Theology 102

Theology means "man's study of God" So in using the term theology, I'm sharing with you my study of God and His attributes. I'm not using a ton of scripture or trying to get too deep in terms that are not used by laypeople but what I'm writing can be backed up by scripture. I'm sharing my heart, not writing a thesis although I can and have done that many times before. I hope by sharing my heart with you, God can use the things He has brought me through to encourage you on you journey.

I really didn't mention in my last post the role I believe the devil has in suffering.

First I don't believe God brings anything bad on people. Sometimes when people fail to follow God's laws something bad may happen to them but it is a consequence of their actions, not God's judgement. For example, a person gets drunk and goes down the highway at 100 miles an hour and wraps the car around a telephone pole. Who's fault is that? At the funeral you will hear folks saying it was so sad that God took that person. Gimme a break! That wasn't God's doing!

Second, the devil yes I believe in a real devil, comes to steal, kill and destroy. His aim is to cause as much suffering on this earth as possible. He wants to influence your life in a negative way. I believe that between the sinfulness of man, the influence of the devil, and the fact we live in a fallen world, is the answer to why life is like it is.

I don't believe every bad thing is a direct attack of the devil but is indirectly influenced by the devil. For example, last year I had a car wreck, it was pretty bad. I hit a young girl's car going 55 mph. She was in the wrong for pulling out in front of me. I later found out she had been told not to cross across the highway like she did but rather turn and go to the light on the next corner. Her disobedience to her family caused the wreck. So in a sense her disobedience caused the whole problem. Where does disobedience come from? Not God. So what was the root of this situation?

Another example is my son Sam. Sam has numerous birth defects including blindness. How do I deal with that situation and theology? I believe Sam was "fearfully and wonderfully made"by God who is the giver of life. I believe his deformations came as a result of the fall, not from sin on his parents part, not from God not paying attention or being mean to us and not from a direct attack of the devil. We live in a fallen world and sometimes chromosomes don't go where they are supposed to go. I'm looking forward to the redemption of our bodies and the day my son can see clearly and speak to me! If I have to wait a few decades that's ok. Life is short, eternity is long! What is this life span is the light of eternity? Just a mere blink of the eye!

So I hope I've made clear my position. I don't believe in any way that God puts suffering on us but that He knows what is ahead in our lives, prepares us and walks with us through whatever comes our way. I also do not believe that God puts things on non believers. I believe He can use situations to draw people to Him but He is not the creator of bad situations. Most of the time we can create enough problems on our own!

Everyone wants to know where was God on 9/11. He was there. He did not put in those evil men's heads the plans to fly planes into buildings. He did not conceive that terrible plan. Just as He doe not cause a cancer to grow in a person. We live in a fallen world. That decision was already made by Adan and Eve. We can learn to trust God in situations. He is not going to protect us from everything in the sense we will live some perfect life in Utopia where nothing bad can touch us. But He will walk with us through everything if we trust Him.

Although I went through my time of wrestling with God over the death of my babies, I get frustrated with people who blame God for everything but don't have any relationship with Him to begin with! You hear on the news when things happen. If a drunk driver kills an innocent family, there's always someone who questions why God let this happen. Put the blame where it should go. On the person who caused the wreck, the industry that sold the alcohol and the devil who influences people to yield to their sinful nature!

Everyone is willing to blame God for the hard times but where were they when life was good? Were they serving God or themselves? Most of the time they didn't give God a passing thought until something bad happens and then they blame God for it. I've seen that countless times and it frustrates me.

I just wanted to add this to my last post so you can understand where I'm coming from.