Why Didn't God Do Something?

Last week I attended the wake of a 21 year old woman who had died several days earlier as the result of an auto accident.  Two days after that the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado took place, leaving 12 people dead and over 50 wounded.  As sad and tragic as these situations are, sadder still is the inevitable questioning of God.  “How could a good God let something like this happen?”  “Why doesn’t God do something to prevent these kinds of events?”  “Where was God when this happened?”  

The best way to answer these questions and all questions of this ilk is to get right to the point.  God is not responsible for the free will choices of mankind and some of those choices are sinful.  No more than Henry Ford is responsible for every vehicle accident involving a Ford motor vehicle.

God gave mankind free will and God is a respecter of mankind’s free will choices.  To ask God to do something about free will is to ultimately ask God to severely limit our free will or take our free will away altogether.  The problem with these two options is that both remove from us the capacity to love because love demands the ability to choose.

Maybe your thought is that God should keep free will in place and just intervene in major incidents.  This fails to take into consideration what we consider minor isn’t minor to God.  God takes all free will choices that are sinful very seriously.  We tend to overlook much of the sin in our lives and project onto God that he will do the same, after all “God is love” and a loving God won’t punish me, will he?  And what about those free will choices that result in tragedy but aren’t sinful, like the individual who goes out swimming and drowns accidentally?  What is God to do, prevent this individual from going swimming?  Let’s be realistic about this option, too.  How many of us have had to deal with the temper tantrums and attitudes of children who are prevented from doing something because we as parents “know better” or to save the child from the consequences of his/her choices?  In such situations the relationship between parent and child splinters and sometimes fractures beyond repair.  Do we really believe that this wouldn’t be the case if God were to intervene in this fashion?  What kind of love relationship would that be with God?  

To take away or limit free will would lead to humanity being nothing more than robots or programmed like computers.  Like it or not, God chose to give mankind free will and mankind regularly determines to use that freedom to perform sinful and/or unwise acts.  But this doesn’t mean we are without hope.  You see God has done something about our propensity to sin or be unwise.  He did something in the person of Jesus Christ.  Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

We have the ability to walk away from sin and turn to Jesus and should we make an unwise choice that results in the loss of life we can look forward to a life with Jesus in eternity.  All of this is made possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus.  We need only have faith.  God has given us hope while maintaining our free will which allows us to respond to his love with love in return.

We must remember that tomorrow is not guaranteed.  We go to bed and sleep in the expectation that we will wake up.  We talk about what we will do tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, when we retire, when our kids grow up, etc.  All stated with the certainty that tomorrow is ours and we will be here to live it.  We lose sight of the immediacy of life and become complacent.  All the more reason to turn to Christ while it is still day.

Why did they do it?

The July 4^th holiday is now past us.  It is a day on which we celebrate the birth of our country, Independence Day.  This Independence Day I asked myself one question, “Why did they do it?” Why did so many individuals in the colonies reject King and Country and were willing to sacrifice, even to the point of death, to achieve independence?

You may not know it, but July 4^th holds historical significance other than Independence Day.  Events which also beg the question, “Why did they do it?”  July 1^st – 4^th, 2012, marked the 149^th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War.  The 4^th of July marked the retreat of the Army of Northern Virginia out of Pennsylvania back across the Potomac River, after 3 days of the deadliest battle ever fought on American soil.  What prompted these men to give “the last full measure of devotion” as President Lincoln put it?  Devotion to what?

It is not my intention in this article to plumb the depths of causes and movements that led to these events, those things which could possibly answer the question, “Why did they do it?”  Rather, I wish to highlight one motivation which continues to be forgotten and overlooked in our current times, the idea of self-sacrifice.

In each of these struggles, the war for independence and the American Civil War, there were individuals who fully understood and embraced the need for self-sacrifice so that others might live and prosper.  It is the same conviction that led thousands of young men storm the beaches of Normandy on June 6^th, 1944 (D-Day).  

The idea of self-sacrifice has fallen upon hard times in our modern day culture, as we see thousands demanding “their rights” but failing to give one small measure, much less “the last full measure”, of any part of their life for the betterment of another.  We have become “A Nation of Moochers” as a now popular book title proclaims.  Is this what the Gospel of Christ calls us to?

Jesus Christ is the perfect example of self-sacrifice and those who call themselves Christ followers need to pick up their cross and do likewise.  No one took the life of Jesus.  He laid it down willingly.  No one forced Jesus to set aside his divine prerogatives, he did so out of love for another.

When I hear about parents “jumping ropes” to make sure “their children get their fair share” of goodies in an Easter egg hunt, I can only wonder what example has been set for the next generation.

One of the greatest gifts a parent can give a child, or another human being can give to a fellow human being, is to teach self-sacrifice.  There is tremendous value in putting others first.  Where would any of us be if Jesus had considered himself before he considered us?  Imagine what the world would be like if the simple act of consideration was exercised before pursuing self-seeking interests?

Self-sacrifice isn’t something that comes naturally to humans.  We must be taught.  Watch little children and you will see what little interest they have in self-sacrifice.  Then watch the adults around you and see the same principles at work in those who were never taught.

It will require some self-sacrifice, but take the time to teach self-sacrifice.