PTM WEEKLY UPDATE -- NOVEMBER 16, 2009

"If God loves us, why are little children molested, beaten and abused?"

Q. I have been participating in a 12-step group for several years and I've run into a "God question" that I don't have the knowledge to handle. Several members of my group were severely abused when they were small children. When I try to tell them "God loves you," they become indignant and ask where God was when they were being molested, beaten, abused, etc. They want to know why God didn't protect them. My answer about Satan having dominion over earth is not the answer they want to hear. What do I tell them? How do I reach them?

A. The "God question" to which you have reference is probably the most difficult of all questions about God. Why does God let really, really bad things happen? Our bewilderment and frustration with God regarding this question often becomes anger when the bad things touch us personally, and/or when evil is visited on the most vulnerable, the young and the elderly. Most recently, we are perplexed by the horrific massacre at Ft. Hood in Texas. Where was God?

In my opinion, there is no satisfying answer to give to someone like the persons you describe -- people who were abused, molested or raped as children. The reason that an academic, logical answer will not help such an individual is because such a person is usually starting from a perspective that cannot be reasonably satisfied. As humans we start from the assumption that part of God's resume is that he protects, preserves and watches out for us.

Horrible accidents happen -- and not just to "bad" people. At some point we have to re-examine the proposition that God always protects and preserves. The evidence is overwhelming that he doesn't.

When we start our thinking at such a place, we are set up for a fall. The Bible, as well as human experience, tells us that God does not always protect and preserve every human being. Perverse and abominable things happen. Horrible accidents happen - and not just to "bad" people. At some point we have to re-examine the proposition that God always protects and preserves. The evidence is overwhelming that he doesn't. So, as hard as it is to abandon the idea that God will always protect and preserve us, while still believing that God loves us, we must.

We must then re-examine the nature of the relationship God has with humanity at large and each of us individually. We begin at the beginning. God gave humanity choices. We are not robots. We make decisions. All of us make decisions. Some of us make good decisions some of the time, bad ones some of the time -- and there are many times when some humans make frightening decisions, based on desire and lust -- decisions which produce evil and perverted results. God does not stop any of our decisions. Humans are free to make decisions.

Why does God do such a thing? He could have determined, at the beginning, that there would be no little children who would ever be brutalized -- perhaps by allowing humans a choice, but preventing them, via some kind of implanted spiritual chip in our psyches, so that no humans would ever, ever brutalize a child. God could have chosen all kinds of options, when it comes to the free will he gave humans.

But once again, all one needs to do is to read the pages of a history book -- and, beyond that, carefully examine the nature of our world today -- and we know that God gave humans power to choose the really awful and evil things, as well as all manner of other decisions all across the spectrum of free will. We and those we love fall prey to human predators -- that's the nature of human life. Like it or not, that's what God did -- and he is still defined by love. God is love -- even though he gave humans choice.

We may find this revolting -- but there is no running away from the reality of our world and the world which God has created, by giving humans choice. We can choose to deny this reality in a myriad of ways. And many do. Some, in the guise of religion, decide to deny the reality of our world -- positioning themselves in what they think is a sin-free environment. They will only allow themselves to think of the good, watch only G-rated movies, and read only those parts of the Bible which are "nice" stories about the little Lord Jesus. They effectively censor the Bible, avoiding some of the horrible accounts of evil -- some which are so graphic that we obviously don't discuss them with our children.

Why oh why did God put those kinds of stories in the Bible? No need to chronicle them here -- but there are many perverted, salacious and extremely violent accounts in the Bible.

All of this doesn't really answer the question, but is should help us to re-examine the proposition we bring to the table when we charge God with being uncaring and unloving and even worse. I don't think we can ever effectively grapple with this question until we begin to fathom the depth of love God expressed for us in the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The answer is there. But the answer does not jump off the pages of the Bible. The answer lies in the relationship we have with God, in Christ (if we accept his grace) which grows over time, so that we begin to know God -- so that, as with any human relationship, we know him as he is rather than who or what we want him to be or what others have told us he is or should be.

To those who have not deeply experienced the Lord, it may sound illogical and even somewhat dysfunctional -- but the nexus of our own pain and suffering, and those we love -- and that of the pain and suffering of Jesus, on our behalf, is where the answer to this issue lies. The answer is not given nor found quickly. We don't Google this answer. We can only experience this answer.

I believe one of the major sins of Christendom in our western world is that we have an inadequate idea of the suffering of God on our behalf. This sin is just that -- and it lies at the door of the organized church. When mega-churches serve up feel-good pablum to people, so that they can keep those 8,000 seats in the sanctuary filled -- so that they can pay the mortgage on the huge building and its maintenance -- they are perverting the gospel. When churches and pastors neglect to minister to the pain and heartache of people because it's not popular, because it's painful, because it won't sell, then the gospel is perverted. When all people hear at church or through ministries is 10 steps to becoming a more successful person -- messages and teachings that are all about the consumer benefits of being a Christian -- it's so much cotton candy. It's junk food for the soul. Many damaged and emotionally wounded people (which would be virtually every human alive) are not being given the Bread of life, which is a man eats he will never die, but they are being given religiously preserved and processed junk that makes them feel good.

Thank God that there are many Christ-centered ministries, churches, pastors, priests, teachers and authors who struggle with this issue in an attempt to serve the flock of God -- to direct them toward the reality of the love of God which is not defined by our boundaries or the limitations of our minds. PTM, by God's grace, is one of them. God's grace will enable us to not only face this hard and painful issue but it will allow us to journey deeper into God's world, finding a peace which "transcends all understanding" (Philippians 4:7).

In Christ
Greg Albrecht

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