“Do not fear, because I am with you …” Isaiah 41:10 // Losing Faith IV

Where we left off.

This is the fourth installment of our discussion about losing faith.  Previously (posts 23 & 24), we’ve identified some of the main reasons that a former believer could lose their faith.  Last week (post 25) we began to answer some of the complaints that former believers express against God.  This week’s post concludes answers for believers who have become mad at or disappointed by God.  Next week we’ll begin to offer answers to the second complaint previously identified, namely “The believer’s becoming mad at or disappointed by the Church.”

Objection One.  The believer becoming mad at or disappointed by God.

As I said last week, I believe that there are two “Active Agents” that can be held responsible for most of our spiritual angst.  These are The Nature of God and Free Will.  We addressed the nature of God in last week’s segment.  This week let’s look at how our own free will can cause or at least contribute to our disappointment with God.

A common refrain I hear goes something like this. “If God “loves” us all so much, why does He allow disease, sin, and injustice to flourish?”  Also, I hear, “If God allows these things to exist, then either He doesn’t care, or He doesn’t exist, and I don’t choose to believe in or follow such a God.”

Last week we talked about how God’s nature is such that although He really does love all His creation, the very nature of that creation must allow for calamities and unfortunate situations to occur.  So, I suppose that, in a sense, you could say that God is “responsible” for all the “bad stuff” that we encounter because He created the universe where it can occur, and then He allows it to happen.

But this argument seems a bit thin to me.  That’s because it lays all the “blame” for bad situations and unpalatable outcomes only at the feet of God.  That’s looking at only half of the picture.

Free Will.

We have a huge role to play in these circumstances and situations.  We, our thoughts, and our actions (or inactions) are the primary causative factor for most of the world’s population’s pain and agony (physical and spiritual).  This is due to the second Active Agent I identified, our Free Will.

My father worked for NASA for several years and played important roles in the Shuttle and Hubble programs there in the 1970’s and 1980’s.  I remember a particularly prescient thought he once expressed.  He said, “My work at NASA has convinced that there is nothing the mind of man cannot imagine, and that what it imagines it can accomplish if it sets itself to a task and follows through with commitment and determination.”  I believe that he was correct in his thought, and that our ability to accomplish is due primarily to our free will.

God, for His own reasons, did not want a bunch of zombie sycophants worshiping and relating to Him.  Certainly, as Creator of the Universe He could have.  But worship or communion that is forced is worthless.  We know this from our own experience.

Relationships.

We meet and focus on a person (or persons) with whom we wish to have a relationship.  We may even “fall in love” with a person at first site.  But attaining a genuine relationship with or receiving love from another person is only possible if they choose to engage in that relationship, or if they choose to love us.

Our dog may faun on us and love us unconditionally, but that it because he is programmed to do so.  And as great as our relationships with our pets are, they are no substitute for relationships with other humans or God (although my dog really is great!).  And, for relationships with other humans (or God) to be meaningful, we must use our own free will to choose them.

Only when the relationship or affection is genuine and freely given do we value it.  It cannot be genuine if it is extracted, forced, or contrived.  Our relationship with God works the same way.  It is controlled by the free will He gave us.

Because of our free will, we are responsible for our relationships, whether they are with Him or other people.  We choose when and how to engage in relationships.  And whether they go well or badly is a direct result of each of the relationship’s participant’s attitudes, commitment, decisions, and actions … i.e. their free will.

A result of this is that we cannot blame God when our relationships don’t go well.  No matter how badly we may want a relationship, or want an existing relationship to “work,” it will do so only when both parties are equally interested in, committed to, and willing to engage in the relationship.  We cannot “make” another person like us, love us, or want to be around us.  Whether they do or don’t is up to them … up to their own free will.  We are not responsible for their attitude toward our relationship.  They are, just as we are responsible for our own.  It is not up to God, it’s up to us and to them.

Free Will and Evil in the World.

Similarly, we really cannot blame God for the fact that evil is a real force in our world.  God does not impel leaders of countries to inflict genocide on portions of their country’s population.  Nor does He arrange the sale of a lethal weapon to a deranged psychopath who uses that weapon to injure or kill dozens of people.

He cannot be blamed for the decision that a married person makes to commit infidelity against the other person in their marriage.  Nor is He responsible for a driver’s decision to exceed the speed limit in a vehicle with the result that the driver loses control and hits a pedestrian.

These are all actions that we as humans take of our own free will, and the disastrous results belong to us, not Him.  All of these “bad” consequences are of our own making.  Had we the societal or communal desire to keep these kinds of things from happening, we could.

“Well,” you might respond, “I’ll give you that point, but what about disease?  It’s not caused by humanity’s free will.”  Point granted.  But, as we have with malaria, polio, chicken pox and even some forms of cancer, to paraphrase my Dad, when we put our minds to it there are few things we cannot handle.

The flu was a killer of millions at the turn of the 20^th century.  We now have vaccinations that help us avoid the disease or at least reduce its most severe symptoms.  I can remember when polio was the scourge of our nation.  Through scientific research and endeavor, polio is now largely a thing of the past.  And I can remember when no one had ever heard of AIDS.  Now we have treatments and medications that can prevent and control that horrible disease.

There is no doubt that humanity faces many daunting challenges.  Overpopulation, pollution, global warming (debatable, I admit), world hunger, and economic deprivation and disparity are all tremendous threats to mankind.  There are many more that I have not named.  But I remain convinced that the fact that these situations and conditions exist are not the result of God’s inattention or His failure to care.

Rather, they are the result of our inattention and/or our failure to care.  Again, if we had the corporate will and dedication to address them, each of these challenges could be met.  God has given us all we need to be able to meet and subdue these “giants.”  He has given us our free will, our minds, the resources of our World, and, most importantly, each other.  All we have to do is to utilize our time, our talents, our resources, and our ability to work together, and none of these challenges will be able to stand against us.  It is through His providence and grace that we have these resources.  All we need is the will to use them.

Thoughts for consideration.

So, I don’t buy that God’s inattention or remoteness is the reason why our relationships fail or our interactions with other humans go badly.  Nor, do I agree that He’s set the world against us so that we must endure evils such as disease, hunger, and deprivation.

That’s because I do not see it as God’s responsibility to make sure that I am happy and safe, nurtured, secure and well-fed.  I see those responsibilities as my own and those of my fellow man.  God certainly wants us to have these things.  And, He provides us each with the opportunity to have them.

But whether we have them or not is our responsibility to ourselves and to each other.  As I said earlier, God has already given us all that we need to be able to keep these demons at bay.  The question is whether or not we choose to do so.

I started this treatise with the statement that the reason many non or former believers give as their reason for their unbelief is that they have somehow become mad at or disappointed (i.e. disillusioned) by God.  Their reasons for feeling this way may well be real and justifiable for them.  I’m sure many have found themselves in horrible situations not of their own making.  And, I’m sure that many prayed fervently to God to be relieved of or from these circumstances to no apparent avail.  The question, “Why me?” may be perfectly reasonable.

I suggest that the poor circumstances or the terrible situations that resulted in disillusionment have much more to do with OUR failures as stewards of each other than God’s distance from us or His uncaring nature.

The fact is that God does care more deeply than any of us can ever understand.  However, just as every parent learns, we have to make our own mistakes.

As parents, we cannot protect our children from every fall and scratch.  Nor, can we protect them from every difficult situation that could result in their being harmed.   All we can do is to try to give them what they need to deal with the inevitable bad or dangerous situationism.  Then, to be there for them when they fail and to help them learn from those failures to be better prepared for the next inevitable crisis.

And that is what God has done for us.  He’s given us minds with free will.  And, He’s given us each other.  When we each begin to do as Jesus said, to “Love your neighbor as yourself …,” [Matthew 22:39] and when we each begin to recognize all the tools and resources He’s given us, we’ll no longer have Him to blame for what’s wrong in our lives and in the world.  The blame will go where it belongs, on us.

Conclusion.

So, let’s each of us commit to Him, to ourselves, and to each other, that we will be “each other’s keeper.”  Let’s commit to loving others as we do ourselves.  And, I pray that we can all let God back into our lives, because, without Him to lead and guide us, neither of the two commitments is possible.

Next week we’ll consider the second objection to belief in God or religion:  The believer’s becoming mad at or disappointed by the Church.

Until then, I wish

God’s Blessings on you All

Richard

December 7, 2018