The Lighthouse by Dan

Dr. Dick Lord preached in a sermon one day that the Ancients were astounded that there was anything, anything at all. Here’s a universe, with all this stuff in it, but how could that be? Indeed, even if one explains it with a simple “Well, God made it,” the next question is – you guessed it, “Well, how can GOD be?”

I’ve sort of quit doing that. The universe, and all this stuff, is most certainly here, and the longer I look, the more convinced I become that God did make it. And, yes, I read the philosophical concept that only one's mind is sure to exist, but, true or not, that really doesn’t ultimately change anything, so I don’t go there much anymore.

Here’s the universe – hard to deny it!

What gets me mixed-up is : Why does BAD stuff exist? There’s an astronomer up at the Hayden Planetarium in New York – PhD in astrophysics, no less – who says that he can’t believe God is all loving AND all powerful. Apparently, by virtue of being all loving, God would always stop all the bad stuff, being all powerful. (Paul Prather, who was The Lexington Herald-Leader's staff religion writer in Kentucky before becoming a minister himself, said “If you’re seeking God, intellect might hinder you rather than help you.” That certainly seems to be true in this case.)

The all loving/all powerful conundrum seems valid if taken by itself. But, of course, God is that – and more. God is also all knowing. God so much reminds me of a parent – a really smart parent. The loving parent knows that, in order for a child grow in intellect and wisdom, that child must inevitably face challenge, failure, and sorrow. Without this, the child will not recognize success and happiness. What loving parent would deprive a child of this?

Likewise, we are allowed to sometimes choose the bad - and see the effects - so that we can learn to move toward harmony with God. God doesn’t make the bad stuff, and God doesn’t make us choose the bad stuff. Sometimes, God just gets out of the way and lets us learn how to decide.

So, what about the bad stuff that happens that we DON’T choose? Well, the theory still works. We still grow by facing a challenge, and we learn more when things go wrong than when everything falls perfectly into place. The loving parent knows this – God knows this.

Now, in yet another sermon, Dr. Lord told us that there are some things that are simply always bad, always wrong, always evil, no matter what. Dr. Lord’s background, knowledge, and clarity of thought, would make it hard to find an effective argument with that, but I don’t recall how he squared it with the concept of an all loving God. I just keep in mind that God has full knowledge of past, present, and future simultaneously. The full picture of why there is anything and why there is everything. It will make sense to God.

But here’s what I do when faced with the bad stuff – whether I choose it or encounter it, whether it’s bad for now or bad forever – I remember something from a sermon Reverend Williams preached a while back:

“God is not the storm; God is the lighthouse.”