So often you hear people say, ‘If there is a God, why is there so much death and misery occurring in our world today?’ or ‘Where is God with so many innocent people suffering and dying due to wars, famine and disease?’
‘If our God is supposedly a God of love, why does God allow these horrible things to happen?’
In blaming God and even questioning God’s existence, we are considering our ‘God’ in human terms, as if God was the mighty conqueror who would defeat our enemies, solve our hunger and climate change problems and allow peace to reign on earth.
This is precisely who the Jews saw as the messiah who would come and drive the Romans soldiers from their lands. Yet they got a bloke called Jesus who preached about the need to love one’s enemies and to do good to those who hate you.
In between the cyclones, fires and family and work concerns, we have survived another year. If we are honest with ourselves, do we ever consider calling a silent halt to the rigors of our lives for a few moments to think about the world into which, each Christmas, we welcome our creator’s representative.
What a mess us humans have made of the planet so far in seeking to satisfy our own greed and constant search for wealth and power. We continue to pollute our atmosphere and disregard nature. We continue to kill innocent people and make millions homeless. Many of us can only concentrate on ourselves and our wants, all at the expense of others.
Maybe, as individuals, we need to start rectifying this whole situation by getting back to the basic call of Jesus and many of the other mystics and holy people whose teachings all amount to a similar phrase. ‘Love one another’.
Let’s start in our own homes, our streets and our communities. If we can think and act on other’s needs before our own, this would be a good start and would have ramifications that could echo well beyond our personal environments, for it is not God creating havoc in our world, it is ourselves. So, no matter how we look at the situation, I believe it all starts with us.
I’m Peter Mack and that’s faith.