Seems fitting to talk about the Lord's Prayer, the Our Father, on Father's Day.
We went to church last night, which for me was very strange since I am not on speaking terms with God right now, so saying the prayers we always say was just me going through the motions (maybe it is always like that though, but moreso now) when it occurs to me that the Our Father answers my question:
Thy Will Be Done
it says so basically the Lord taught us this prayer so that we realize that it doesn't really matter what our will is, it is God's will that matters, and apparently God doesn't seem to mind kids dying everyday.
The Z Platform
1 day ago
8 comments:
The only conclusion to be drawn then is that God is evil or at least indifferent. I do believe there are cures to every disease or ailment known to man, if there weren't then the point about God might hold but to me the real issue is why haven't we found them yet?
I thought we had beat cancer, more and more were surviving it but then on a personal level I see more cases of it and more children dying from it so what gives?
I think the corporate media like Katie Couric overly touts any advances in the cancer industry and you get a false picture, don't really see how limited our medical knowledge still is.
I've been reading here, and trying to think of some sort of response, but everything I came up with seemed too complex for a quick comment or just really banal. But one thing about the going to Church--I'm not sure where I heard it first (I think from a character in a P.D. James novel), but someone said that "if you find you no longer believe, act as if you still do. If you can no longer pray, go on saying the words." I'm not sure if that advice helps, but I don't see how it could hurt.
And I think that cancer is pretty much hit and miss. Depending on where the cancer is, and how far it has progressed, it can sometimes be completely cured and other times be quickly fatal.
Daniel, I know you are Catholic as am I, but don't you think our religion does enough reciting of prayers without really thinking about them, because we say them week after week?
I feel that God knows what is in my heart, which is why praying without really meaning it wouldn't do any good, but for Emily's sake, I am trying to mean it.
In my mind, it's not so much the repetition, its the fact that so many Catholics don't seem to understand what their faith means. It really isn't enough to show up to Mass on Sunday, IMO, every Catholic owes it to themselves, and really to God too, to get at least a rudimentary understanding of what the Mass and other prayers mean.
However, I do feel that praying without "meaning it" does do some good. If you are taking the time to pray at all, then at some level you do mean it. And I think that prayer is good for you, no matter how you feel towards God at the time. At the very least, it gives you some peaceful time to meditate and get away, at least a little bit, from life, and that is always a good thing. That, at any rate, is my (unsolicited) advice.
As for the "why do bad things happen to good people" argument (for lack of a better word), it's a tricky idea, and one that no one has really irrefutably addressed. But one point to consider is that our lives here are only temporary, and are short anyway. It's really trite to say "she'll be in a better place," and anyway if faced with the choice of instant Heaven or another sixty years of life, I think that most people would at least hesitate. But if Emily makes it to Heaven (which I would venture to say is probable), she would, in the long run, be happier than someone who was rich and comfortable and went to Hell.
I don't expect that argument to be very comforting--if someone I was close to died, it wouldn't do much to make me feel better. But it is, I think, one of the best arguments against the "how can a good God permit evil?" that I can come up with. Also, bear in mind that although everyone in Heaven will be perfectly happy, the better the life lived the more capacity for happiness one has in the afterlife.
I don't how coherent, much less logical, all that is, but it's the best I think of.
I appreciate your point of view, Daniel, and of course we can speculate and maybe never know the truth.
I am reading Kushner's When Bad Things Happen to Good People and although he is a rabbi, I am finding comfort in his writings, and will probably post a blog about the book soon.
I like Danny's thoughts. I remember a few years back I wasn't into prayer that much but I started to pray halfheartedly about something, it was during some kind of problem phase in my life and then things seemed to happen. I also agree with him to delve into our own faith more.
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