Saturday, December 22, 2012

Blaming God for Tragedies

Like most Americans, heck most of the world, I've struggled with trying to understand why the tragic murder of 20 children and 6 teachers happened in Newtown, Connecticut. Some were quick to blame it on guns, which made others scoff with ridicule and cliché. Some immediately jumped on the bandwagon that the cause was violent video games which brought many to their feet shouting down that idea. And, of course, there's the ubiquitous argument that violence in movies and television caused it.

In the past couple days I've been hearing preachers and about preachers who claim the massacre was God's judgment for a variety of sins, a long list of sin. I really try to not get angry at people, but when I hear someone who proclaims they are God's spokesman state that tragedies like Sandy Hook Elementary School or Katrina or flooding along the Mississippi or tornadoes are God's judgment on the United States for a long litany of sin, I get truly angry!

Yes, these people have Biblical examples to show of God judging a city or a nation for sin by destruction, but all those examples are in the Old Testament. And while God is the same yesterday, today and forever, the fact is that we are no longer under The Law of the Old Testament but are under the Law of Grace and Mercy purchased by the crucifixion, death and resurrection of one Jesus Christ, Son of the Most High God. God isn't sending destruction on innocent people for the sins of others; He is not going to send someone to murder 20 innocent children to show judgment on America! Jesus was very clear in His views on children and the harming of children. God would not warn us to not hurt a child by telling us of horrible consequences if He were going to send someone to murder little children as a way of sending Judgment on a nation of people who didn't know those children.

It amazes me to hear these preachers claim these judgments from God on our nation when they'll tell an individual in their church that God doesn't send the bad things that happen to them, that His gifts are good. And it is true that what God sends to us is always good! Nothing bad can come from God and trust me when I say the massacre that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary is the epitome of bad. From the moment Christ rose from the dead, things changed so that each one of us are responsible only for our own sins. That is unless you are a pastor or parent, then you are responsible, to a point, for your flock and your family. From the moment Christ arose from the dead, judgment for each soul on earth was reserved for that soul on the day all humanity stands before Jesus! We call it Judgment Day.

In our attempts to make people live the way we think they should (which is nothing more than us trying to force people to live under the law, which we, ourselves, could not do, according to Peter, John and the others at the Jerusalem conference) we tend to begin spouting things like disasters and massacres and other things which are just too terrible for our human hearts and minds to accept, are God's judgment on mankind. This, however, is contrary to what we are taught in the New Testament portion of the Bible. You know, the covenant under which we live!

No, the Law has not passed away, but Jesus told us full out that He came and fulfilled the Law. And what has been fulfilled we no longer have to try to satisfy!