When Evil erupts as it did in Las Vegas this week, evangelistic atheist express hope that finally all of us believers will give up on our trust in The Almighty. Can’t we see that a God who couldn’t, or worse, wouldn’t stop Stephen Paddock from committing the worst mass murder in U.S. history doesn’t exist?
I get the objection to religion right now, but the problem is, my faith in an an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent heavenly father isn’t because of tranquility and prosperity or a lack thereof. In a strange paradox the fact that the world is a dystopia rather than a utopia lends credibility to may faith.
You see, God promised to be my shelter in the storm. You see God promised to be present when my heart is breaking. You see, God promised he would heal my broken heart. You see God promised my temptation and trials wouldn’t be enough to break me. You see, God had one of his favorite singers record a hit that went, “When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to that rock that is higher than I.” Now I’m sure this logic doesn’t move the heart of the agnostic or the radical atheist. And I’m not being indifferent to them when I say, these sentiments are not for them, but for me, his child.
Now, what do I fundamentally believe about my heavenly father that would cause me to defend him when he appears to let evil cause the innocent and the righteous to so senselessly suffer again? It’s very simple for me. In Genesis one, God put humans in the Garden of Eden and said “Here, you’re in charge; be fruitful, multiply and replenish the earth.” God in his integrity, never took the planet back from us but left us with the free will to run it any old way we please.
Regardless of what you are thinking right now, we usually do a good job of creating beauty, order and pleasure. The phrase, “well done thou good and faithful servant,” will be well deserved by many once they step into eternity. We are the keepers of the vineyard, the tillers of the soil and the kings off our kingdoms. It’s like the old story of a guy who stopped by to visit a farmer with a gorgeous, lush looking farm. The visitor said to the old farmer, “God sure gave you a beautiful farm;” to which the farmer replied, “you should have seen it when he gave it to me.”
Before you lose your faith in God’s good plan to make us the superintendents of this ball of dirt think about the fact that as I wrote these words on my iPad people were lined up at the blood banks in an around Las Vegas six to eight hours deep. Think about the fact that Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak posting a Go Fund Me request for victims assistance, putting in $10,000 of his own money. What followed was $400,00 from Stephen Cloobeck and $50,000 from the Oakland Raiders. The original goal was $5000 but it’s already over 2 million. Think about the fact that hundreds showed up for a prayer vigil to mourn for the victims and their families.
Once again humanity acted like what they are, “the image of God.” Once again flawed humans showed the divine spark by following the script of scripture which says, “do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21 So storms, broken hearts, trials, temptations, overwhelming problems and Satan personified cannot quench the force within us that will ultimately cause “the kingdoms of this world to become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ.” (Revelations 11:15)
One of the main reasons I still believe in God is because a religion fabricated by mere humans would have promised an immediate end to suffering, not a constant struggle against it. Think about it; if you were going to manufacture and market a religion it would be one that sold fantasies in exchange for commitment. After all, by the time everybody figured out you couldn’t deliver on your prosperity claims, you would already be rich. Look at all the pagan idolatry that surrounded Israel and constantly lured them away from the true God. The false religions of the Canaanites and others always promised, “if you will sacrifice to our gods then you will avoid crop failure, infertility and war.” The God of scripture, NEVER made smooth sailing promises. The God that brings me hope is the one who says, “there will be trouble but you will rule over it.” “There will be trials but you will overcome.” “There will be evil but you will win.” More and more, that’s becoming a faith I can understand.
