Sorrow upon sorrow

No one could feel anything other than profound sorrow at this time when a lone gunman has murdered at least 26 people, 20 of them children.
We will never know what was in his mind as he pulled the trigger time and time again.
The human suffering caused by this violent act will never be fully appreciated.
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Sin is the biggest enemy of our world. But there is an answer.
It's not easy to understand because it doesn't fit with our human way of dealing with things. But then our human way of dealing with things hasn't got us very far, so maybe we ought to look at what God says.
God says that sin separates us from him and that we can't deal with it on our own. The people of Israel were always turning their back on God and trying to find their own solutions to problems they faced. It was always God who provided the solution- plagues to persuade Pharoah to release the people from captivity, water in the desert, pillars of fire for guidance etc.
God also said that he would save the people from their sin by providing a child. The words of prophets gave clues about what the people of Israel should expect long before Jesus, who many accepted as the Messiah, was born.

The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.
Every warrior’s boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.

Isaiah Chapter 9

We wouldn't look to a child to save the world from sin, but then "the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength."

At a time of sorrow upon sorrow, humanity needs an answer to sin. How I long for the peace, justice and righteousness announced by Isaiah.

Sin again!

I guess, if you have been reading my blog posts sequentially, you may have been amazed that I have written two longish posts on sin without mentioning God at all. Well, that's about to change!

The reason that I didn't mention God before was that sometimes people read the word "God" then switch off to everything else that is written in the same paragraph. I guess I wanted to show how sin is part of our everyday experience and inseparable from many of our troubles and problems in life(whether we believe in God or not) . I also wanted to recognise the fact that sin isn't just "out there" but is also "in me".

Where that leaves us is.......sunk! Because sin is endemic, we are in no position to help ourselves out of the mess we are in.

That's why I have to mention God now. Christians believe that God reveals himself and his plans through the Bible, but also that they can and do experience him in their day to day lives.

Atheism seems to be very fashionable at present, with some high-profilers making a lot of noise about trying to get rid of religion. They cite wars and injustices done in the name of God as the justification for their claim that religion is a poison. They unsurprisingly do not document wars and atrocities carried out by atheists such as Stalin, PolPot and others.

These atheists have been very successful at spreading their views but if you stand back and look dispassionately at organisations fighting for social justice, looking after the poor and marginalised and improving conditions for everyday people, it is hard to find one which was not started by Christians. Many still have a strong Christian ethos today.

We can all point to terrible historical events carried out in the name of religion, but honesty compels us to acknowledge that our world would be a very different place today if it weren't for the influence and actions of Christians throughout the ages, in all spheres of life.

In addition are the evidences of radical changes in people's lives. Churches are places where you will find ex-alcoholics, ex-drug-addicts and ex-criminals. Why? Because God has made a change in them from the inside out.

That is why God has to come into the picture if you want to find a remedy for sin. God can change people inside, in a way which no education programme or prison rehabilitation programme can.

So how does God deal with sin and make a difference in our lives? You'll have to wait for another installment, as I have to go and make supper!

Really bad things happen (2)

I feel I should come back to this knotty painful subject.
Horrible things happen to good people, or at least to those who haven't done anything particularly wrong, and we find ourselves asking the question which has no answer, "Why?"
Why did a five year old girl get abducted and murdered by someone she knew in a safe rural community? Why did a six year old boy, full of life and fun, get maimed and then killed by meningitis related septicaemia?
People deal with these questions in diffferent ways.
I've already described the "head in the sand" approach.
There's the "Find someone to blame" reaction. (The parents didn't take enough care. The doctors weren't skilful enough. etc)
The fatalistic approach of "Que sera, sera" can seem passive and uncaring.
Anger is quite usual and God often takes the blame for the unfairness of the situation.
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(The stars are me pausing and reflecting.)
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What would God himself say in response to these tragedies?
I think he would weep with those who weep. He would have compassion on those who mourn, just as he did when summoned to the tomb of his friend Lazarus. He would demonstrate his love in a way that was meaningful to those in sorrow. He would also help them to find a way through the sorrow to a place of peace.
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When people say that God is uncaring or doesn't understand their pain, they forget that he has seen his son unjustly accused, beaten, tortured and murdered and has forgiven the murderers.
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To discuss this question of suffering fully, you have to mention that unfashionable word, sin, and that very fashionable concept, free will. I think that's a subject for another day.

Is faith just blind naivety?

I have not forgotten my post of yesterday, but want to think about faith today.
Faith. It's a much maligned word these days. There are plenty of militant atheists who will say that faith is self delusion and that the world is better off without it.
There was a time when I would have said that I was an athesit too. At secondary school, I learnt that the Big Bang was true and that science had effectively proved that God doesn't exist. It didn't occur to me at that stage to doubt my teachers. It was only when I was a student at college that I met people who thought otherwise.
Faith is said to be a cop out because it involves believing in something or someone you can't actually see, but is that a reasonable conclusion?
There are many things we cannot see and yet still believe in and slot into our understanding of everyday life: air, magnetism, sound, love, gravity, life, death, power, electricity, democracy.... I am surprised, just writing that list, about how easy it is to think of things!
So in 1980 I went from being a person who believed there was no God, to someone who believes that God is real. The process was a combination of logical weighing of the evidence and experience of the effects of God in my life.
I believe in electricity because I had it explained to me at school (not that I understand it even so!) and also because I can see its effects.
It was the same with coming to faith in God. I looked at evidence for the life of Jesus, for the historical basis of scripture and at how the universe displays a design that seems more than accidental. It seemed to make sense. But just as electricity would stay as head knowledge if you never switched on a switch or plugged in an appliance, I had to experience the effects of God in my life in order to know for certain that he is real.
Looking at my list-

• I have breathed the air and felt the effects of not being able to breathe it underwater.
• I have felt love for my family and experienced their love for me.
• Gravity pulls me and other objects towards the ground.

In the same way, I have felt the effects of God in my life and I could no more deny his existence than I could say that gravity is a myth. So is faith self delusion simply because we cannot see God? I, of course, do not agree.