Something is clearly wrong in our world. There must be a problem, in fact. mass shootings, terrorism, feelings of hunger, environmental damage, threats of war, greed, and genocide. The stark fact that this is not a flawless world is something you cannot avoid. At terrible moments like these, some people have questioned me about where God is and how I can maintain my faith in the face of so much proof to the contrary. However, I believe both inquiries can be reversed: When things are going well, do we seek God? And to be honest, how can I not have faith in God given all the tragedy and evil?
Is God concerned? I have cried alongside others who told heartbreaking tales of rape, cruelty, and treachery. Where was God, then? Is God concerned? That, in my opinion, is the soul's call. “This isn’t right,” we think as we look around. Something inside screams, "This isn't how it should be!" It's amazing to me that we assume that everything in the world is going well by default. We seem to have been created for a different planet.
I may therefore affirm that we were created for a different planet. Indeed, God is aware of our pain and is concerned about it. But allow me to take a brief step back. God had to make a decision when He created the world. He had the option of creating a flawless, pristine world full of robots that were only able to follow orders and hence lacked the capacity for relationships or true love, or He could create a flawless, pristine world full of moral beings who are free to choose to love and appreciate Him. However, He could not stop them from utilizing their free will to do evil in the good universe He created since He created moral, free humans. By doing this, God would be acting contradictorily, giving us the ability to love Him but removing that ability when we choose to reject Him.
That leads us, I believe, to one of the fundamental issues. God must be all-powerful and good in order to be deserving of worship. However, some believe that evil and suffering are evidence that God is either too weak or too unloving to put an end to evil. I disagree. God is, in my opinion, more compassionate and all-powerful than humans can comprehend. I'll go on. Men and women had a fortunate partnership in God's initial plan for the world.
The responsibility for the earth was placed on humanity. In other words, we were to take care of the garden that God had given us in a "cooperative enhancement" endeavor. This is what God referred to as "good." We chose to ignore God, question His nature, distrust Him, and run away from Him, causing us to drift apart from Him at some point. We disregarded the rules that God provided for living in the world He created because we believed that we were superior to Him, the source of our life, and that He was waiting for us. Instead of choosing God, we walked away from life by exercising our moral freedom. We first encountered death and destruction.
Originally intended to be a blessed partnership between all men and women, God's plan has fallen apart into various forms of abuse. Instead of living in mutual trust and harmony, we utilize one another to satisfy our own self-interests. The traits that define our relationships include control, selfishness, self-defense, and mistrust. In an attempt to fill something within of us, we cling to one another, but we are damaged and leaking. We are damaging to ourselves. Even the earth is feeling the effects of our choice. We no longer care about it or show it any regard. Commonplace practices include excessive farming, excessive mining, needless animal cruelty, and negligent drilling. The earth has been entrusted to our care, but we are careless with it. In spite of our betrayal, God did not desert us; He committed to sending a Savior, Jesus, to deliver us from the repercussions of our disobedience; God's Son took on human characteristics so that everyone could see the true nature of God; He lived a faultless brief life; He told us the truth and showed genuine love.
Jesus' death and resurrection are the central theme and central paradox of Christianity. In order for us to live, Jesus had to die. The ruling class unfairly prosecuted Jesus in court and condemned Him to a horrifying death when people were insane. He endured humiliation, disgrace, brutality, and abuse. Knowing He had come to save us, He bore all of this. God placed all of our sins and guilt on Jesus, who had led a perfect life of love, through His death. God flipped the roles, attributing Jesus' love and perfection to us while attributing our flaws and selfishness to him. Jesus took our punishment for disobedience and removed the transgression that held us captive by paying the death penalty.
God demonstrated that Jesus was the anticipated savior three days later by raising Him from the grave. Hundreds of people saw Jesus, touched Him, and spoke with Him while He was with His friends. Neither a vision of grief nor a heavenly apparition occurred. Imagine Jesus strolling, chatting, and even preparing breakfast in the flesh! Therefore, God encourages us to come back to Him, our source of life and completeness, now that the penalty has been paid. God promises to forgive and restore us because of what Jesus accomplished, not because of anything we have done to prove ourselves. This is a crazy thing. He forgives without charge. It's not worthy. Furthermore, we can only obtain it by having genuine faith in Jesus.
We may reestablish our relationship with God as we begin to trust Him even when things don't seem to make sense to us. We can love God and others, forgive others, find inner peace, and hope for total restoration when we have the ability to change. God's story will soon come to an end. When Jesus returns, everything will be righted. What was destroyed and harmed by our treachery will be restored by our hero and rescuer. Everyone will be judged with absolute justice. The guilty will receive punishment, and their lives of disconnection from God will end in unending suffering as they carry on indefinitely along their path of self-centeredness and self-absorption.
With all of this misery in the world, you wonder, "Where is God?" He's right here, too, I say. God is also in pain. We were not created to live this way by him. We were created for a very different, but perfectly good, purpose.
Is God concerned? Indeed. Our self-destruction has angered God, and that anger is not unreasonable. The fact that Vinnie's sister is angry shows how much she loves her. Like God, she is aware that things can be better. Hatred is the antithesis of love, not anger, and when hate reaches its zenith, it turns into apathy. God permits pain for a higher reason. Finding a profound desire for God can occasionally require a severe injury.