God Dilemma

               Man was knelt in prayer. His mind full of questions, his heart full or doubt and his faith all but deserted.

“God,” he said. “I am lost.”

And God spoke What troubles you, my son.

Man was suddenly fearful.

“My Lord, I see the world. It is full of suffering, pain, fear. People cannot see your beautiful work for their own hate. They see a world with death but they don’t acknowledge the life. They would rather fight each other for small petty things than work together for big things. They do not cherish each other. In many cases they don’t even cherish themselves. Why do you not do something about this?”

God’s reply took a couple of moments and was spoken kindly What would you have me do, my son?

 Man was struck dumb for he had no answer.

Would you have me take away all death? Can you imagine the Hell that Earth would become if none feared death? Should I enter the heads of men and change the way they think? Would that do anything more then show people that they have no choices in life? To give people true choice in life I gave them freewill. Without the evil in the world how can there be any good? Without people making the wrong choice how would you know when you have made the right one? Believe me, when I look upon my children in the world, at their pain and sadness, I despair for them but I do not know of a way in which things could, or should, be. Perhaps there is a way but I have yet to find it.

Man was once more stunned. “You do not know, Lord?”

God looked upon the man and said. It is said that I know all things but how could I? I have no knowledge of what it is like not to know everything. I have no knowledge of what it must feel like to know that one day I shall die. For I know that that day shall never come. I have as much knowledge of you as parents have over their children. And yet even the best of parents know little about what their children choose to hide from them. Perhaps to find a better answer to all of humanities problems I should be human but then I would not know what it would be like to be all-knowing. I would not have the power to make such changes that I would believe were necessary.

And Man said “But you are God! Surely you could become human for a small amount of time and then become all-powerful again?”

I could, conceded God, but even as a human that isn’t all powerful or all knowing I will still be aware of what I truly am and will still not fear death.

God was silent for a few moments as man tried to comprehend all that he was hearing then God said Some times I envy you.

 Man was silent himself and then said “Pray tell, why, Lord?”

…I create the world and so I am blamed for all. People both love me and hate me. They believe that I do nothing to help those in need or they believe that I do everything and so they don’t take pride in their own accomplishments. Perhaps it would have been better if humans had never believed in me to begin with.

 Man looked crestfallen. “My Lord, how could that possibly be better?”

God spoke, It would have given way to true freewill. For people to do what they think is good and right, and not because they fear divine retribution. For people to turn Earth into a Heaven, rather then wait for death to deliver them to one.

 “But Lord, many would not think like that. Many would do terrible things and not fear going to Hell! For they would not fear one,” said Man.

Does that stop anybody now? said God, but no. Perhaps you are right. We shall just have to see.

 Man was silent. He had come wanting to find an answer and had only heard excuses. He had asked God a question, not expected an answer, and yet had been given one. However, it had not helped him as he thought it would. He had thought that if there were an answer then he would feel satisfied and that his entire perception of the world would change in an instant but it hadn’t. However, somehow the world did seem different. It seemed younger and in need of protection, even from itself. One thing was sure. He hadn’t entirely understood the answers that God had presented him with.

Perhaps you would do better to understand the question before challenging the answer. And with that, God once more fell silent to Man.

Reviews

[Bubo]

Nathan
I think this is such a very deep emotional read ( well, for me anyway), and so many lines in your
story echo my thoughts if I could talk to God. But the replies are so wise and so true..........
This is a wonderful, brilliantly written piece............so many lines I had to read over..........
but the end the wisest one of all.

Perhaps, you would do better to understand the question, before challenging the answer, and with that, God once more fell silent to Man.

If only we understood the questions we truely ask.
Thank you for sharing this Nathan, very creative.

[AK]

Thank you for recommending this Emily.

There is truly only one way... God's way. We watch as those who proclaim they know the truth destroy each other. Where is God in that?

What is God's way for us today? Acts Chapter 2 holds the answers. Will we read those precious verses and find excuse to not apply them? It's up to the individual. And God will wait in silence.

[Emily B]

I've looked at this read request for a long time now. Always waiting to be more caught up. To have more time. And now I understand that I have only just now become ready to read these words. There is much of wisdom in your words. We pose questions to the Heavens, expecting answers to thoughts we can't fully comprehend. We seek answers everywhere and sometimes find that those answers are supplied if we listen.

Thank you for requesting I read this. Please excuse my tardiness.

[Hannah Erickson]

Indeed I did enjoy this one. I also think that if people would sit back and analyze a situation they may find that the best questions have no answers. For me it goes along with the saying that the journey is the destination. One part of the story that also fascinated me was the discussion of the need for evil in order for there to be good. I think that people often fail to see the need for balance in the world. Could you imagine a world with all good or all evil? All in all, I loved this piece as well.

[Nicole (Carpe Diem)]

this is a fantastic story - a lot of thought provoking issues - its a sad realization - we as humans are destroying everything good that God did...

[Jenny Davis]

It's as if you were channeling God himself when you wrote this...very insightful, very touching story :-)