Rusty Ferguson.com

God’s Punishment?

One of the most perplexing things about God is why bad things happen to good people.  Some say it is God’s will, maybe God needs to teach someone through these pains and troubles.  While I do think God can turn the bad into something positive, to give us something good from suffering, I don’t believe he brings them on in the first place.

God created the earth, then he turned it over to man.  I don’t really see the apple and the serpent as an actual real story but rather a way to explain things to us.  I don’t know this, but that’s what makes sense to me. God gave us a choice and that is what the fruit or apple represents.  And man being man, well we like control and we like to do things our way.

It seems God planned to not make us puppets but rather gave us free will. But the Bible tells us that God planned us before we were in the womb.  Okay, but does that mean we follow God’s plan?  How could perfect love possibly plan all the pain that we find on this brutal planet?  Does it make sense?  Not to me.  I think it makes more sense that we went on our own way, made our own plans.

God’s plan was to not eat of the fruit of knowledge, that has to be symbolism.  How could such a minor act unleash all the hell that has come to earth?  That makes no sense. There does seem to be some God smiting going on in the old testament, that’s for sure.  God would give us his plan and we would violate it. Oh we’d make an effort but then we’d start putting ourselves first and eventually God would wreak his wrath upon the earth.  Even that could be symbolism but I don’t think it all is.  I think there was some God’s wrath going on.

That all stopped when Jesus came to being.  Hey dude, have you heard the good news?  Naw man, what’s the good news….  No more of the God smiting us, he sent His son to be with us.  I can picture a couple of hippies talking about it.  If Jesus had been born in the 1960’s he probably would have shown up on Sunset Strip, that was about as radical as Nazareth.   Nothing good came out of Nazareth.  That was a low class, sleazy place.  But that’s another story, but an in interesting one.

The point is after Christ came and died on the cross there have been no more writings in the Bible of God’s wrath.  No more punishment for doing wrong.  When sinners were brought to Christ for His judgment he didn’t condemn them, not one of them.   The criminals that were crucified with him were shown mercy from Christ.  Christ last words, were words of mercy toward those that mocked Him.  Asking the Father to forgive us because we don’t understand what it is we are doing.

They like to say nothing but net, that’s the kind of God, God is, nothing but love.  A slam dunk of love, no bouncing off the rim, straight and sure right through the center of hoop.

A baby getting bone cancer is not God’s will, perfect love wouldn’t do that.  Again it makes no sense.  When bad things happen, it could be as a direct result of something we’ve done but that doesn’t mean God brought it upon us.  When something wonderful happens, it doesn’t mean God has blessed us.  It may be luck, it may be because we prepared and earned our rewards but that doesn’t mean God brought us to it.  Which would explain why some of these things we first attributed to God turn out so bad.

God usually doesn’t intervene.   He put the world in motion and let us do our thing with it. There are miracles.  These are rare.  I know preachers that have seen them.  Where people get well for no reason, their cancer just goes away when the doctors had given up but I don’t know anyone that happened too.

I’ve seen times when I thought God had taken direct action in my life and sometimes they withstood the test of time.  A few times in my life, usually when I had no choice but to rely on Him.  Me being the worry wart and control freak type, its hard for me to rely on anyone but myself.

There will be bad things that happen in your life.   There will be more bad times ahead.  There will be more pain, there may even be misery.  Don’t take it so personally.  Its often the luck of the draw.  You didn’t deserve it.

You know what, it is okay to talk to God like a friend or a Father, more like a Father that you could talk to like He was your friend.  Your earthly father is far more likely to judge you.  Your heavenly father will give you a pep talk if you can hear it.  You don’t have to ask for God to fix it, you don’t have to be positive, it is okay to share your feelings with God.  My reading indicated God craves for you to talk to him about whats bothering you.

If you have children, think of how good it feels when or if your children would come to you to tell you  their problems without really asking for anything.  Just to talk.   When I remember to do these things, I notice a marked improvement in my life and in those things I was so worried about.   You may hear God without realizing it, but you need to talk to God and then maybe sit quiet and listen sometimes.  If you fall to sleep while you’re doing this, it is okay.  Nothing wrong with that.

God might bring you something that is good for you but he will not harm you, just as you wouldn’t harm your child.