If a policeman stood by a woman who was being beaten and raped but did nothing but watch, we would say that policeman was a terrible person because he had the power and opportunity to save this woman from being raped but did nothing.
If a rich man lived in a village of poor, starving people yet did not share any of his wealth with them, we would consider him selfish and sinful.
If a scientist discovered a pill that cured all forms of cancer but kept the knowledge to himself instead of using it to save peoples’ lives, we’d say he was a bad man.
Yet God has the power to save any woman from being raped, just like the policeman. He has the power to give food to any starving person on the planet, just like he did in the Gospel when he fed the five thousand, but he doesn’t. He has the power to cure any disease on the planet, but he doesn’t, just like the scientist who kept the cure to himself.
Why do we believe that if humans don’t do these good things when they can, it’s sinful, but when God doesn’t do these things it’s okay?
Luke:
We need to think this through without anthropomorphizing all of the possibilities (or, at least those possibilities that we can reasonably come to know). The first question we should ask is, for how long do we really
live. If you answered, for Eternity, then you have just answered part of your riddle. Think it through: if this sojourn is but an ever so tiny speck on the line of eternal life, then it is not hard to see that we have been given a “gift,” i.e., this life on Earth, but it is a
temporary one. As such, God takes it back whenever He pleases, not, as we will no doubt notice, whenever we please. The gift of this life is a temporary gift that has, as a substantive codicil, that it can be arbitrarily rescinded. Now, why would God provide us with such a gift, (1) since it is only temporary, and (2), if it might result in pain and suffering? Obviously, there are those who would prefer not to receive
life, in these cases. The answer to that question, though, is impossible for us to know. But, we can use our reason to get at some reasonable idea.
Perhaps God gifted us this “life” because creating us as merely more angels would not have solved the problem some angels had with their fear of the unexpected, or, fear of the expected. The Church teaches that Satan (and a number of other angels) fell for one of two reasons: (1) they anticipated a fear of forthright viewing the Vision, and/or (2), they somehow developed an excess of “pride.” Part, if not all, of God’s expectations of mankind is to replace those fallen angels and to grow the ranks of such replacements.
When we consider our fates, either as subjected to pain or as subjected to physical horrors, we may be placing too large an emphasis on the anthropomorphic parts of our beings. This life is not what we were intended for, for it appears that we are more than likely intended for something far higher. Certainly it can be said, “No pain, no gain.” (Heck, we even say that in the gym!) So, perhaps some of us who get to suffer really do “gain.” (Remember, I’m not saying that that is the case for all who suffer, because I can’t know that. Although St. Paul seemed to believe that. Perhaps for some, they will get to endure Hell here and now, for some reason or other. We will most likely never know.)
Now, since our “lives” are rescindable Gifts from God, and God only, from whence would derive our rights to take other’s lives, or inflict suffering? Since God gave the gift and is the only one who has the
right to rescind it, then we are created to wreak havoc on our neighbors, or we must adhere to God’s rules and Laws. We do not have the right to wreak havoc on our neighbors, although there are occasionally times when we think we do! When we succumb to those temptations, we are sinning - purely and simply because we do not have such a right. Period. It doesn’t matter that we may be advancing His purposes. Only He has the implicit permission to advance His own purposes.
In the larger scheme of things, this life, though important in the sense that it may be a “proving ground” for us, is God’s way of securing an affinity with Him for the largest majority of us than might otherwise get to be with our Father.
I don’t know if what I have said is His purpose, or even it is close to His purpose, but it presents a point of view that is, I think, mostly free of anthropomorphism and is reasonable.
God bless,
jd
