The fact remains that if God created us, then he should have known exactly what sort of mess we would get into. Blaming us for it and calling it 'sin' is a cop out on the part of the Bible literalist's god! If God is responsible for our creation then he bears ALL the blame for his flawed creation. This sounds like something I heard my son say to me a few days ago:
I was having a conversation with my son the other day and he was mad at me for not reacting the way he thought I should in a situation. He was telling me how he thought I should have reacted. He was mad. He went to his room and didn't speak to me the rest of the night except to tell me goodnight. He was still mad the next day. He held to his judgement of my non reaction and he accused me of not interveneing on his behalf. For all his life I have hammered into my children that one should always stand up for other people when they thought the other person couldn't stand up for themselves. And here my own son was accusing me of not standing up for him according to what I have preached all his life. He blamed me for not doing anything and it resulting in him having to do something himself.
This conversation brought this to mind because it reminds me of what we do to God. We expect him to do what we think He should do. We think he makes too much over one thing and not enough over another. Or we think God is being totally unfair about one subject and way over the top tolerant on another. We expect God to think like us.
I never stopped loving my son. I didn't turn my back on him in his situation. To quote one of my favorite movies, Nemo, "Let's see what Squirt does...", I wanted to see how my son would choose to handle it. Would he incorporate some of my philosophy into his situation or would he develope his own? Would his own principals line up with mine or would he stray from what I've told him?
I don't agree with everything my son chooses to do,(he's 16), and sometimes he has to work things out for himself. More, now that he's getting older. I've given him all the tools I can, now it's his turn to make those decisions for himself.
Now, before you decide to berate me for comparing anyone to a child, I'm not. I see this as a classic example of how we look at God and say, "Why don't you do something about this?! Your so all powerful, just strike them with lightening or make money appear on my doorstep! You can, after all your God, right?!"
I know because I've done it myself, just about everyday! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
I think we just don't understand God, just like when we were kids and we didn't understand everything our folks did or why they did it. I don't think He will ever fit into the box I've made for Him no matter how many times I try to make over the box. He just doesn't fit into it. Just when I think I've got something figured out, He pulls a fast one and I have to start all over again. That look that my son gives me when he doesn't like what I do, is the same look I give God when He doesn't do what I want Him to do. And just like my son doesn't have the authority to make me do anything his way, I don't have the authority to demand that God do it may way.
Just food for thought.
