As a pastor I am asked one question more than any other: "Why?" And that's a question I am probably least prepard to answer because there never is a good answer. Here recently we've had to ask that question a lot. Just this weekend we've had 90+ people killed by a madman in Norway, a shooting at a car show, and a crazy guy shooting his wife and some of her relatives, plus himself, at his son's 11th birthday party at a skating rink. Then we've had drought all summer, devastating tornadoes in the spring, economic issues, the country going down the toilet, and other various tragic events. This year is the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks and I'm hearing the "why" questions related to that. Hurricane Katrina brought plenty of "Whys?" But it doesn't have to be a "big" event. Even little events in life can cause us to wonder, "Why?"
And it's not like I'm immune from asking the question just because I've spent years studying these issues. I may be educated, but I've still wondered why when one of my closest friends was diagnosed with cancer, when my brother-in-law was killed in a motorcycle accident, when my own son was diagnosed with, and almost died from, diabetes, when Renae and I lost our first child, and when I've had struggles here at the church. None of us are immune from it. I'm going to give you the answer right now to this age old question. Ready? Here it is: there is no answer. There is no purpose to it. Sometimes bad stuff happens because people are evil or stupid and sometimes stuff happens just because we live in a messed up, fallen world. But there's no divine purpose which causes any of this bad stuff to happen. I'm not being morbid or fatalistic when I say that. It's just simple truth.
That answer seems so very difficult for us because we want an answer. We want to know there's some redeeming purpose behind our suffering (or the suffering of others). The most common phrases I hear during times of suffering and struggles are, "God had a plan." or "God has a reason for this." No, he doesn't. Or, if He does, then he is not the totally holy and good Being the Bible presents Him to be because a totally holy and good Being cannot do anything that would cause suffering in others. God does not make moralistic choices for "the greater good." If He is who the Bible says He is (and I happen to believe that He is) then He always makes the right choice, which would never lead to anyone suffering. Some folks try to get around that by saying, "We finite beings simply cannot fathom the plans of the infinite God." While I will Amen that statement all day long, it's still a cop out and avoid the issue of God's character. Either God is completely good and loving, and therefore incapable of causing suffering, or He's not the God we know from the Bible. Take your pick in that scenario. I choose the former, which means I have to look for another answer to "why?" So, if God is incapable of causing suffering, does that mean He's impotent-incapable of preventing suffering? Well, that doesn't match up very well with scripture, either. The Bible says God is all-powerful and all-knowing. God affirms those attributes on several occasions. Well, that leaves us with a dilemma then. If God is all-good, and therefore incapable of causing suffering, and it also all-powerful and all-knowing, meaning He knows about our suffering and has the power to stop it then why does suffering still exist in this world? And that, friends, is what is known in philosophical circles as "theodicy," or "the problem of evil." And affirming those attributes is why most people want to say there must be some reason or plan behind all suffering.
What we can't leave out is that God has given us the ability to choose. Those choices lead to sin, which almost always leads to some form of suffering - either great or small. At least eventually. Then why give us the choice? Because God wants a love relationship with us and love can't truly exist without the possibility of rejecting that love. I know I'm simplifying a very complicated issue, but so many people struggle with this I want to put it where "the goats can get it." There is also "natural evil" - which are tragic events (like tornadoes and hurricanes) that happen simply by living in this world. None of the tornadoes of April 27 set out with malevolent intent. The people that died did not perish from some evil plot of Satan or a divine reason from God. The died because their house just happened to occupy the spot where a very violent column of wind rolled through.
All of this may feel frustrating, like I'm saying life is meaningless, or as Kansas put it, "All we are is dust in the wind." That's not what I'm saying at all. What I am saying is don't look for meaning in the event itself. Don't look for some divine purpose or plan, or some evil plot, behind every tragic thing or struggle in life. If you do, you'll be left empty-handed with more questions and no answers. This leads to frustration and people walking away from God, blaming Him for not revealing His plan without realizing it was never His plan to begin with. Then how do we cope with the tragedies and struggles of life if not from some hidden divine plan behind the event? The answer is Romans 8:28 where Paul writes that God causes all things to work for good for those who love Him. The key is the word "all." It doesn't say some or those things that are small enough for God to handle. It says all. From a national event like 9/11 or Katrina to a personal event like Caleb's diabetes or Kevin's cancer God can bring good from it. But will you look for the good? Again, God allows us to choose (dang it). We can let an event drive us away from God or we can seek the good. Suffering is only meaningless when we ignore Romans 8:28. But, if we choose to look at all events through a Romans 8:28 lens then even the worst events in our lives can be redeemed for God's purpose. That's truly God's plan and desire, but the outcome is up to you.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Guilty Until Innocent
I have to confess up front that I despise tabloids and sensationalistic journalism. For that very reason I ignored the Anthony trial as much as possible. It looked to be another "OJ" trial where the media blew absolutely everything out of proportion and Americans got way too wrapped up in a court case that they won't care two bits about in a month. It became very difficult to ignore the trial a couple of days ago, however, when my entire Facebook feed page and most news pages blew up with the news of Casey Anthony's acquittal. It seemed about 80% of the FB posts I read were expressing outrage over the jury's verdict.
Maybe Casey Anthony is guilty. I don't know. Certainly the "facts" presented by the media painted her in a not so good light. But, I didn't watch 2 seconds of the trial, and even if I had I was not privy to all of the information and evidence that the jury was. For that reason, I trust their verdict. I have heard several jurors come out in the last day or two and say that they really don't believe Casey Anthony is innocent, but at the same time there was not enough evidence to prove her guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. It sounds to me like the jurors did their job very well and maybe the prosecution didn't. Again, that's speculation since I didn't watch the trial.
What astounded me in all of this was that the vast majority of people decided a long time ago, before hardly any evidence was submitted, that Casey Anthony was guilty. Those same people never wavered in their opinion, whether they reviewed evidence or not, and thus expressed outrage at the verdict presented by the jury who had listened to every second of the case and reviewed every piece of evidence.
Quick legal lesson: "Innocent until proven guilty" is not in the US Constitution like so many seem to think. You have the right not to incriminate yourself and you have the right to a trial by jury, but presumption of innocence is not a standard for every legal case. According to the US Supreme Court in 1978 (Taylor v. Kentucky), the presumption of the innocence of a criminal defendant is best described as an assumption of innocence that is indulged in the absence of contrary evidence. It is not considered evidence of the defendant's innocence, and it does not require that a mandatory inference favorable to the defendant be drawn from any facts in evidence. So, there is no requirement that the jury view the defendant with a prejudice towards innocence. In some special cases, the judge may give instructions to the jury to presume innocence if the judge feels the jury might be swayed by extenuating circumstances rather than the facts of the case, but that is not a requirement, nor is it part of every case.
That said, no matter how much we USAmericans tend to harp on and on about "innocent until proven guilty," reality shows we actually follow "guilty until proven innocent and even then we'll feel there was a miscarriage of justice." Can you name me one high profile case where the defendant was acquitted and everyone was happy? Of course not. There's always wailing and gnashing of teeth. Why? Because we want justice for the victim. And I agree with that!
But, even when there is no "victim" we still tend to follow the same mentality. Think of the whole Cam Newton nonsense from the last few months. Alabama fans wailed about how he "got off" and were absolutely convinced he's guilty even with no evidence to the contrary. Auburn fans, on the other hand, largely seemed overly-defensive, almost as if they, too believed Cam was probably guilty but they were going to defend him anyway. The vast majority of sports pundits and fans not associated with either school pretty much chalked him up as guilty. Now, I'm not an Auburn fan, but I'm asking, "Where's the evidence to declare him guilty?" The NCAA did a complete investigation, which may still be going on. I'm not sure. But no evidence has come out to say he's guilty, and certainly the NCAA would've lowered the boom by now had they found anything, yet we declare him guilty anyway.
Again, I understand we want justice. And I understand our legal system is sometimes flawed. We should work to overcome injustice. Jesus was very much an advocate for helping those unable to help themselves, especially when society prevents them from getting a fair shake. Taking Jesus' words of caring for the "least of these" and his love of children, if you truly care about Caylee Anothony, let me encourage you to stop wailing about it on Facebook and actually do something. No child should be victimized. Yet, sadly, it happens all too often. Caylee Anthony, unfortunately, is not a unique situation. According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) report to Congress in 2010, almost 5 children die each day from child abuse and neglect with 75% of those being under the age of 4. Reported abuse cases show that 9.3 per 1,000 children experience abuse and neglect in our country. 33% of those are 3 or under and 3/4 of those would be under age 12. This abuse occurs over all races and socioeconomic statuses. In fact, 44% of reported victims were white, 22.3% were African-American, and 20.7% were Hispanic. There were oover 20,000 children in the state of Alabama who experienced some form of reported abuse in 2009.
I put all of that out there to say wailing about "injustice" and saying hateful things about Casey Anthony accomplishes nothing. Even saying how "sad" you are for Caylee accomplishes nothing. If you really want to make a difference, find a way to help all of these other children who are suffering abuse and neglect. Unfortunately, Caylee is beyond our ability to help and God is tending to that precious child now. Let's allow this to be a true Romans 8:28 moment and let God bring something good from Caylee's death by spurring us to help those we still can.
Maybe Casey Anthony is guilty. I don't know. Certainly the "facts" presented by the media painted her in a not so good light. But, I didn't watch 2 seconds of the trial, and even if I had I was not privy to all of the information and evidence that the jury was. For that reason, I trust their verdict. I have heard several jurors come out in the last day or two and say that they really don't believe Casey Anthony is innocent, but at the same time there was not enough evidence to prove her guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. It sounds to me like the jurors did their job very well and maybe the prosecution didn't. Again, that's speculation since I didn't watch the trial.
What astounded me in all of this was that the vast majority of people decided a long time ago, before hardly any evidence was submitted, that Casey Anthony was guilty. Those same people never wavered in their opinion, whether they reviewed evidence or not, and thus expressed outrage at the verdict presented by the jury who had listened to every second of the case and reviewed every piece of evidence.
Quick legal lesson: "Innocent until proven guilty" is not in the US Constitution like so many seem to think. You have the right not to incriminate yourself and you have the right to a trial by jury, but presumption of innocence is not a standard for every legal case. According to the US Supreme Court in 1978 (Taylor v. Kentucky), the presumption of the innocence of a criminal defendant is best described as an assumption of innocence that is indulged in the absence of contrary evidence. It is not considered evidence of the defendant's innocence, and it does not require that a mandatory inference favorable to the defendant be drawn from any facts in evidence. So, there is no requirement that the jury view the defendant with a prejudice towards innocence. In some special cases, the judge may give instructions to the jury to presume innocence if the judge feels the jury might be swayed by extenuating circumstances rather than the facts of the case, but that is not a requirement, nor is it part of every case.
That said, no matter how much we USAmericans tend to harp on and on about "innocent until proven guilty," reality shows we actually follow "guilty until proven innocent and even then we'll feel there was a miscarriage of justice." Can you name me one high profile case where the defendant was acquitted and everyone was happy? Of course not. There's always wailing and gnashing of teeth. Why? Because we want justice for the victim. And I agree with that!
But, even when there is no "victim" we still tend to follow the same mentality. Think of the whole Cam Newton nonsense from the last few months. Alabama fans wailed about how he "got off" and were absolutely convinced he's guilty even with no evidence to the contrary. Auburn fans, on the other hand, largely seemed overly-defensive, almost as if they, too believed Cam was probably guilty but they were going to defend him anyway. The vast majority of sports pundits and fans not associated with either school pretty much chalked him up as guilty. Now, I'm not an Auburn fan, but I'm asking, "Where's the evidence to declare him guilty?" The NCAA did a complete investigation, which may still be going on. I'm not sure. But no evidence has come out to say he's guilty, and certainly the NCAA would've lowered the boom by now had they found anything, yet we declare him guilty anyway.
Again, I understand we want justice. And I understand our legal system is sometimes flawed. We should work to overcome injustice. Jesus was very much an advocate for helping those unable to help themselves, especially when society prevents them from getting a fair shake. Taking Jesus' words of caring for the "least of these" and his love of children, if you truly care about Caylee Anothony, let me encourage you to stop wailing about it on Facebook and actually do something. No child should be victimized. Yet, sadly, it happens all too often. Caylee Anthony, unfortunately, is not a unique situation. According to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) report to Congress in 2010, almost 5 children die each day from child abuse and neglect with 75% of those being under the age of 4. Reported abuse cases show that 9.3 per 1,000 children experience abuse and neglect in our country. 33% of those are 3 or under and 3/4 of those would be under age 12. This abuse occurs over all races and socioeconomic statuses. In fact, 44% of reported victims were white, 22.3% were African-American, and 20.7% were Hispanic. There were oover 20,000 children in the state of Alabama who experienced some form of reported abuse in 2009.
I put all of that out there to say wailing about "injustice" and saying hateful things about Casey Anthony accomplishes nothing. Even saying how "sad" you are for Caylee accomplishes nothing. If you really want to make a difference, find a way to help all of these other children who are suffering abuse and neglect. Unfortunately, Caylee is beyond our ability to help and God is tending to that precious child now. Let's allow this to be a true Romans 8:28 moment and let God bring something good from Caylee's death by spurring us to help those we still can.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Christians and the 4th of July
I am super patriotic. I love my country and am very proud to be an American. I come from a long line of family members in military service, including my father who is a retired USAF Chaplain and my grandfather who served as a combat medic during WWII. I have ancestors who fought on both sides during the Civil War as well as some who fought in the Revolutionary War. So, I'm as American as it gets.
I felt the need to preface what I'm about to say with that context because, according to many American Christians, I'm going to sound very un-patriotic. I struggle with the role of patriotism in the church. My brother-in-law, Andy, and some of my friends feel very strongly that there should be no vestiges of patriotism in worship at all. It should be all about God. And I understand their point. I also know that Paul tells us in Romans 13 to be good citizens and support our country. But does supporting our country mean we have to wave the Stars and Stripes in worship?
Throughout my life I have seen a variety of worship services around the 4th of July weekend. Almost all of them involve singing patriotic songs like God Bless America, speeches about how this is a Christian nation, prayers for God to bless our country, and talk of how great our country is. The choir will usually sing some patriotic spectacular that will get everyone misty-eyed and goosepimply. It's almost like the majority of people who call themselves "Christians" in the USA view our country as the new Israel - God's "chosen" people - which is far from scriptural truth. In the midst of all of this I wonder "Where is the focus on giving glory to God?" It's not that I'm opposed to overt displays of patriotism. I don't know how many times I've seen it, but at Epcot's American Adventure at Walt Disney World I still get misty eyed every single time at the end of the show during the "Golden Wings" song. But does this belong in worship?
This may come as a shock to many, but God does not care one ounce more for the United States than He does for some unheard of tribe in the Amazon jungle. The only "people" God ever made a direct covenant with was Israel. Christ has said we, as Christians, are now "grafted" into that covenant. But even God's relationship with Israel was not meant to imply He loved them more. He has simply chosen then to be the vehicle for spreading His love and grace to ALL people.
So back to our topic of worship and the 4th of July. Should we celebrate it or not? I don't think we, as church leaders, should ignore it, as some of my colleagues feel, because it's at the front of everyone's mind. In fact, we've been so immersed in the "God and Country" idea that to ignore it would probably leave people confused. I think, instead, we should it as an opportunity to educate. People come in to worship on the Sunday closest to the 4th of July expecting a USA pep rally. Instead, let's acknowledge that we are very grateful to live in a country where we are free to gather and worship God publicly without fear of reprisal. But, then let's have a time of prayer for our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who do not have that freedom, and yet are choosing to gather and worship God anyway. Let's acknowledge how grateful we are for the freedoms we enjoy in this country, but then focus on the freedom we have in Christ, which is open to all people of all races and nations.
Should the 4th of July be celebrated in worship? I don't think so. We gather to worship God, not the USA, and I think many churches are guilty of making our country their idol, at least on this one Sunday. But, we should also not miss this wonderful opportunity to open the eyes of those who gather to the greater Church around the world.
I am proud to be an American, but I am much, much more grateful for the love, grace, and mercy I have found through Jesus Christ.
I felt the need to preface what I'm about to say with that context because, according to many American Christians, I'm going to sound very un-patriotic. I struggle with the role of patriotism in the church. My brother-in-law, Andy, and some of my friends feel very strongly that there should be no vestiges of patriotism in worship at all. It should be all about God. And I understand their point. I also know that Paul tells us in Romans 13 to be good citizens and support our country. But does supporting our country mean we have to wave the Stars and Stripes in worship?
Throughout my life I have seen a variety of worship services around the 4th of July weekend. Almost all of them involve singing patriotic songs like God Bless America, speeches about how this is a Christian nation, prayers for God to bless our country, and talk of how great our country is. The choir will usually sing some patriotic spectacular that will get everyone misty-eyed and goosepimply. It's almost like the majority of people who call themselves "Christians" in the USA view our country as the new Israel - God's "chosen" people - which is far from scriptural truth. In the midst of all of this I wonder "Where is the focus on giving glory to God?" It's not that I'm opposed to overt displays of patriotism. I don't know how many times I've seen it, but at Epcot's American Adventure at Walt Disney World I still get misty eyed every single time at the end of the show during the "Golden Wings" song. But does this belong in worship?
This may come as a shock to many, but God does not care one ounce more for the United States than He does for some unheard of tribe in the Amazon jungle. The only "people" God ever made a direct covenant with was Israel. Christ has said we, as Christians, are now "grafted" into that covenant. But even God's relationship with Israel was not meant to imply He loved them more. He has simply chosen then to be the vehicle for spreading His love and grace to ALL people.
So back to our topic of worship and the 4th of July. Should we celebrate it or not? I don't think we, as church leaders, should ignore it, as some of my colleagues feel, because it's at the front of everyone's mind. In fact, we've been so immersed in the "God and Country" idea that to ignore it would probably leave people confused. I think, instead, we should it as an opportunity to educate. People come in to worship on the Sunday closest to the 4th of July expecting a USA pep rally. Instead, let's acknowledge that we are very grateful to live in a country where we are free to gather and worship God publicly without fear of reprisal. But, then let's have a time of prayer for our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who do not have that freedom, and yet are choosing to gather and worship God anyway. Let's acknowledge how grateful we are for the freedoms we enjoy in this country, but then focus on the freedom we have in Christ, which is open to all people of all races and nations.
Should the 4th of July be celebrated in worship? I don't think so. We gather to worship God, not the USA, and I think many churches are guilty of making our country their idol, at least on this one Sunday. But, we should also not miss this wonderful opportunity to open the eyes of those who gather to the greater Church around the world.
I am proud to be an American, but I am much, much more grateful for the love, grace, and mercy I have found through Jesus Christ.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)