Posted by Terry on July 12, 2005 at 10:46:32:
In Reply to: Re: life and death...no, not an emergency posted by timo on July 10, 2005 at 09:46:49:
: My question is when did 'life' become such a measure of goodness? It seems to be the ultimate yardstick by which we measure the goodness of anything. Does this stem from a fear of death? Even Jesus himself told his followers that they would face death and torture, and God in the old testamant repeatedly told the Isrealites to slaughter every member of a people they were warring against...now if you use the preservation of life as the ultimate measure here, God is just evil! He told them to slaughter non-combatants, and Jesus knew in advance people would kill his followers and did nothing about it.
: _________________-
: the problem is people measuring what is fair and good based on an idealistic humanitarian eutopian dream. The hard reality is we don't always get it, we can't comprehend, but God is in control and does love us. Life sucks sometimes and it's never fair. My mom used to tell me that all the time when I was a kid. And I was always asking her why, and she'd say because, and that was that.
: I digress, anyway, when a human tries to measure what is just in terms of God's doing based on our own self serving ideas of what is fair, then we will always come to the conclusion that He is Evil, as you said. Playing a realy cruel joke. However, we have understand that we don't have to understand. breath deep. right, hold for a moment. good. release. ah, that feels nice.
: Father forgive me for ever questioning your motivations...
"'It's not fair. It's not fair.' You're always saying that. By what, I wonder is your basis of comparison?" David Bowe in Labyrinth
I have been thinking about all this since the first post. We, as a culture, are very afriad of pain, suffering, and death. We do anything we can to hide from it. (Thus the need to hide our elderly and dieing in nursing homes ect....) Since we feel that these things are evil and bad, God must feel the same way. Therefore, the good don't suffer and the evil have endless illness and suffering. If a christian is sick or suffering then there must be hidden sin or demonic oppression in their lives. Forget that the Bible says, "It rains on the just and the unjust." Or the whole book of Proverbs and Psalms that lament that the evil seem to get away with everything, and all the verses that talk about sufferning.
Pain and suffering is not all bad (ask Paul). I don't seek it out. However, I don't cuss God and wonder why me when it happens.
I have to get back to work. When I have time I will shair what I have been thinking about death lately.
Till then