Making Sense in a Senseless World

One might wonder what kind of God would allow suffering. Or, how could a loving and merciful God allow bad things to happen to good people? While you are considering that thought, remember that it was His Son who experienced a very cruel and shameful death on a cross, at the hands of some very religious people. Even though God could have stopped this, He choose not to. Man is made in the image of God according to the creation account of Genesis. Built into creation is a little thing called freedom and this freedom, as precious as it may be, has spoiled that image and corrupted it. This freedom was behind Adam and Eve’s choice to disobey the command of God. Sin or disobedience is, and ever will be, the parent of human misery. Each person has three basic needs of belonging, significance and security. If anyone of these is missing, we will attempt to have them met. In our society, there are many messages that come at us through various forms of media that tell us that we are lacking in one of these three areas. Additionally, the behaviors of others can also add to the feelings of insignificance, rejection, and abandonment. Words meant or not meant, can take root in a person’s mind and when left unchecked, can develop into full-blown belief systems that do not have their basis in reality, but rather one’s perception of reality. Dr. William Sadler, a noted psychiatrist stated, “If we truly lived a Christ centered life, half the diseases of the people in America would drop off and we would stand as a healthy nation.” I believe that means not only our physical diseases but our moral and mental ones as well. So why don’t we live Christ centered lives? The simple reason is self-will or more simply put, we choose not to. We would rather live in the “freedom” of self-pleasure and fulfillment. Sadly, as history has already shown us, freedom unrestrained leads to anarchy and lawlessness. When individuals change, society will change. Think about it.