A Conversation about God

And there will no longer be heard in her the voice of weeping and the sound of crying. No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred and the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Shall be thought accursed. And they shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall also plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build, and another inhabit, they shall not plant, and another eat; for as the lifetime of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, and My chosen ones shall wear out the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they are the offspring of those blessed by the LORD, and their descendants with them. It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. (NASB) Isaiah 65:19-24

M: Tonight as I was driving home, I saw a beautiful buck on the side of the road that had been hit by a car. Blood was coming out of its nose. Why do these things have to happen?
E: Because of our human greed and stupidity.
M: So it's all the fault of humans?
E: Society has deemed it necessary to have cars and roads, so yes.
M: Why are some things born just to be killed right away? Do you remember those baby rabbits at my old place that were killed by that stray cat? It was so sad. The poor mother rabbit. Why did they even have to be born at all, if they were just going to die? That incident can't really be blamed on humans, can it? Or is it because nature is out of balance due to human actions?
E: It could be, I guess.
M: But why do humans have to be like that? I'm a human, but I don't want those things to happen. I wish I could create a mode of transportation that didn't involve death. Is each and every one of us responsible, or humanity in general? I can understand that bad things happen because we live in a fallen world. I can understand that bad things happen because humans create a lot of our own suffering, as well as cause the suffering of other living things. I can even understand reasons why God would create beings who would die shortly after but who would have a tremendous and profound impact on others. What I don't understand is the seemingly senseless deaths of some creatures.
E: I'm not sure. Does God really care? I believe in God, but I've always questioned how much He cares about our individual lives. Maybe He only cares about the big picture.
M: But of course God cares!
E: Does He?
M: Of course He does. It says in the Bible that God notices when even a sparrow dies; therefore, as we were created in His image, how much more so does he notice us. He sees all. That's why I think you should eat less meat. God knows about the factory farming. He sees what is going on and He is angry when we cause his creatures unnecessary suffering.
E: You think God cares about the animals?
M: Of course He does. People did not even eat animals until after Noah's Ark, after the flood. It also says that in Heaven, there will be no more death. Eventually the wolf and the lamb will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw. God does not desire suffering or death for any of His creatures.
E: If He cares, then why doesn't He show it?
M: You don't think He does?
E: No--I mean, how does He? We don't see Him, it doesn't feel like He's around or that He cares.
M: What are you looking for? Thunder and lightning bolts?
E: Well, sure.
M: But, it doesn't matter. Because even when He did show it, people still refused to believe in Him. When Jesus was doing work on earth, in the flesh, many if not most people still rejected Him.
E: Hm.
M: You had Jesus performing miracles in front of people's eyes, but they still rejected Him. They were so caught up in the fact that the miracle occurred on the Sabbath, that legalism clouded their eyes and they said, "He doesn't fit our view of God, therefore he cannot be God."
E: Hm.
M: You see, God is always showing us He cares. He is always performing miracles. It just in ways that we don't expect, sometimes in ways we're not looking for, and because it doesn't fit our narrow, human framework, we refuse to accept them. God is bigger than our minds, than our own understanding. He is bigger than our rules. He refuses to play by our flawed human rules and tests.
E: Hm.
M: We cannot understand why these seemingly senseless things happen. We can guess, but it is only a shadow of complete understanding. Our minds are not ready to understand yet, because we're still living in the midst of it. And we are spiritual infants compared to eternity, compared to God.
E: Hm.
M: It's like Himal's heart surgeries. He is too little to understand; he cannot understand. All he knows is that these things have happened to him, and are happening, and maybe he even wonders why we as his parents do not put a stop to it. Can't we? Don't we want to? We did not desire for it to be this way. But we let it happen because it is his only chance at life. Without these things happening to him, he would die, although he does not understand that yet.
E: True.
M: We have to believe that all these things that happen will be used for greater good in the end. God will turn everything to good, and for His glory, if only we let Him. We have to believe that we will either learn why someday, or that eventually, the question of why will not even matter in the bigger scheme of things.

Unfortunately, no matter what, some will still be angry at God, although that anger is misdirected. They will ask why God didn't create a wonderful paradise for us all--forgetting that He did, and we as humans (ie, Adam and Eve, as the primordial ones) chose to leave it. Also unfortunately, there are some who will still reject the existence of God because He has somehow failed their test of what God should be. God wants us to believe in Him because He desires only good things for us. He is always inviting us to be a part of something amazing, something that will cause us to outgrow the narrow wooden beams we try to keep housing our belief system in. Although he have to step out of our comfort zone to truly follow God, it is always more than worth it to move into God's expansive mansion.

There is more than enough room in my Father's home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? John 14:2

And the Sins of the Fathers...

The intangible inheritance parents pass on to their children is the earliest impression of God’s character. Unfair as it may be, as big of a responsibility it is, children learn about God from the way their parents treat them—it’s no coincidence that we often perceive God as a father or mother figure. In the early years, parents are their children’s creators, providers, nurturers, caretakers, and teachers. Parents can give or take away. Their word is (usually) law and their pronouncements are judgments and decrees. Parents can be unfair and mysterious to a child, with ways that are unknown (“because I said so, and I am [God]. Who are you to question?”).

As a young child, your parent pretty much IS God—your primary example of love and relationship. The loving aspects of parenthood are a tiny slice of God’s perfect parenthood. The selfish, fallen aspects are the mark of our human, earthly status.

It took me a very long time to realize how my upbringing was reflected in my relationship with God. Having very critical, unpredictable parents made me perceive a God that was judgmental and unpredictably loving. A God who thought I wasn’t good enough—a capricious and whimsical God. This image of God was dysfunctional, and for years caused me to doubt and distrust God’s nature.

If we take a good look at how we view God, we often find that the picture was influenced by some of our earliest childhood experiences. Maybe for some of us, it felt like God was never around or emotionally unavailable. Maybe we couldn’t live up to his larger-than-life personality or expectations; maybe we never felt good enough. Maybe God was cold and distant, uncaring or selfish—maybe a user…maybe unreliable, egotistical, arrogant, hypocritical.

Only after I became a parent myself did I realize how God might really see me and How He might really Be. First of all, my son is not “perfect,” just as we are not perfect in the eyes of God. He was born with a single ventricle heart. But this does not mean I love my son any less. Indeed, children with special needs are called “special” for a reason. I won’t go so far as to say that “heart parents” love their children more than “normal parents” (after all, I wouldn’t know for sure)—but almost. I’ll stop just short of saying that. My son was born with a defect, as we are all born with the defect of original sin. I think God wants to see us succeed in our spiritual journeys all the more because of our human disadvantage.

Secondly, the life our son is living is not the life we had planned for him, much like God’s original plan for humankind is not what we are all living now. Our original plan for our son was an idyllic babyhood filled with swim classes at the YMCA, baby yoga, and travel—not open-heart surgeries, long hospital stays, and countless medical procedures. Am I disappointed in the situation? Yes. Am I disappointed in my son? No. My son's life is filled with a lot more pain and suffering than I would have ever wanted. Now I understand some of the pain God must feel at our human suffering.

Parents see their children as their most perfect creations. Parents take pride in their scrawny, puny newborns and in their eyes, these newborns are the cutest to ever grace the universe. As our children grow older, we set rules for them that they don’t always understand. Sometimes we become frustrated, angry, or hurt when they are ungrateful or when they disobey us. But we always forgive them when they truly repent, no matter how grave the offense.

So where does this “punish the children for the sins of their fathers” idea come from? Deuteronomy 5:9-10: “I do not leave unpunished the sins of those who hate me, but I punish the children for the sins of their parents to the third and fourth generations. But I lavish my love on those who love me and obey my commands, even for a thousand generations.” I’m not a reverend, but my layperson interpretation of these 2 verses is that love is the greater force here—a force that sets us free from the examples of previous generations.

Maybe what God meant was not that He would exact punishment for its own sake on a sinner’s children, but that repeating the mistakes of one’s parents is punishment enough, and is the intangible inheritance of a human primary example. It is a warning to parents that history repeats itself, and can put subsequent generations at considerable disadvantage. Indeed, to overcome the sins of one’s father or mother, it takes conscious realization, supplication, and a little divine intervention. One of my good friends mentioned years ago that only God could break the patterns families can fall into and pass down through generations, and that we need to consciously ask God to shatter the chains that tie us to our forefathers. It can be something as serious as alcoholism, abuse, depression, and abandonment to more oblique family attributes like disapproval, pride, or sanctimoniousness. Take a good look at what you’ve inherited from your family—then ask God to set you free.