IT'S ALL GOD'S FAULT

Let’s cut to the chase: the mess in this world is all God’s fault. Tsunamis, hurricanes tornadoes and their aftermath: it’s all God’s fault. If God had not created the world the way it is, such disasters would not occur. Murder, mayhem and the multitude of other sins that abound, all that is also God’s fault. If God had not created us with free will, none of this would happen. So we are off the hook.

Not so fast. Yes, in the Grand Scheme of things, whatever that Scheme is, and God only knows what it is, it is God’s fault that bad things, both natural and intentional, do happen. Why nature acts the way it does and if there might have been a different way of creating that precluded natural disasters no one knows, not even the best and the brightest. Only the Creator knows.

What we know is that natural disasters like tsunamis and hurricanes do occur. We can also waste our time wondering why they are part of God’s created order, which certainly sounds like a contradiction in terms. How can a hurricane that causes so much disorder be considered part of an ordered universe? See what I mean? Nevertheless, if it makes us feel good, let’s say all natural disasters are all God’s fault.

That said, what we also know is that we do not have to fall victim to them. God may be blamed for hurricanes that destroy much of a city because it was the result of the way God created this universe. It was not God’s fault, however, that people built where they should not or that the levees were not strong enough or high enough to protect the people and the land. It was and is ours.

When we freely do that which is sinful and/or foolish, it may be God’s fault that we are able to do so because God created us with free will. But we know we do not have to engage in foolish and sinful behavior if we do not want to. It is our fault when we do and we know it. It would certainly make us feel much better if we could blame God for such behavior or at least hold Gold partially responsible.

In fact, I believe that the main reason why God forgives our sins is that God created us sin-enabled. God knew we would sin when God created us with free will. We do not have to sin. We do not have to build where we should not, under-protect what we should, kill when we should not, not love when we should. But we freely choose to act the way we do and God in God’s infinite love forgives us.

It may be God’s fault that hurricanes are able to devastate and we are able to sin, but it is our fault if we do not do what we can to prevent both the devastation of the natural order and the sins of the human order. In both cases it is easy to play the blame game. We can cut God some slack and we can cut ourselves the same, neither of which addresses the main point, namely, free will notwithstanding, that we take responsibility for our sins both of commission and omission. Until we are ready and willing to do so, we will continue to find and makes excuses for our failures and nothing will change, at least not for the better.