Nov 19, 2017

Why Pain (7)

How do we respond to seemingly

Random acts of terror:

Makes us wonder:

If this pain is present,

Is there a loving God?

Why does God permit the tragedy

Of human vs. human violence?

Ok, I can see the necessity of the process of evolution creating the ground-rules that change, good and bad, is necessary and is fundamental to the creation process of the universe. I may not like it, but it does seem to part of the package. But we have seen so much destruction of human vs. human that it really leaves us wondering that if there is a God, what kind of God would allow such destruction of human against human? Why does God allow the pain that is self-inflicted on the human race?

God sees things from a very different viewpoint spanning eternity. We humans, who live in nothing more than a dot of time, see only what is occurring now, that is, within our own lifetime and usually over not more than a couple of years, as time before a couple of years ago becomes lost in the fog of “yesterday”. God’s viewpoint covers everything: from the big-bang (and before) to where we are today, 13.7 billion years later. The entire span reveals the constant flow of evolution, both from the physical point of view and the hidden or spiritual point of view. But how do we place a God, who we claim is only love, within the crashing and violence that we see in all of the evolutionary path of the universe, but even more to the point, in the day-to-day pain and violence of our brief life?

The history of humanity reveals that human’s violence against itself is almost universal and across eons of time. It seems apparent from our vantage point that God has not directly intervened at any time to reduce or prevent violence in our world. Even when God directly brought Itself, the living Word, into flesh in the form of Jesus, that Form was put to death in a most violent and pain-filled way possible at that time. And still no direct perceived intervention.

The universe spent almost all of its existence (13,7 billion years) just coming to the point of introducing humanity, an example of the self-aware being (and the only such being we are aware of), and only the past 70,000 years developing the awareness in that being. Then only about 2000 years ago God introduced the physical side of the Christ, that Word made flesh (see the introduction to John’s gospel). The story in the Old Testament covering almost 1800 years before the time of Jesus reveals the slow and patient development in a slow series of steps, enticement, stumbles, but moving forward until the time of Jesus. We know now that time of 2000 years ago was the ideal time (the beginning of technical development, in this case writing and books) to introduce all these new concepts; and in the ensuing 2000 years the internal development of the spirit has paralleled the human physical development.

In the time of St. Paul, when 80% of the Roman Empire were slaves, it could not be conceived that there would ever be a time when slavery would be outlawed, but over the past 100 years every country has outlawed slavery. Yes, there are still slaves, but it is slowly vanishing. It may take many more years to entirely eradicate all forms of slavery, but God is persistent and it will occur.

These changes occur in sudden batches. Today we are watching our female entertainment and sports figures reveal the sexual harassment and outright rape they have had to endure and to start the process, through shame, of revealing how these males have used their power to degrade others if the newer, usually younger person, wanted to advance in their chosen field.

It truly seems like God operates in a way that is patient, gently prodding over generations of beings to bring the ultimate goal to fruition: the fruition of the words of Jesus: “Nor will people say, ‘Here it is’ or ‘There it is’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”(Luke 17:21). Truly, some day our future generation will be living in the “Kingdom of God”, and will wonder why it took so long to get there, as the fruits of the kingdom is so very clear to be seen. All will be joyful, all will be blessed, and the bliss of God will be everywhere.

But the universe will still be evolving, changing slowly but still changing. Earthquakes will still be present, volcanoes will still blow, and change will be occurring – but all will exist in the bliss of God despite the changes. And in a billion years or so life as we know it will not be possible on the earth.

Next we will look at the place and my understanding of the purpose of all that is occurring, has occurred, and will occur, in the life and death cycle we call the physical world.

Meditation

O Guiding Light, I place myself in your care for this journey of life. I feel Your Love every day, in the warm feeling of love and joy that seems to fill the world if I but look. I ask only that I continue to look through Your eyes at this beautiful universe. I am often moved to tears by the extraordinary beauty that is always present in every facet of this life, from the smallest organism to the breathtaking beauty of the universe itself. I ask for guidance in my life so that Your face may shine through me to bring our small round ball one step closer to being able to see the Kingdom that is in our midst. I am grateful for all you have shown me in my life, and ask only to be able to continue to serve You in the future.