life currently is striking me as incredibly unfair. Not to me in particular but to a lot of people in my life. A widow friend is facing more loss and more illness which strikes me as so unfair to a woman who has been through enough to begin with. a friend from work just lost her husband in almost the same way and amount of time as i did. only she has a 5 year old son. i met with a family at work that has a daughter who is 10 that is terminal that just found out their other daughter who is 13 has just been diagnosed with a different form of cancer- also not good news. an acquaintance of mine just lost her son in a car accident- at 19. Honestly how much is too much? and when can we say that life is unfair?
from day one i have tried to say that everything that happened in my life is fair. that it was god's will. but how exactly can this all be god's will. I just can't fathom it
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from day one i have tried to say that everything that happened in my life is fair. that it was god's will. but how exactly can this all be god's will. I just can't fathom it
Life ISN'T fair, Kyle. Isn't that the first most painful lesson we all have to learn? If life were "fair," there would be no sibling rivalry, there'd be no oppression, no poverty, no reason for war because we'd all have an equal lot in life. But we don't. So much that happens is a crapshoot.
I know that sounds terribly cynical, and it probably surprises you to hear it coming from me.
BUT just because life is not fair does not mean that it is UNfair. I'm not sure that fair-unfair are valid measures of "life" in the grand scheme of things. One thing I do know, however, is that none of the pain and suffering and death is "god's will."
Stipulating the existence of God the Creator ...
Pentha's Theology Lecture 101
(Feel free to ignore me.)
We were not created for pain and suffering. That would be cruel beyond the telling. Rather, we were created for love and glory, to magnify the love of God in those around us and to draw close to the glory of God.
It is a central teaching of Eastern Christianity that Death is an INSULT to God, the only power not created by God. Cancer is NOT God's will; pain and suffering are NOT part of God's will; death most certainly is NOT God's will.
Rather, we follow God's will when we continue to love, through the pain and suffering; God's will is manifest when human kindness takes no measure of itself but points to love beyond ourselves.
The reason you can't fathom how the death and loss and illness around you can be god's will is quite simply because it is NOT.
Can you accept that not everything that happens is the will of God? Some people find comfort in accepting that the horrible things that happen are God's will.
I find it much more reassuring to believe that they are NOT, to refuse to accept them as part of a divine plan. How could I embrace a God who wreaks such havoc in our lives, who brings such pain and suffering?
Quite frankly, I couldn't. God is most assuredly PRESENT in our pain and suffering, but God is not RESPONSIBLE for it.
I'm holding you in my thoughts and prayers... as you hold me in yours.
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