December 21, 2012
Some well intentioned people are blaming God for the massacre of those innocent children in New Town. My ears have heard people say things like, “why did God not stop the killer? Or “where was God in all of this?” My answer to such talk is not complete because our finite minds cannot comprehend the infinite.
However, this is the way I see it. God created us to be free. The creation stories in the Bible speak about a God who freely created humans and gave us the gift of freedom, or free will, to make choices and to determine how we are to live. We are free to do good or evil, to do that which is right or to do that which is wrong. We can choose to practice love or to join the powers of evil. We are not puppets on a string.
God even chooses to limit God’s power in order to grant freedom to humankind. God did not intervene when Jesus was being murdered. This theological concept is difficult to understand but it is central to the teachings of the Christian religion. This teaching is that the God who created the human family loves us enough to grant us freedom to be free. We can use this freedom to increase love in the world of we can use it to destroy that which is loving.
Christmas is that time in the year when we remember how God came in the form of an innocent baby in order to show us how to live loving lives. In Jesus, we have the finest picture of what God is like. In Jesus, God has shown us how to love one another as brothers and sisters. God freely gave Jesus so that we might see how to use our freedom in caring and redemptive ways. When we misuse our freedom there is pain and suffering in the world. In my opinion the killing of those innocent children made God cry.
Why God destined us to be free to do good or evil is…..
Worth Pondering,
Joe Pennel
Pastor
[email protected]
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