True love never forces.
Why does God allow bad things to happen? Does it seem cruel to you that God does not stop bad things from happening if he has the power to do so?
God is love. Love is kind. Love is never cruel. In the popular book The Shack, Papa (God) makes the following statement to Mac about this very subject:
"Nobody knows what horrors I have saved the world from 'cuz people can't see what never happened. All evil flows from independence, and independence is your choice. If I were to simply revoke all the choices of independence, the world as you know it would cease to exist and love would have no meaning.
This world is not a playground where I keep all my children free from evil. Evil is the chaos of this age that you brought to me, but it will not have the final say. Now it touches everyone that I love, those who follow me and those who don't.
If I take away the consequences of people's choices, I destroy the possibility of love. Love that is forced is no love at all. Every choice matters. You demand your independence, but then complain that I actually love you enough to give it to you."
God did not create evil, as some accuse Him of doing. Any evil you encounter in the world can be traced back to someone's selfish choice.
Showing posts with label free will. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free will. Show all posts
Friday, April 17, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Spiritual Waterboarding
Last week I was with a group of people when a conversation about religion broke out. A couple who were present jumped into the deep end. It became apparent rather quickly that the Christian woman had been trying to convert the wayward man for some time. They had had this conversation before.
She was deathly serious about the whole topic; he was amused by her and trying to be amusing in his responses.
I guess she thought now would be an opportune time to mount another offensive (pun intended) since she had the "preacher" with her to help double-team the poor guy. Not that he was at a disadvantage--with a very sharp intellect, as well as a sharp wit, he quite enjoyed sparring with her although he had no interest in "buying into" her belief system.
I'm sure I frustrated her because I didn't play along. Part of me was sympathetic to the plight she had brought upon herself and thought of coming her rescue. But I didn't "have a dog in that fight" and personally disagreed with much of what she was saying. I just didn't want to get into it.
Why not? He wasn't interested. He wasn't curious or seeking. It was her issue, not his. I finally joined the conversation, but not as aggressively as she would have hoped. I had no interest in arguing with him, but was genuinely curious in what he believed.
A fellow sitting about 15 feet away had been eavesdropping on the conversation and came over to add his observations, giving the woman some much-appreciated back-up, I'm sure. About that time someone else got my attention and I excused myself.
Here was my take away from that encounter: We need to be careful not to force-feed someone when they're not hungry; or trying to get someone a drink of "living water" when they have not indicated they are thirsty.
I've seen some evangelism encounters that were the spiritual equivalent of the infamous "water-boarding" interrogation techniques, with the same desired outcome: "we're going to give them more than they can handle, or put the fear of death in them, until they tell us what we want to hear."
That may be a harsh description on my part, but I've seen some stuff over the years -- where innocent people were the victims of an evangelistic ambush-- some encounters that were just so disrespectful of the person being "witnessed" to and in the long-run did more harm than good for the cause of Christ.
Just love the person God has put in front of you at any given moment. His Spirit is at work doing whatever convicting and convincing He wants done at the time. Just love people, and always be ready to give a reason for the hope that lies within your own heart.
She was deathly serious about the whole topic; he was amused by her and trying to be amusing in his responses.
I guess she thought now would be an opportune time to mount another offensive (pun intended) since she had the "preacher" with her to help double-team the poor guy. Not that he was at a disadvantage--with a very sharp intellect, as well as a sharp wit, he quite enjoyed sparring with her although he had no interest in "buying into" her belief system.
I'm sure I frustrated her because I didn't play along. Part of me was sympathetic to the plight she had brought upon herself and thought of coming her rescue. But I didn't "have a dog in that fight" and personally disagreed with much of what she was saying. I just didn't want to get into it.
Why not? He wasn't interested. He wasn't curious or seeking. It was her issue, not his. I finally joined the conversation, but not as aggressively as she would have hoped. I had no interest in arguing with him, but was genuinely curious in what he believed.
A fellow sitting about 15 feet away had been eavesdropping on the conversation and came over to add his observations, giving the woman some much-appreciated back-up, I'm sure. About that time someone else got my attention and I excused myself.
Here was my take away from that encounter: We need to be careful not to force-feed someone when they're not hungry; or trying to get someone a drink of "living water" when they have not indicated they are thirsty.
I've seen some evangelism encounters that were the spiritual equivalent of the infamous "water-boarding" interrogation techniques, with the same desired outcome: "we're going to give them more than they can handle, or put the fear of death in them, until they tell us what we want to hear."
That may be a harsh description on my part, but I've seen some stuff over the years -- where innocent people were the victims of an evangelistic ambush-- some encounters that were just so disrespectful of the person being "witnessed" to and in the long-run did more harm than good for the cause of Christ.
Just love the person God has put in front of you at any given moment. His Spirit is at work doing whatever convicting and convincing He wants done at the time. Just love people, and always be ready to give a reason for the hope that lies within your own heart.
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