Sunday, March 08, 2009
Sunday Reflection: Carry each other, you have to carry each other...
My mother often told me that "God doesn't give us more than we can handle." By that, she meant that God allows difficulties and challenges in our lives, but that He also provides a way of dealing with them, if we choose to look.
I've always struggled with that advice. First, it assumes such an active role for God in individual lives-- that he is micromanaging our surroundings. I'm not sure if that is true or not. Second, and at a more profound level, it seems hard to see how God provided for some people who were put into terrible hardship. For Jews in a death camp, what was provided?
However, as I get older, I am able to see what she was talking about, at least within my own relatively privileged life. When there have been challenges and heartbreak, there have always been people ready to hear me out and stand by me. Even at my worst, there were ways of bearing it, when I chose to look.
Perhaps there is a way to accept what my Mom said, at least in my own life. It may not be that God micromanages the details of our lives, but He has created us as such complex and beautiful creatures, and placed us in a world and society of such diversity, that few situations are so simple that there is nowhere to turn. I still don't have an answer for the holocaust, though. More thinking awaits.
And to those of you who have been the ones to carry me, even recently, thank you. In still, small ways you have been the light of God on Earth to one person.
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You know, I can't find that saying anywhere in the Scriptures. The closest I can find are the words of Paul, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." 1 Corinthians 10:13.
To me, that means that in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in,we can keep God's commandments and serve others. I'm reminded of stories of Jews in concentration camps who went about serving their fellow prisoners to lighten their suffering. Many of them died despite their service. But they would not let others dictate their attitude, their actions, or whether they would remain devoted to the God who seemed to have forsaken them.
To me, that means that in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in,we can keep God's commandments and serve others. I'm reminded of stories of Jews in concentration camps who went about serving their fellow prisoners to lighten their suffering. Many of them died despite their service. But they would not let others dictate their attitude, their actions, or whether they would remain devoted to the God who seemed to have forsaken them.
I have been thinking about the phrase through out the day, Although I am not a religious person I believe in the concept of the statement.
For me it means that when things seems out of control, unfair, burdensome, overwhelming or all out gloom and doom I must take time to search for an answer. For me it involves looking at past events/experiences and then determining what I require to move forward. These may be personal events or historical. This may only require action on my part, but may encompass the help of family and/or friends or community. There are many things that are out of our control and we need to be able to determine what we can control and what we can't control and move forward.
As for how this applies to the Holicaust? It is so hard to believe that we let this happen (as a world community). It is important to remember that we did not have 24/7 news media telling us what was going on during every micro-second of the day. People typed in news wires and Telegrams were sent and this was very slow going. It also meant that ill meaning people could make sure news was not deseminated or that facts and truths could be easily altered with few having reason to doubt.
For a moment look back to your Rush Limbaugh topic last month. You and I realize that he is acting and that many of the words coming out of his mouth are dribble, but for every 2 of us have him figured out there are 5 or 6 people who think he speaks the absolute truth. When people are desperate, unhappy, insecure they will believe people because they need to believe something. It is self perpetuating.
I had a great grandmother who passed away in Germany during the earlier days of War II. She was in the north, somewhat isolated from what was happening. When her kids tried convincing her she should come home she didn't understand why. Part of this was age and part of it was their isolation from the situation and the news. In the end she passed during this time from natural causes. It took her children close to a year to find out she had died.
I could go on, but I will stop.
Have a good week all.
For me it means that when things seems out of control, unfair, burdensome, overwhelming or all out gloom and doom I must take time to search for an answer. For me it involves looking at past events/experiences and then determining what I require to move forward. These may be personal events or historical. This may only require action on my part, but may encompass the help of family and/or friends or community. There are many things that are out of our control and we need to be able to determine what we can control and what we can't control and move forward.
As for how this applies to the Holicaust? It is so hard to believe that we let this happen (as a world community). It is important to remember that we did not have 24/7 news media telling us what was going on during every micro-second of the day. People typed in news wires and Telegrams were sent and this was very slow going. It also meant that ill meaning people could make sure news was not deseminated or that facts and truths could be easily altered with few having reason to doubt.
For a moment look back to your Rush Limbaugh topic last month. You and I realize that he is acting and that many of the words coming out of his mouth are dribble, but for every 2 of us have him figured out there are 5 or 6 people who think he speaks the absolute truth. When people are desperate, unhappy, insecure they will believe people because they need to believe something. It is self perpetuating.
I had a great grandmother who passed away in Germany during the earlier days of War II. She was in the north, somewhat isolated from what was happening. When her kids tried convincing her she should come home she didn't understand why. Part of this was age and part of it was their isolation from the situation and the news. In the end she passed during this time from natural causes. It took her children close to a year to find out she had died.
I could go on, but I will stop.
Have a good week all.
I've actually been thinking about a tangential subject to this a bit lately, given my often-fruitless attempts to educate fellow non-believers on the problem of evil.
I can't, for the life of me, consider how anyone would believe that God micromanages things on Earth, mostly because of the problem of evil. Too much that I regard as "bad" (which, I admit, I judge from my temporal and non-omniscient standpoint) happens for me to see a good and loving being as being in control of most or all of it.
Then again, one of my Yalie theologian friends informs me that this is because I am applying human ethical rules to a being that is neither human nor bound by the same consciousness I am, and I sort of see her point.
However, even still assuming that everything happens according to some divine plan and not to God's occasionalist tendencies, there's still a lot that people are given to bear without any justification given for why they must.
The passage Craig quotes, which I think is on point, is problematic. To my perhaps too-cynical eye, Paul seems to be telling us that God deliberately confronts us with difficult situations in order to test how we'd react, which seems at odds with my perhaps too-simple concept of a loving God.
On the other hand, I see what you're saying: given a way of bearing it, is suffering really so bad and evil? We tend to intellectualize suffering as bad because we who are in a state of not-suffering wish to remain in that state. Can simple existential inertia be enough to explain why we try so hard to avoid pain?
Or does the answer lie in the pairing of pain and empathy? Humans have a unique capability to put ourselves in the other person's shoes. Perhaps our empathy with those that suffer, our ability to feel, in some small part, is what motivates us to say that we should avoid pain and suffering, even when it is the pain and suffering of others. We commonly hold, in problem of evil arguments, that God's love would prevent him from giving us painful things or suffering to deal with.
But what is love? Despite nigh on 3000 years of philosophizing on the subject, I don't think we're any closer to understanding it than the Greeks were. Maybe love isn't so simple and infantile as we intuitively make it, and sometimes love involves the willing, even deliberate, infliction of pain for some greater purpose.
Dunno. No amount of speculation from this armchair is going to do me any good. If I could solve problems that have perplexed philosophers for millennia from my couch, I'd have a much more extravagant life.
I can't, for the life of me, consider how anyone would believe that God micromanages things on Earth, mostly because of the problem of evil. Too much that I regard as "bad" (which, I admit, I judge from my temporal and non-omniscient standpoint) happens for me to see a good and loving being as being in control of most or all of it.
Then again, one of my Yalie theologian friends informs me that this is because I am applying human ethical rules to a being that is neither human nor bound by the same consciousness I am, and I sort of see her point.
However, even still assuming that everything happens according to some divine plan and not to God's occasionalist tendencies, there's still a lot that people are given to bear without any justification given for why they must.
The passage Craig quotes, which I think is on point, is problematic. To my perhaps too-cynical eye, Paul seems to be telling us that God deliberately confronts us with difficult situations in order to test how we'd react, which seems at odds with my perhaps too-simple concept of a loving God.
On the other hand, I see what you're saying: given a way of bearing it, is suffering really so bad and evil? We tend to intellectualize suffering as bad because we who are in a state of not-suffering wish to remain in that state. Can simple existential inertia be enough to explain why we try so hard to avoid pain?
Or does the answer lie in the pairing of pain and empathy? Humans have a unique capability to put ourselves in the other person's shoes. Perhaps our empathy with those that suffer, our ability to feel, in some small part, is what motivates us to say that we should avoid pain and suffering, even when it is the pain and suffering of others. We commonly hold, in problem of evil arguments, that God's love would prevent him from giving us painful things or suffering to deal with.
But what is love? Despite nigh on 3000 years of philosophizing on the subject, I don't think we're any closer to understanding it than the Greeks were. Maybe love isn't so simple and infantile as we intuitively make it, and sometimes love involves the willing, even deliberate, infliction of pain for some greater purpose.
Dunno. No amount of speculation from this armchair is going to do me any good. If I could solve problems that have perplexed philosophers for millennia from my couch, I'd have a much more extravagant life.
As I get older, I notice that U2 really gets it right sometimes! Good topic and great responses above.
This reminds me of Hebrews 10:23, "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."
We can garner nourishment in several essential ways (food, sleep, intellectual stimulation, love) and we recognize that without these things, we wither and perish. However, we neglect the need for spiritual nourishment, or figure that we get what we need from God alone.
Now, I do not think that is wrong, but denying Christian fellowship is cutting off one of God's essential vehicles for getting things done on this earth. It is sort of like subsisting on manna...filling, and definately better than nothing, but...bland.
As to Lane's observation, I only respond to this because it is a question I get a lot from non-Christians. How could a loving God allow X to happen? The implication being, there is no God, or X would not have happened...
To say that the God of Jacob is a loving God is correct, but to imply that if you love a person you will reorder space and time, take back the gift of free will, and create a prison/Utopia for your beloved...is a strange idea.
Our God has given us free will. It is the greatest gift, after creation, that a creator can bestow. Without it, we would be mannequin/slaves. But in giving us this gift, he intends that we learn how to use it and control it OURSELVES. Not because we fear or depend on divine intervention.
This begs the second question: does God intervene? Does he play an active role in daily life, in the micro-affairs of man? Yes, every moment, giving us His comfort, power and love. Although He at times does choose to hold his power in check. The best examples of this are the most painful ones to recall. The holocausts of innocents throughout history and, notably at the crucifixion of His Son. Really, He has every reason to regret His gift of free will and wipe the slate clean of us. I think that is kind of Satan's point..."Why do you put up with these guys, they totally suck!"
Yet, anyone who has a child knows how it works. To love someone so much that you would gladly die in their place, to see their potential for redemption, no matter how steeped in evil they choose to become, to suffer the pain of watching them choose destruction rather than simple obedience to rules you devised only for their protection and good. And, then for that child to say, "You can't possibly love me, or you would have forced me to be good and then I wouldn't be in this mess!!"
I just realized what a thankless job being a parent really is. I gotta call my mom. :)
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This reminds me of Hebrews 10:23, "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."
We can garner nourishment in several essential ways (food, sleep, intellectual stimulation, love) and we recognize that without these things, we wither and perish. However, we neglect the need for spiritual nourishment, or figure that we get what we need from God alone.
Now, I do not think that is wrong, but denying Christian fellowship is cutting off one of God's essential vehicles for getting things done on this earth. It is sort of like subsisting on manna...filling, and definately better than nothing, but...bland.
As to Lane's observation, I only respond to this because it is a question I get a lot from non-Christians. How could a loving God allow X to happen? The implication being, there is no God, or X would not have happened...
To say that the God of Jacob is a loving God is correct, but to imply that if you love a person you will reorder space and time, take back the gift of free will, and create a prison/Utopia for your beloved...is a strange idea.
Our God has given us free will. It is the greatest gift, after creation, that a creator can bestow. Without it, we would be mannequin/slaves. But in giving us this gift, he intends that we learn how to use it and control it OURSELVES. Not because we fear or depend on divine intervention.
This begs the second question: does God intervene? Does he play an active role in daily life, in the micro-affairs of man? Yes, every moment, giving us His comfort, power and love. Although He at times does choose to hold his power in check. The best examples of this are the most painful ones to recall. The holocausts of innocents throughout history and, notably at the crucifixion of His Son. Really, He has every reason to regret His gift of free will and wipe the slate clean of us. I think that is kind of Satan's point..."Why do you put up with these guys, they totally suck!"
Yet, anyone who has a child knows how it works. To love someone so much that you would gladly die in their place, to see their potential for redemption, no matter how steeped in evil they choose to become, to suffer the pain of watching them choose destruction rather than simple obedience to rules you devised only for their protection and good. And, then for that child to say, "You can't possibly love me, or you would have forced me to be good and then I wouldn't be in this mess!!"
I just realized what a thankless job being a parent really is. I gotta call my mom. :)
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