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Edited on Wed Jan-12-05 12:39 PM by Selwynn
It is the misconception of omnipotence and omniscience and the clinging to fundamentalist interpretations of what God is and is like that create this crises of faith - when the uncompromising forces of reality tear down the straw houses of fundamentalism and literalism.
Not having any illusions that a god of love - which implies freedom, risk, uncertainty and trust - either causes catastrophe or could stop catastrophe but chooses not to, unspeakable horrific tragedy does not cause me to blame a god not at fault, but it does cause me to take comfort in the nature of his compassion and grace even in the midst of the very, very worst. God's promise that he will "never leave us nor forsake us" wasn't for the times when things were going great - it was for the times when things are utter shit.
It is his promise to be in the utter shit with us, weeping with those who weeping, proving a source of comfort and strength to go on even in the darkest of hours. In other words - I don't expect my lovers or friends to have supernatural powers when I grieve. But by the fact that they are my friends or lovers, they will be there with me, comfort me, and carry me when I can't carry myself - and that it why I cherish them. It's the same with God, only magnified and more personal in some ways - that friend that sticks closer than a brother.
I don't love and cherish my relationship with God because he is a kind of "superman" that is able to prevent tragedy but frequently doesn't. I love and cherish my relationship with God because he is a friend, and he loves me and I him, and he gives me comfort and grace for whatever I face. There is nothing that God can do, that he isn't actively doing for everyone at every present moment. Certainly what God might want to do is often curtailed by human resistance, but there is never anything God is holding back. God's covenant with us is not that he CAN prevent all human suffering or tragedy, because he can't by the very nature of his character as love - love is free not coercive, risky not certain. So is this world.
Creation itself was a risk of love, not a coercively controlled automaton. God's covenant with us therefore is that with him, no matter what we may face in life, we can experience a life worth living. Not one free from suffering, or loss, or hardship or even catastrophe. But one where, not matter what things we face, his grace and comfort and tender support and strength fuels our spirit and our human resolve, and our human hope and determination to strive for the good and go on living, and risk again, to rebuild, to start anew. God's covenant promise to his children is that if we walk with him, we can come to the end of our lives, look back on our lives - even lives lived through this catastrophe, and 9/11 and the loss of loved ones and all the sad things we've experience - and when looking at the full picture say to ourselves "living was wroth dying for. If I had it to do all over again... I would."
This is the promise of faith -- a life that is... worth it. Everything else is a distortion of what actually matters. I don't love God because I think somehow it is able to prevent catastrophe. I love God because of his covenant to me to go with me and before me even in the most darkest hours of my life and give me grace and strength while tirelessly working hope out of even the deepest despairs.
Sel
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