Papal Prayer for August: We be more aware of the problem of millions of refugees and that concrete solutions may be found.
Darron Cummings / APSaturday, August 01, 2009
Darron Cummings / AP
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Darron Cummings / AP
8 comments:
Here's a novel idea: ask your allegedly omnipotent God to fix the situation.
Whose free will would God be violating exactly if He rained down provisions from heaven for them?
anyway, the father daughter photo is surely charming enough to soften some hearts towards these and other displaced or worker immigrants....
mediagiant: As you know, your idea is far from novel. Praying that a God intervene to help in a particular situation is probably about six million years old. :-)
And, if he rained down provisions from heaven to help, he wouldn't be violating anyone's free will that I can see.
My answers begs your question, "Well, why doesn't he do that?"
Which reminds me of when Job asked God that question (Job had good reason to ask). God's answer (I'm sure you'll recall):
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? [. . .] Job 38:4
Meaning, basically, "You couldn't understand".
Have you seen the movie "Watchmen" yet? One of the Watchmen is a God figure. When he is first introduced, one of the humans is complaining about His nature. He says,
"I wish you could see things as I do." She says, "fine, show me".
For a brief moment, he does.
To the extent that we let God show us what it might be like to see things as he does, brings us closer to Him.
"But I don't believe in God", you say.
And I say, "So? Don't you think your life would be improved if you acted as if there were a God?
1. A God who loves you unconditionally?
2. A God who wants to be with you forever?
3. A God who is all powerful and all knowing?
4. A God who forgives you if you are sorry?
5. A God who wants what is best for you?"
I challenge you to think through the implications of living your life as if that God existed.
And I'm not talking about having to go to church. I don't see how that would be an implication of the five attributes above.
I contend that the positive implications would outweigh the negative BY FAR.
And that is how rational people make decisions. Laying out the pros and cons, weigh them against each other, and choose.
Ok Kieron
IF there is a God and he loves me UNCONDITIONALLY then it means me believing in him/worshipping him/loving him is not a condition of his love.
Therefore God, if he does exist, in fact loves me unconditionally.
If God is ALL POWERFUL then there is no reason why my lack of belief in him/worship for him/love of him should preclude my ascent to heaven (for example). Unless of course, he chooses it to be so. In which case his love is not UNCONDITIONAL.
Here's a quote from the poem which made me think of this:
'This is thy life;indulge its natural flow
And carve these forms. They may yet find a place
On shelves for them reserved. In any case,
I bid thee carve them, knowing what I know.'
T.E. Brown
Which is to say, I am happy to carve the forms of my life as if there is a God. Whether there is one, or not.
Cathy
Cathy,
Thanks for your comments. I love talking about this (perhaps too much?).
God loves you, even if you don't *want* to be with him forever in heaven. And it is the nature of heaven that you must *want* to be there for it to *be* heaven.
If you reject God and his love, then looking at him "face to face" in heaven would be like looking directly at the sun. Painful. He still loves you!
One interesting way to think of it is this (excuse my copy/paste. Note my point is that the only difference between heaven and hell are it's *inhabitants*):
In Korea, there is a legend about a native warrior who died and went to heaven. "Before I enter," he said to the gatekeeper, "I would like you to take me on a tour of hell." The gatekeeper found a guide to take the warrior to hell. When they got there, the warrior was astonished to see a great table piled high with every tasty food he could imagine - anything one could possibly want to eat or drink. The warrior then looked at the people. They were all starving. "How could this be?" he asked the guide. "Are they not allowed to eat?" "Oh yes, they can eat," said the guide "but they must use the chopsticks they are given. They are five feet long and they must hold them at the end. Just look at them. They miss their mouths every time!" "Enough," said the warrior, "This is hell, indeed! Please take me back to heaven."
In heaven, to his surprise, he saw a similar room, with a similar table loaded with all the same food. But, the people were in radiant health, happy and well-nourished. The warrior turned to the guide and said, "I see - no chopsticks here." The guide replied that yes, the people were still issued chopsticks and yes, they were still five feet long and that they still must be held at the end - but, the difference was that in heaven the people learned to feed each other.
Then we can have heaven on earth! In fact, sometimes we already do. (Instances of altruism etc). You know I am a socialist, I see the goal of human existence as the just society - no classes. 'To each according to his need, from each according to his ability'. Call this heaven if you like. Your parable pretty much sums it up for me.
I don't reject God. I just don't believe he exists. There's a difference.
I maintain that if he does exist, and loves me, as you say, then he would not bar me from heaven (or make heaven painful) because I don't believe in him. Belief, unlike rejection, is not a conscious choice.
I bet God puts all kinds of people in heaven that the people on earth never thought would get there.
We CAN have heaven on earth.
'To each according to his need, from each according to his ability' comes straight from the Bible. Acts 2:44-45
I agree that people like you will be surprised to find themselves in heaven when they die ;-). You don't believe in the white-bearded man who created the world 6,000 years ago. Neither do I.
God is love.
Yes, God is love. He told me that in a dream once. :)
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