Shootings, Fires, Earthquakes, Helicopter Crashes, Tornadoes, Floods, and COVID-19...

In our journey through this life, there are many times where we are shocked by the news of sickness, suffering, and death. At first we are stunned and think "No! It can't be true!" Denial is our most common initial reaction.

In time, facts come to light, and the reality of it starts to sink in. We read accounts, see pictures and videos, or may even visit people or places in person. The reality of what has happened starts to sink in. Often, our next reaction is, "No! This isn't right!!!" It seems unjust, unfair, or just plain wrong. The numbness of denial gives way to our natural reaction to injustice: Anger.

And here's where things get a little complicated - for anger seeks a target. But who, or what, to be angry at? At this point in the process, our own views, beliefs, and values come into play. To try and make some sense of what on the surface just seems so wrong, we try to find some context through which we can understand it, or make it "fit" our reality. We find ourselves at a philosophical fork in the road: are we just here by chance, or is there a bigger picture and purpose to life? How we understand sickness, suffering, and death, starts to look very different depending on which path we take.

If we believe that we are here by chance, then we must accept that the natural world is made up of mostly natural consequences, with a bit of random in the mix. Mostly, people make choices and suffer the consequences - or inflict them on others. Then, sometimes, random stuff happens. That's just the way it is. When people make choices that have bad consequences, you can be angry at them, and your anger finds validation and a target. But in the case of random stuff, you really have no right to be angry. Stuff happens... Roll the bones... You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit. Who are you to tell the universe it is wrong for allowing sickness, suffering, and death? The problem here is your own failure to accept reality. To move past it, you'll have to accept what has happened as part of the natural world, and invalidate your anger. That is your only way out.

However, it would seem that the vast majority of people throughout human history, have found this path, UNacceptable...

When confronted by the realities of sickness, suffering and death, most people will start to talk about God, praying (to God), and being (with God) in a better place - things we believe to be above and beyond our present "reality". These are ideas and beliefs that put our life in a bigger context, and it is through this context that we seek to make sense out of what doesn't seem to make sense.

Most often, we start to talk about God's Will and Sovereignty... "It must have been God's will," or "God must have a purpose in it." The line of reasoning is that since God is Sovereign, we must accept whatever happens as part of God's will. This puts our loss into a bigger context and moves us toward acceptance by submission to a greater authority. We accept suffering, sickness, and death, as a part of God's Divine Plan. Who are we to judge? But similar to the previous path discussed, we have to realize that we have no cause for anger, which invalidates it.

This path does work for some, but it's also clear that it does not work for everyone. Some find it too difficult to reconcile the reality of pain, suffering and death, with a supposedly Loving and Benevolent God. The result is that their anger is either bottled up and repressed, or finds its target in the very God they are trying to Trust, and they get stuck in a state of ambivalence towards God.

If you are one of those people, then I would like to explore an alternate path. We'll have to dig a little deeper into the nature of Love and Will, and this path requires a full acceptance that there is a tension between good and evil - they are not one, but two opposing forces, in conflict with one another. It affirms that God is Sovereign, but puts God's Sovereignty in the context of God Being Love. 1 Jn 4:7ff tells us that God IS Love, and that Love comes from God. The Greatest Commandment tells us that to Love God, Others, and Ourselves, is the way to fulfill "all the law and the prophets". And in I Cor 13 we find and expose on what love is - that it is patient, kind, and does not insist on its own way - and that between Faith, Hope, and Love, "the greatest of these is Love." .

So if "Love" were to create, what would it most want to create? Genesis 1:26 gives us this clue: "Let us make humankind in our image... and let them have dominion... in the image of God they were created, male and female." So what is the crowning achievement of God's creation? Relationship. Fellowship. Companionship. Without these things, what is Love anyway? Love requires relationship because it exists between us - self and other. Now if relationship requires an "other", that other must have a choice - for we all intuitively and experientially know that love forced, deceived, manipulated, or coerced, is not love at all. This is why "Love does not insist on its own way." So the ability to choose not to love, is a requisite for the ability to love, and this is where we encounter the essential connection between Love and Will (See Rollo May's book "Love and Will" for a thorough exploration of this topic.)

Now reflect on this: When a parent gives their child a gift (a toy, a skateboard, a bike, a car, etc), is it ever the parent's will, hope or desire, that the child would hurt themselves with the gift? We all know the answer. But because the child has a will of their own, and they live in the same world we do, we know it's a possibility. We've all hurt ourselves - and others at times - with things that were intended as a blessing. A good thing can do harm - if misused. Likewise, our children may take risks or make choices we didn't intend, causing harm to themselves, or others. We do not will it, but we often know it's a possibility.

So here's the dilemma: the only way to guarantee a gift will not be misused, is to never give it in the first place. In the case of life, this would mean death. Once the Will has been misused, the only way to prevent it from being misused again is to end that Will: death. But where there is no Life or Will (death) - there can be no Love. So to create a space for Love, is to risk the possibility of death. For God - for Love - to give the gift, was worth the risk. And God had a remedy in mind from the beginning...

The truth is though, that most of the sickness, suffering and premature death in this world is inflicted by people on each other, or on themselves. We are to blame for it - not God. In this case, like the person who believes we are here by chance, our anger is valid, and finds a target. We can be angry at each other for the pain we inflict on each other. But then we encounter another dilemma: anger acted upon, or vengeance, only opens up a whole new round of pain and suffering and the "eye for an eye" path starts going in circles. Turns out God has a remedy for that too: Forgiveness.

So what then about the random stuff in life, and our inevitable demise? The sickness, suffering, and death that is not a result of the misuse of our will? In these cases, how do we validate our anger, and who or what is its target? Again, in Genesis we find a clue. Genesis tells us that "God created the heavens and the earth" and we hear the first mention of sin and evil, "The wages of sin is death." To construct this as simply as we can, God seeks to design and create, while sin seeks to distort and destroy. It is anti-God. It is, whatever God is not. In Genesis 3, this tension is fully realized when humans use their will to act outside of God's will, and sin then "infects" the creation that God gave us dominion over. The creation no longer works the way God intended it to: "You shall till the earth by the sweat of your brow, and it will produce thorns for you." Sickness, suffering and death enter the picture, and all are the fruit, or wages, of sin. Wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, epidemics, cancer, etc, and the eventual death of every person, are all in this category (where not caused by human activity). Generally, these are termed "Acts of God" in our insurance policies, but I would argue that "General effects sin" would be more accurate. Thinking of it this way provides us a context and understanding for why random bad things happen to good people.

On this path of dealing with sickness, suffering and death, we find validation for our reactive denial, our not wanting to believe it's true - it wasn't supposed to be this way. We also find validation for our anger: sickness, suffering and death are not "just a part of life that we have to accept", they are in fact WRONG in the deepest spiritual sense. They are the effects of a misused gift, a gift that was intended for good, but having been misused, caused harm. Sin and evil then become the legitimate targets for our anger, and this path leads us to a growing hatred of sin in general - which is at once, a growing alignment with God. Evil is the one thing scripture tells us to hate. But keep in mind, we are called to love people, even as we hate sin. How? Through grace and forgiveness, and remembering that God has "separated my from my sin, as far as east is from west." Having been given this "unmerited favor," I can turn and share it with others.

On this path, what we realize is that God allows sickness, suffering, and death, not because God wills it, but because the only way to stop it is to end the world that is infected with it. Sickness, suffering, and death never were, are, or will be, God's Will, but God allows them to continue - for a time. Because of this, we can know that God is with us, and for us, in our grief and sorrow over sickness, suffering and death. God is also with us in our anger - our hatred - of sin and all its effects. God allows the gift of life to go on, despite its being infected. Why? Because the only alternative is to end it.

Perhaps it is like a parent who allows a child to keep her bike, even though she's fallen off of it: in the loving hope that, one day, she will learn to ride it. Then the gift can be used as it was intended - as a blessing. Each new day brings us the opportunity to use the gift of life as it was intended:

To find Love (God), to receive love (God), and to share love (God).

With prayers of Grace and Peace to you, as you journey on your way...