(2.5-minute read)
It’s a mystery.
Do believers of the Christian faith expect too much of God? I am going to talk about the Christian faith but I believe that this applies to followers of other faiths as well. Are the expectations realistic?
When I got cancer, I didn’t blame God for that. It wasn’t diagnosed for 2 years. Life happens in the real world. Some good. Some bad. Some things that can’t be explained. It could have been worse. Much worse. Even with cancer getting the jump on me I’m still here. My older brother only made it a week after his diagnosis. Life is capricious like that.
So is death.
Orchestrated.
We have a friend that is really struggling. He’s a good person. Goes to church on a regular basis. Reads his bible daily. Prays a lot for guidance. Takes the best care of his family that he can. Married to a good person as well. Tries to do the right thing every day. Treats other people well. Helps other people. Works hard. Tries to be the best example that he can be for others.
For quite a while now just one bad thing after another keeps happening to him and his family. Why is God doing that to him and his family? Is it a test? Is it part of the plan/s that God had for him that is beyond our understanding? Is God the puppet master behind all of our decisions?
Including the stupid ones?
Scouting the terrain.
In general, I believe that people have unrealistic expectations of what God will do for us. Bible interpreters tell us that God has a plan for each of us. Often people will interpolate that because God had a plan for Jeremiah therefore God has a plan for all of us.[1] Or just pick another name or scripture from the bible and give that wide application to all of humanity or just Christians or just pick to whom it applies. You might be wrong. You might be right. Whatever position you have you can defend with the bible.
We need to stop pretending that the bible is literal and that all of its claims can be shoehorned to fit modern society. The bible after all makes the case for the earth being flat.[2] (I just referenced one scripture. There are dozens more.) Scripture also maintains that outer space is water and that the firmament holds the waters back.[3] They just tried to explain the universe as best they could with what they had to work with. These concepts don’t have real life applications anymore. Our knowledge and understanding of the world have grown about a lot of things.
The Christian faith, like other faiths, does offer guidance as to what is right and wrong in the struggle between good and evil. They’re simply saying that there is more than this and that it’s important how we act while we’re here in the physical world. Some choose to justify evil with that—others good.
In the Christian faith I think that the most important lesson that Jesus gives us is that by example he lived as a good person. His message was simple: Love God, love people.
Read the room. There’s more than this.
Love is important.
[2] Flat earth: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%202:8&version=KJV
[3] Firmament: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1%3A7&version=NIV
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