Why?
Why?
Why would God allow such a terrible thing to happen to His children?
Here's my attitude to the question "why?" It is the devil's word! Never, ever, ever, ask the question "why?" It is like knocking on the devil's door and inviting him into your head to cause doubt. He wants you to ask "why" and cause your faith to slip. Can you hear him laughing now? Only God can know the total plan, the total outcome, the whole picture. The devil does not want you to trust God. Don't let the devil steal away your trust in God. Don't go knocking on his door.
Instead, whenever you find yourself asking the question "why", stop yourself, and ask the question "how can this help me grow." Ever since I have started doing this it has put a whole new perspective on matters. Try it.
So, if I were to answer "how does this 'Act of War' against America help me grow?" I immediately think of how much power the devil had to enact this tragedy and how much more power God must have. Wow, I trust in a very powerful God! That helps me to grow closer to Him. Keep thinking, this is only one example. Send me your thoughts and I will add them here to share with everyone.
By Me
Below are a few writings I collected after 9/11.
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From the Bible: Gideon challenged the messenger of God with a why question:
"But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, `Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian" (Judges 6:13).
"The LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" (vs 14)
"But Lord, " Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family"(vs 15)
First Gideon argues that he felt like God had abandoned him, then he argues that he is small.
To this God says, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together" (vs. 16).
Do you really regard yourself familiar enough with the purposes of the Almighty to be able to explain what God's purposes are and why? Sounds a bit presumptuous to me...
God is the God whose judgments are inscrutable and unknowable to the searching reason of humankind. Speaking of judgment, would we recognize a judgment of the Almighty even if it cracked us along side the head? At bare minimum, God is my judge, not the other way around. Most surely I am not qualified to decide if God's purposes are "good or evil."
---Donald Clifford
Our Savior's Lutheran Church
Flandreau, SD
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It is easy then to start thinking of who has caused the suffering and how they should be punished, anger wells up. Then I stop and think, is this the right response, what would Jesus do? I don't have the answer to the question but I am fairly sure that if we were to launch military action of the type that would kill hundreds of civilians it would be the wrong thing to do, we would be causing somebody the same loss that we have encountered. I feel that it would also be wrong to leave the perpetrators un-punished, it is right and Biblical to apply the laws justly and this needs to happen. How? I do not know but it must happen.
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Why Does God Allow Evil?
By: Pastor Rick Warren
Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, CA.
Tuesday's (9/11) horrific mass murder of innocent Americans leaves all rational people shocked, angry, grief-stricken, and numb. Our tears flow freely and our hearts carry a deep ache. How could this happen in our nation?
As mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends, neighbors, and co-workers begin to share their stories of the horror, this tragedy will be become even more personal. As this tragedy becomes more personal, it will become more painful and as our pain deepens, so will the questions.
Why does God allow evil to happen? If God is so great, and so good, why does he allow human beings to hurt each other?
The answer lies in both our greatest blessing and our worst curse: our capacity to make choices. God has given us a free will. Made in God's image, he has given us the freedom to decide how we will act and the ability to make moral choices. This is one asset that sets us apart from animals, but it also is the source of so much pain in our world.
People, and that includes all of us, often make selfish, self-centered, and evil choices. Whenever that happens, people get hurt. Sin is ultimately selfishness. I want to do what I want, not what God tells me to do.
Unfortunately, sin always hurts others, not just ourselves. God could have eliminated all evil from our world by simply removing our ability to choose it. He could have made us puppets, or marionettes on strings that he pulls. By taking away our ability to choose it, evil would vanish. But God doesn't want us to be puppets. He wants to be loved and obeyed by creatures who voluntarily choose to do so. Love is not genuine if there is no other option.
Yes, God could have kept the terrorists from completing their suicidal missions by removing their ability to choose their own will instead of his. But to be fair, God would also have to do that to all of us. You and I are not terrorists, but we do harm and hurt others with our own selfish decisions and actions. You may hear misguided minds say, "This must have been God's will." Nonsense! In a world of free choices, God's will is rarely done! Doing our own will is much more common. Don't blame God for this tragedy. Blame people who ignored what God has told us to do: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
In heaven, God's will is done perfectly. That's why there is no sorrow, pain, or evil there. But this is earth, a fallen, imperfect place. We must choose to do God's will everyday. It isn't automatic. This is why Jesus told us to pray "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."
The Bible explains the root of evil: "This is the crisis we're in: God's light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness...because they were not really interested in pleasing God." (John 3:19 Message Translation) We're far more interested in pleasing ourselves.
There are many other questions that race through our minds during dark days. But the answers will not come from pollsters, pundits, or politicians. We must look to God and his Word. We must humble ourselves and admit that each of us often choose to ignore what God wants us to do.