Keep the Faith

By

Many are asking where God was when the tragedy happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Why didn’t he at least intervene on behalf of the innocent children? Believers know the children are in heaven safe from any further harm. It’s the scars, void and pain that these tragedies leave behind for the world to cope with that’s devastating and compromises our faith. Similar tragedies are happening all over the world and way too many in a country that was founded in the name of God. So, we discuss theodicy; an attempt to defend God who is thoroughly and supremely good against the undeniable fact of evil in the world. You don’t have to witness too many of these stories before you start to perceive that all is not right with this world. After experiencing time after time these tragedy stories, we start to invest in the blaming games—guns are easy to get, disallowing praying in public schools, the closing of the mental hospitals, the world is getting further away from God and the list goes on and on. Most days we go through our daily routine life without giving a thought to how God can be good and allow terrible things to occur. It’s when something really bad happens like the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School that this question that has confused generations becomes all of a sudden quite present and personal. There are some when confronted with tragedies go from overwhelmed disbelief to miserable acknowledgement to unemotional acceptance and beyond to a place they are fully aware of how horrible life can be and yet still be fully in love with life but never healed. Others brought up in the faith and even new believers turn to the word of God and if they stumble upon the verse that says, “Seek me and you will find me. Knock and doors will open. Believe and you will receive” they are on their way to recovery sooner rather than later. How do we keep the faith is through theodicy by reconciling back to God for the answers on how to overcome the evil in this world. Just as the tragedies in our lives are personal so is our relationship with God personal.