An Act of God

An Act Of God

          Which frightens you the most? I live in tornado alley. Florida boards up against hurricane force winds. California worries about earthquakes and mudslides. The east coast was brought to a standstill with freezing cold and blizzard snows last winter. One area has a drought while floods float houses down the river at the same time other parts of the country are fighting forest fires. They all cost more than just money. How can you factor in the human suffering? The loss of life; homes demolished and personal property destroyed; business closed; people without jobs; electricity and gas off for days; food and water scare. Whatever causes the loss, the misery is acute. The insurance companies call it “An Act of God.” Why is that?

          Why would God do such a thing? If I understand God rightly there is a reason behind His every action. Maybe if we can discover the motive for His destruction we could protect our lives and property. More importantly, perhaps our investigation will bring us closer to the One that created us.

          There is a clue. God created us as His children. .Do you think that God enjoys watching the fear and suffering and doesn’t want it to end? That it is a sport and a show and that is all that it means to Him? Would you do to your children the things that you are blaming God for doing? Would you shake them until they can’t stand up, scare them half to death, and make them run for their life? Are you more loving to your children then our heavenly Father is to us? I see that we are barking up the wrong tree here. Our Father-Mother-God would not harm or harass the children that He loves, without a reason.

          Could the reason be that, as a parent, He was concerned that the children were disobedient and needed punished? That might be a reason except…as human parents we only punish the guilty child. These punishments were severe and the innocent were as victimized as the sinners. Again we are implying that we are fairer and dispense better justice then God. Let’s take another route and start at the beginning.

          In the beginning All was Good. God has not changed. God’s laws have not changed. They were good then. They are good and in force now. There is no room in this Good for evil, destruction, mayhem or death. Even punishment isn’t sent from Good, nor can it exist in God’s Reality. We will have to look elsewhere for a logical explanation.

          There is no use to lay the blame on Satan’s shoulders either. Satan, the devil and all that ‘they stand for’ are part of the evil that can not exist in God’s Good. We can see where this is a dead end also. Where does this leave us? If not God or Satan what?

          Belief!!! The race consciousness that believes in duel powers, which oppose each other. A belief that can’t conceive of a Love so great there is no need to punish. A belief that demands an opposite to Good, names it Satan, sin, evil and death and fears the creature it imagined. Then gives it the only power it has, to do to him whatever it will. Belief can do that! You can believe whatever you want, but that doesn’t make it real.

          Race consciousness, belief, wrong thinking, has formed it’s own reality and passed it on to the next generation until it is solidly accepted. It mistakenly believes that it is a human being living in a human world, with no control over what happens. A world where bad things happen to good people=good human people. Bad things brought about by doubt in God’s Good.

          Jesus gave us a glimpse of God’s Reality. Abundance of food, joy in work, radiant health and happiness on earth. If we don’t reach Jesus’ perfection it gives us a possible goal to aim for. We may not stop the storms in the world, but we won’t be fanning the flames either.

          The next time you hear or read that this is “an act of God,” ask yourself, “Is this actually God’s Reality or is this a human idea of what reality has to be?” You answer matters!

          717 words       Loretta Ellen Edwards