Theodicy and Aurora, Colorado

Where was God during the shooting in Aurora, Colorado?  It's simply a questions I've heard asked.  Of course, we could change the question to anywhere at anytime, like where was God during 9-11, where was God during the holocaust, where was God when the Titanic sank, or during WWI...the list goes on.  If God is good, why is there evil in the world?  Is there a good response to this question about theodicy, or should we just sweep it under the rug like we do so many questions concerning our faith?

There are a lot of answers to this question.  Some might be that God never existed, God is dead, God doesn't interfere in the world, God is standing back to give Satan the opportunity to rule until the Second Coming, or that God gives us choices and we must live with them.  We could talk about original sin, or lack of faith, or our just desserts.  Nothing, really, seems to satisfy.  We could even say that God was in that theater in Aurora, Colorado, boldly saving some people, but that isn't very comforting to the families of those who God didn't help and therefore died.  Some would say it was God's will, but I personally refuse to believe that God wants someone to wield weapons and use innocent human beings for target practice.  Let's admit it, when something like this happens, perhaps there is no wonderful, comforting answer.  So instead of wrestling with the disturbing questions, we chalk it up as one of God's mysteries, but that is also unsatisfying.

If God is good then why is there evil?  Perhaps we are wrong in our understanding of God.  The question of theodicy sometimes seems like a circle, where you make a statement but the answers you have lead you right back to the same questions, in a never-ending circle, ad infinitum.  Kind of like, what came first, the chicken or the egg?  Except the question of theodicy and the answers we have can affect the very basis of our faith. 

As Christians, we believe our God is all-knowing (omnipotent), present everywhere at all times (omni-present), possessing the ability to change anything according to his will (all-powerful).  So why doesn't he?  If God is benevolent and loves us, why would God want us to suffer, to die early, to die violently, or to die at all?   Why doesn't God at least save the little ones who have barely had a chance to live?  If we say we would gladly give our lives in exchange for a young child who died or is dying, why doesn't God feel the same way?  Why doesn't God simply cure those children instead of standing by and watching them die?  Perhaps our theodicy is wrong.  Maybe God is all-powerful but not omnipotent, and things happen that he doesn't know about.  Perhaps God is omnipotent but not all-powerful, and he can't change things.  Perhaps God is omnipotent, all-powerful, but not omni-present; maybe God can't be everywhere at all times.  Perhaps on a more simple level, there is evil in the world because God isn't all good like we say God is.  How you respond to the question of theodicy affects what you believe God's nature to be.    

As United Methodists, we believe that God is very good, but we desperately want to know why God does not intervene in the face of evil.  We profess that God made humankind in God's image.  One aspect of God's being that we embody is the ability to use our minds and respond to the world, in other words, to make choices.  And in this world where billions of people make trillions upon trillions of choices every day, we realize that we do not make those choices in a vacuum.  Everyone's choices effect everyone else in unplanned and unexpected ways.  Choices can be good or bad and can affect one person, a few people, or the whole planet.  Yet we believe that God's gift of this ability to gather information, use our brains, make decisions and follow through on those decisions is so precious to God that God does not interfere.  Why?  Because if God interferes and fixes things, or makes us do things or stops us from doing things, we become nothing more than puppets in the big cosmic play which, incidentally, would have no purpose at all except to entertain God who supposedly knows how it is all going to turn out anyway.  So, really, what would be the point?

Yes, we profess God is good.  Evil is in the world by our own doing as a result of our freedom to make choices, because we don't always make the right ones.  We love our freedom yet when things go wrong, we still want God to step in and fix things.  I'm not so sure that scripture says God will swoop down to save us every time we need saving.  Although Jesus and the disciples healed many people as a witness to God's power and presence, there are many that were never healed simply because we know that the poor and infirmed are everywhere, and Jesus and his band were not.  Jesus healed the blind man at the pool, but the Bible doesn't say anything about healing the rest of the people that were sitting around the pool, waiting for the waters to stir.  We are told in scripture that if we ask for anything in the name of Jesus, it will be granted.  We know that doesn't happen either.  We do know that scripture is rife with contradictions because the books of the Old Testament as well as the New Testament were written by different people at different times for different audiences with different understandings of nature and the world and of God.  Though inspired by God, they still constitute an author's best guess or best understanding of God, which the author may not have gotten totally correct.   

But there are some things in scripture that we can be sure of because if the books are taken as a whole, there are messages that are repeated over and over again.  One of those is that scripture provides us with everything we need to know to be saved.  Another is that God is love.  Thirdly, we know that God is with us, that God abides.  There are, of course, others.  But with these we know where God was during the shooting in Aurora, Colorado.  God was there.  God was with everyone in that place, guiding, talking, comforting, making his presence known, and for some, welcoming them to another place, because another thing we know from scripture is that Jesus has prepared a place for us when we die, a place that is better than this one.  Some could hear God above the din because they have a relationship that keeps them bound to God; some didn't know God but found him there; some didn't know God but because they had turned away from him, could never hear him.  God was with the shooter, but the shooter dismissed him and the shooter never heard.  God's voice is that still, small one that we have to want to hear.  Did God perform miracles?  Maybe, maybe not.  That is for everyone to decide on their own.  Some see them everywhere, others see them not at all.  Coincidence and luck may in fact be miracles.  I suppose it depends on how you define God's action in the world. 

Some may not find all of this very comforting, but I disagree.  I am extremely comforted by the fact that my God is with me.  No matter what I suffer, whether it be from by own decisions of the decisions of others, I know my God is with me.  God experiences my life, my ups and down, my happiness and my despair.  I know that even if I feel there is no one else in the world who knows what I am going through, my God does.  God's presence is with me whether I feel it or not, and that, for me, is enough.  Though I wish God would interfere at times, especially when loved ones are ill or dying, I submit to the mystery (even if that, too, is unsatisfying on some level) of a God who is so much above me that I cannot understand God's ways.  But I can understand his promise: I am with you, even to the end of the age.  

Did You Know? - Roman Funeral Masks

Heritage, or ancestry, was important in the ancient world to both Romans and Jews because there were simply some aspects of life where ancestry offered opportunity.  But there is one very interesting practice that the Romans had that some of us are unaware of -  the use of funeral masks.  The following is a section from the writings of Polybius:

"Whenever someone from the ranks of the illustrious dies, as a part of his funeral procession out of the city he is carried into the forum to the co-called rostra.  Usually his body is conspicuous in an upright pose; more rarely, he is lying down.  When all the people are standing round, a grown-up son, if the deceased has left one and if he happens to be present, or, if not, some other relative mounts the rostra and speaks about the virtues and lifetime achievements of the deceased...After they have buried him and performed the customary rites, a wax image of the deceased is placed in a very conspicuous spot in the house, in a wooden shrine.  This image is a mask made strikingly similar to the facial features and expression of the deceased.  The family puts these images on display on the occasion of public sacrifices, decorating them with great care.  When any illustrious family member dies, the family takes them to the funeral, putting them on men who seem to be most similar in height and size to the original...When the speaker who delivers the oration for the man to be buried has finished his speech about him, he then mentions the achievements and accomplishments of each of those other men whose masks are present, beginning with the most ancient."