We often say that things just "shouldn't" exist. There are two reasons why we say this:
1) It's morally objectionable.
2) It's unpleasant to us, somehow, even if there's no inherent moral qualm with it.
The first one makes sense, and is part of the discernment we should have. A murderer shouldn't be murdering people, for example. Sin "shouldn't" be part of the world, and we should do our best to stop it, because the words "should" and "shouldn't", in this case, carry moral implications.
The second one gets a bit more complicated, though. In looking at some insects and plants a couple months ago, I found myself thinking that some of them were "gross" or "creepy" and thinking "why does something like that even exist? Something that creepy just shouldn't even be." But then I began to think... what makes me think that? What makes other people think that? Isn't God omnipotent? It's a subtle and seemingly harmless thought that there's an "error" in God's creation, but it can really warp our perception of the world. Every "gross" insect such as the crane fly; all of those strange-looking deep sea creatures such as the viperfish; every skunk that emits that infamous spray; every prickly plant; all of this was conceived by God. Crafted under His watchful eye, by the work of His hands. A lot of this is unpleasant to us for a number of reasons. Some are unpleasant because of irrational phobias, like insects. Some are unpleasant because they can pose a physical threat to us, like plants with thorns. But what we need to remember is, our perception does not equal an objective reality. There aren't any inherent mistakes in the world God created. Before sin entered the world, God declared creation "good", as mentioned several times in Genesis. We need to keep in mind that all of this was created with the fingerprint of God on it. It really, truly helps to look at freakish things like the viperfish and realize that the hand of God crafted it; that all of this has been created under the eyes of a watchful and wise God. And although I used the example of nature, since that's what got me thinking about this, it can apply to anything conceivably unpleasant to the senses.
Remember that "unpleasant" doesn't equal "wrong". The word wrong can only refer to information, and to morality.
If something "unpleasant" isn't "immoral" (ie murder) or "incorrect" (ie 2+2=5) then that unpleasant thing isn't "wrong", either.
May God bless and guide you all according to His perfect will! In Jesus' name. Amen.
Friday, September 28, 2018
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Untitled
This is the 2nd verse of Verdelger's "The Shimmering of the Last Days":
I remember 19 years ago
Jesus came to planet earth
He took His children
And we are left behind
The song is about the last days. When the world is ending, and there's so much misery and pain under the rule of evil. Now, I can't pretend for a second to understand the "pre-tribulation rapture" vs "post-tribulation" debates (and so on) and I'm not going to get into that. I just want to make a general point. Their demo that featured this song was released in 2002.
As I write this, 2002 was 16 years ago. Somebody who was born in 2002 will be old enough to drive this year. Keeping in mind, 2002 is the year after 9/11 happened.
And yet, from 2002, it would take another three years to reach 19 years. So picture whatever was happening in your life in 2002, and then picture everything that's happened until right now.
Now picture anything good that happened during that time, being gone, and having to live it all over again.
And then picture an additional three years added on.
19 years is a long time. How much longer will eternity be?
I remember 19 years ago
Jesus came to planet earth
He took His children
And we are left behind
The song is about the last days. When the world is ending, and there's so much misery and pain under the rule of evil. Now, I can't pretend for a second to understand the "pre-tribulation rapture" vs "post-tribulation" debates (and so on) and I'm not going to get into that. I just want to make a general point. Their demo that featured this song was released in 2002.
As I write this, 2002 was 16 years ago. Somebody who was born in 2002 will be old enough to drive this year. Keeping in mind, 2002 is the year after 9/11 happened.
And yet, from 2002, it would take another three years to reach 19 years. So picture whatever was happening in your life in 2002, and then picture everything that's happened until right now.
Now picture anything good that happened during that time, being gone, and having to live it all over again.
And then picture an additional three years added on.
19 years is a long time. How much longer will eternity be?
Friday, September 7, 2018
"Smarter" Than God
How do people think they can "judge" God? I'm not asking "why do they think they have the right". Rather, I'm asking "why do they think they have the ability". God is omnipotent and omniscient. All are created by God. The implication is that humans are then, naturally, less powerful and less intelligent than God.
In what scenario would human beings rise above the moral code of God, that we could say to Him, "HEY YOU! WHAT YOU'RE DOING ISN'T RIGHT! THIS WAY IS BETTER"? The only way we could do that is if God permitted it. (There are debates about whether God actively upholds every event in the universe or if He simply allows them to happen, but that's not relevant here. The point is, God has the power to control what happens. Sometimes things aren't always what we think they should be, and we don't always know what He is planning, but omnipotence remains constant.) God's moral code has no flaws, but even if we entertain the idea. If God's moral code has flaws, why would He ever allow us to know abut them? Why would He allow ordinary people to just realize one day that He was wrong all along? Wouldn't He, instead, keep us all in the dark (INCLUDING NON-CHRISTIANS, BECAUSE AGAIN, GOD IS OMNIPOTENT) and not allow any of us to ever know about those flaws? It doesn't make sense for "an omnipotent yet somehow flawed God" to coexist with "less powerful and less intelligent beings waking up one day and realizing that their moral codes are better than God's". So then, it doesn't make sense to claim one's moral codes is better than God's. And yet many people do just that, yelling at God for being "wrong" about so many things.
So where does all this come from, then? It seems to be caused by one of two things:
1) Misconceptions. Somebody doesn't fully understand God's intentions, or reads some faulty interpretation of a verse, etc, and thus gets an incomplete picture of God's morality. This seems to happen most often with people who rush to conclusions and make assumptions, but can absolutely just be a sincere misunderstanding.
2) Pride. We all disagree with things God does. There is no Christian in history who has watched a loved one die a slow, painful death from disease or injury; no Christian who has heard of an injustice being done to vulnerable people like children or the elderly; no Christian who has lived through or learned about some natural disaster like a tornado, hurricane, earthquake etc; ............. and felt no compassion about it. No Christian who simply thought to themselves, "Eh, God's smarter than I am, so I'll just go about my day." We all disagree with decisions that God makes from time to time. Babies don't know not to play with sharp objects. Babies don't know not to shove crayons up their noses. Babies cry a lot when their parents make them stop doing things like that. In a similar way, God does things we don't understand. The difference is, when the initial anger/confusion subsides, those who know God, or wish to know God, seek to learn from the experience, and use it to grow. Meanwhile the prideful just throw their hands in the air and go "NO!!! YOU'RE WRONG!!! BECAUSE YOU DISAGREE WITH ME!!! AND I'M RIGHT!!! IF MY OPINIONS WERE WRONG, THEN WHY DO I THINK THEM???"
We need to try harder to remove these things from our lives. They're based on falsehoods and logical fallacies.
May God bless and guide you all according to His perfect will! In Jesus' name. Amen.
In what scenario would human beings rise above the moral code of God, that we could say to Him, "HEY YOU! WHAT YOU'RE DOING ISN'T RIGHT! THIS WAY IS BETTER"? The only way we could do that is if God permitted it. (There are debates about whether God actively upholds every event in the universe or if He simply allows them to happen, but that's not relevant here. The point is, God has the power to control what happens. Sometimes things aren't always what we think they should be, and we don't always know what He is planning, but omnipotence remains constant.) God's moral code has no flaws, but even if we entertain the idea. If God's moral code has flaws, why would He ever allow us to know abut them? Why would He allow ordinary people to just realize one day that He was wrong all along? Wouldn't He, instead, keep us all in the dark (INCLUDING NON-CHRISTIANS, BECAUSE AGAIN, GOD IS OMNIPOTENT) and not allow any of us to ever know about those flaws? It doesn't make sense for "an omnipotent yet somehow flawed God" to coexist with "less powerful and less intelligent beings waking up one day and realizing that their moral codes are better than God's". So then, it doesn't make sense to claim one's moral codes is better than God's. And yet many people do just that, yelling at God for being "wrong" about so many things.
So where does all this come from, then? It seems to be caused by one of two things:
1) Misconceptions. Somebody doesn't fully understand God's intentions, or reads some faulty interpretation of a verse, etc, and thus gets an incomplete picture of God's morality. This seems to happen most often with people who rush to conclusions and make assumptions, but can absolutely just be a sincere misunderstanding.
2) Pride. We all disagree with things God does. There is no Christian in history who has watched a loved one die a slow, painful death from disease or injury; no Christian who has heard of an injustice being done to vulnerable people like children or the elderly; no Christian who has lived through or learned about some natural disaster like a tornado, hurricane, earthquake etc; ............. and felt no compassion about it. No Christian who simply thought to themselves, "Eh, God's smarter than I am, so I'll just go about my day." We all disagree with decisions that God makes from time to time. Babies don't know not to play with sharp objects. Babies don't know not to shove crayons up their noses. Babies cry a lot when their parents make them stop doing things like that. In a similar way, God does things we don't understand. The difference is, when the initial anger/confusion subsides, those who know God, or wish to know God, seek to learn from the experience, and use it to grow. Meanwhile the prideful just throw their hands in the air and go "NO!!! YOU'RE WRONG!!! BECAUSE YOU DISAGREE WITH ME!!! AND I'M RIGHT!!! IF MY OPINIONS WERE WRONG, THEN WHY DO I THINK THEM???"
We need to try harder to remove these things from our lives. They're based on falsehoods and logical fallacies.
May God bless and guide you all according to His perfect will! In Jesus' name. Amen.
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