the clothes I just got out of the dryer.  Stuff like that where you can only mutter, sometimes angry words, to yourself and why God the cosmos is seemingly against you.        Often times a Christian will rest in the promise that God works out all things, even the bad ones, for the best.  This is true, but it still doesn't necessarily put us in our respective cosmic subsistence and may give one the impression things will work out because we deserve it.  What I mean is that God (based on the Biblical Christian paradigm) does not owe us anything, especially good times and for things to work out.  We are not "entitled" to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness because of anything we've done (making the innate right declared in American democracy only possible through Judeo-Christian theology) and we surely do not deserve mercy or God's grace; the greatest injustice of all time.  If we want to talk "fair" then I should nail every yellow going-to red light on the road because that'd be fair.  Every bad thing that could happen to me should happen to me because that'd be fair.  I should've been slammed into by another car when I swerved into the other lane because that would've been fair.  And I should damn well be headed for the burning wrath of Hell, because that would be exactly what I deserve because of my sin.  When you realize that God not only prevents oh so many bad things that could and should be happening to us, and then realize further all the blessings he does give us that we don't deserve, and then realize even further that he has given us the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ that we surely do not deserve…oh my goodness how could God, perfect and holy, not let all bad to happen to us?!  His general and saving grace in our lives is so prevalent and it rarely, if ever, crosses our minds at how much God prevents bad things from happening to us.  We're always so focused on the bad things that happen to us and never stop to consider all the bad things that could've and probably should've happened to us that God lovingly prevents.  When you realize things in this perspective, the question "How could God let this happen?" doesn't even cross your mind.  In fact, you almost feel guilty even thinking it realizing how much God's general grace covers your life already.        And that is the crux of my argument here.  It is not meant to beat us down about how worthless we are and live lives of constant self-abuse; on the contrary, it's to get us to realize how amazing and loving God is and to us despite the fact we don't even close deserve it; and how our worthiness to be called his "children" is a direct result of his love manifested toward us.  When you realize this love, and the sacrifice God had to make to repair this underserved love in the first place, well God's holy and loving character and its relevance, meaning, and intimacy in your own life explodes into the stratosphere and beyond in terms of depth and understanding and reciprocal love.  And then that's when the real good stuff happens and you really get to know your Creator, Sustainer, Sympathizer, and Lover the way you were meant to (Switchfoot song anyone?). *Also not to condemn, but if you call yourself a Christian, and you have this sense that "God owes me" (a sense I lived my late-teenager and early-adult life with) or that you should be immune to bad things happening in your life (because someone may have told you that you deserve the good life)…think again.  Think about what the Christian Gospel really says about what you deserve and think again about what God has blessed you with in light of what you should deserve. **If an atheist feels perfectly justified asking the question of how God could let something happen, and use the only seemingly "he must be a sadist" answer as a justification for not believing in God, well that is a very self-defeating position to be in.  You cannot use God's actions or inactions as a justification for not believing in Him.  That makes no logical sense.  You can believe in him and not like him, but you can't not believe in him and not like him.  If tragedy strikes the only thing you can really blame is random chance/chaos or nothingness and not God at all, so leave him out of it if you don't believe in him in the first place. ***Let me also remind everyone that God's "repairs" didn't come free nor was justice averted by a get-out-of-jail-free card given out to everyone by a wayward judge.  Justice was most assuredly exerted on the Cross of Calvary through the killing of Christ himself; the ultimate worthy and final sacrifice for sin.  Remember also the justice that should've been served by you and me was served by a completely innocent man; one that voluntarily assumed our just punishment payment so that we could go free.

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