existence of the robust nature of God

 existence of the robust nature of God

Several things happen around individuals that make people question the existence of the robust nature of God. In the community, I was forced to believe that things happen the way God planned it. So, whether bad or good, the experience of the happenings may be, we are forced to think that they occur for the good of human beings. “At the end of every suffering, there is happiness,” at least this quote always gives me hope whenever I am faced with difficult life situations. However, watching my close friends and loved ones suffer made me questioned my belief in God or rather my Christian religion and teachings. For example, a friend of mine lost all her parents through a tragic road accident. After that, she had to be taken into foster homes. The saddest part is that she had to be separated from her younger brother (the only family that she had). Happy moments of her life were replaced with sadness, sorrows, and tears. Watching her go through all the struggles, and being moved from one foster home to another made me questioned God’s ability. I asked myself, why did God let this happen to the innocent children? What did the children do to undergo this painful life experience at a tender age? Is He fair?

After the incident, I lost contact with my friend. However, after years later (two years ago), I met her. She was studying Law (criminology), and life had been so good to her. After passing through the hands of three foster families, she was lucky to have been adopted by a fourth family who took her and helped in maintain a good relationship with her little brother. They trained her and gave her so much love and privileges as compared to that which she could have received from her parents. She was a born-again Christian who believed in God’s goodness. She confessed to me that, indeed, at the end of every suffering, there is happiness, and everything happens as God’s plan and for good (paragraph One).

Question Two

I first agree with Rev. Peter Gomes’s argument on the religion being humanly constructed and not a divinely constructed. He further argues that religion is an aspiration, not achievement (16:50), which I also support. Therefore, religion is human-made, and not God made (17:02). If God created faith, why do we have many gods and religions? Why are the various religions fighting against each other? Why is each person trying to prove that their faith is superior and different from others? These kinds of encounters only point towards one direction of religion being human-made and not divine. However, religion originates with people’s belief in God. Therefore, it originates with God. Human beings translated the various works of religion and wrote them down. As a result, humans have come up with multiple faiths or theologies, where they are struggling to come up with pieces of evidence to back up their believes, which I often found not to be enough.

Religion is an aspiration and not an achievement. Aspiration is the hope and ambition of achieving something in life. For example, through religion, individuals can aspire for good things. It helps in building faith in individuals by hoping for a better experience during hard, trying times. In the above discussion on question one, through religion as an aspiration, my friend believed in better days, and through that hope, she worked on her ambition of becoming a better person. She also became a Christian believer. Through religion as an aspiration, we keep wishing and hoping for better days despite life difficulties. It brings the urge in individuals to always doing good. For it, Christians or other religions continue to believe in their God or gods.

Question Three

In the community, people are experiencing different struggles with their faith. Kushner’s God is “looking for our forgiveness” because of the cruelty or unfairness of the world (28:33). Kushner gives this testimony in line with the suffering that his family was going through due to his son’s illness. He believed that God owed him for such a cruel experience, and he deserves to ask them for forgiveness. God should ask for our forgiveness because He is not in control of everything (28:49), that is why he questions his powerful nature. He chooses to believe and worship God for His kindness and not for His power (29:08). Power is an attribute that people assigned to God.

Both the theologians are struggling with their faith due to the various characteristics people have assigned God. Each one of them has different experiences and testimonies on the nature of God and religion. And due to such differences, they all have different struggles with their faith. Connie Schultz made both of the three theologians to feel at ease and valued, enabling them to air their thoughts and feelings on the theme freely. They both have a different perception of the presence of God and how it would feel if God is absent. The presence of God is like having a mirror before you to understand your purpose in life and gives direction (Harold Kushner, 4:32). Christopher Hitchens believes that nothing would be or look so different without the presence of God (5:43); things would be just as they seem to be or look.