The pastors of the church we attend semi-regularly sent out an email requesting questions from the community to be answered during the sermon this coming Sunday. Below is the question I sent in, and I would love to hear everyone else's thoughts, cohesive or not on the below:
Hi Pete and Jenn,
Thank you so much for offering the opportunity for us to ask you questions! I learn so much from listening to your sermons, but I have often felt there were some things that I just don’t get, not having had the benefit of growing up with any religion as part of my life. I have always tried very hard to believe and have faith, not because I feel it is the “right” thing to do, but because I want so desperately to have that as a source of comfort, and because there have been periods where I didn’t question quite as much, and found it helped me find peace in many ways.
But, I always come back to logic and reason, and find there are so many doubts that it is hard for me to sustain my faith. So, it is difficult for me to choose just one question! However, I think the most important question is the very one that you may not be able to answer, as many generations of people have asked it through the ages: if God is benevolent and well, ‘God’, why is there so much suffering in the world? No offense, but please don’t say that God gave us free will. For one thing, there is plenty of suffering that is not caused by people: famine, drought, disasters, and other so called “Acts of God”. For another thing, what about the whole omnipotence thing? If we say free will is the cause, isn’t that saying that God either: doesn’t care (benevolence?), can’t intervene (omnipotence?), or isn’t aware? Then why do we pray?
In discussing this question with my husband last night, he suggested that God exists because, as human beings we are self aware, and therefore need the concept of God to explain things that are beyond our understanding. For him, God is real because he believes in Him. But this does not resolve my problem. As much as I am a news junkie, each day I hesitate when I go to look at CNN.com or turn on the TV or radio. Will there be a story of an innocent child suffering at the hands of his or her own parent? Will there be a PSA spot showing orphaned children, slowly starving due to widespread drought? Where was God during the Holocaust or in Darfur, or even in the Gulf Coast during the hurricanes and their aftermath? And why, for God’s sake, did we have to have George W. Bush as president for eight excruciatingly long years? KIDDING! (Sort of.)
Just a few weeks ago, our cat was run over and killed right in front of our house. My son was there. We were all there, though we did not see the actual incident, it occurred only moments before our neighbor came to tell us he was lying in the road, not moving. My son is five years old now, and at an age where he still thinks his parents have all the answers, just as questions about death, God, and the ways of the Universe are coming in to his awareness. I assume I am not the only parent who feels totally inadequate to explain such things to my child, which is one of the reasons we come to church. I hope he can pick up what I so desperately wish I had: A foundation of faith and a sense of peace with questions such as these.
If you can’t answer the question of why bad things happen to good people (and animals), at least can you help me with a narrative to start my son on the path of faith in the face of such questions? After all, it’s an age old question, and I know there is a certain time constraint here (just a bit daunting!), but maybe the process of helping him come to an understanding will help me find a source of comfort and peace with these questions as well.
Thank you for your consideration, and as always, thank you for your service.
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Does God exist?
Why does God allow suffering?
Why do we pray?
In response, I would ask: What is faith? It has been said that faith is belief without reason. If you believe in God you do so without asking for proof, or even logical reasoning. You simply believe. Faith require no proof; faith requires no explanations; faith requires no promises, rules or regulations, no logic, no confirmation nor authentication. Faith is blind, or it isn’t faith. When you start to reason through the existence of God it quickly becomes an absurdity. God is an old man with white flowing hair and beard sitting on a golden throne up in heaven watching everything that happens in Creation, passing judgment on everyone’s thoughts and actions?! Or, if you choose to drop the “Testaments” and go with your own creative imagination: God is the force of life that has created all that exists and all that will ever exist?! Well then, what about heaven and hell? Is He judging our actions and thoughts? If not, what about good and evil? Every question invites more questions and there is no end to it. No, one can’t reason one’s way through this. Either you have blind faith or you don’t, and if you ask yourself the question: Do I have faith? Then the answer is always, No, you don’t. If you did you wouldn’t be asking.
Truth is, the question of the existence of God isn’t all that important, not for you nor for your children. If you have faith, so be it. What is important is the question of self-respect, the question of truth – your truth. The idea of good and evil exists in your own heart, and it is your heart that you must learn to know and trust. Trusting your own truth is what I mean by self-respect. Respect your truth, respect yourself, and this is what we should be teaching our children – teaching without teaching – teaching by being. If we develop into adults with a strong sense of ourselves, trust ourselves, love ourselves, this trusting, this loving will radiate outward onto everyone we encounter, onto all of existence – will radiate and multiply. What more could a fair and loving God ask of us? What more could a human being accomplish?
I like the Christ story. It is a story of love and self-respect. It is a story of belief in the perfection of all that exists, all people, all creatures, all of creation. It is a story of forgiveness. It is a story of working continuously to help relieve suffering and ignorance and doubt. The Christ story is marvelous, especially for children, a story of hope and love. Unfortunately, the stories told by most of the Christians of our modern times are fear based instead of love based. The fear of eternal damnation and hell fire. The fear of God and His judgments. The fear of the devil and his temptations, sin, evil, suffering, judgment. Judgment! Judgment! All fear, and fear engenders only more fear and always will. Please don’t teach fear to your children. They will encounter far more of it than they need to in their coming lives. The Christ story is a story of love, and that is a wonderful place to start with your child.
The question of prayer is an interesting one. It seems to me that there may be true value in prayer, whether or not you have a faith in God. The question of God seems to me unimportant when it comes to prayer. We are creative beings. It can be said that we have created all that we know and understand, all of this life we find ourselves wandering through. I really don’t know if that is a true statement, but it has been my experience that there is positive power in the act of prayer. It has been there, in prayer, that I have found a level of peace at my most troubling times. It is there, in prayer, that I have found a comforting sense of the enormity of existence and the unknowable idea of eternity. I seldom pray for anything other than help and support. Mostly my prayers are of thanksgiving and appreciation for all of my blessings and this beautiful life. But I do at times pray for help and support from the spirits and guardian angels that I hope are out there watching over us. It hardly matters to me whether or not they truly exist, I find comfort in inviting them into my consciousness, listening to their teachings and feeling the warmth of their love. I don’t know if this is faith or not. I no longer ask that question. God and the eternity of love will be there when I cross over or they will not. If so, how marvelous that would be. If not, I can look forward to an eternity of sleep. It is here in this moment that I live, here and now in this eternal moment. My job is to live and I trust in myself to continuously reach toward the limits of my potentials, however great or small they may be. I have learned to not judge my brethren, and I am now, finally, learning to not judge myself.
Pray for me, as I pray for you.
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