Batman, Tragedy, And God

I think that by now most people know about the horrible, evil tragedy that happened in Colorado at a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises.  I've seen reports online from people blaming the movie, Batman in general, and both right- and left-wing political influences.  In today's society it seems like everyone is ready to lay the blame at the feet of someone, anyone other than the person who committed an atrocity.  In our post-modern society many don't believe in "evil".

I do.

I know that there is a devil and that he wants to not only destroy us physically, but spiritually as well.  He wants nothing more than to separate us from God.  Tragedies like this latest one make people wonder, "Where is God?  Where is His mercy?"

I'm not one to speak on this, because I haven't been through that sort of horrible, life-changing event.  So I want to point you to another blog where one of the people in that theater during the shooting answers the question.  Because the author was there with her daughters, she better than anyone I know can speak to this topic.

Follow the link, read the post, and remember that despite the evil of Man, God still loves us and cares for us.


So you STILL think God is a merciful god?!

God's Production Notes

Sunday we were having a Bible discussion about Job and started thinking about what Job's response was when he got to Heaven and learned the details about all that happened to him.

"So let me get this straight....You allowed my kids to die, my possessions to be ruined, my health to fail to the point where I wanted to die, my wife to tell me to curse You, and my friends to wonder what I had done to bring Your wrath....all for a bet???"

I certainly realize why God allowed these trials to happen to Job and how he had it all restored and then some.  To us looking back it's a great story of how someone can maintain their faith even through the worst trials.  But how would we feel about that in our own lives?

My wife and I do a lot of community theater and we get to read the scripts and other production notes for the plays.  She does costuming and directing, so has made her own notes on productions.  These kinds of notes tell the "whys" and "hows" of the play, not just the "whats" of movement and lines.  I'm sure that God has production notes for our own lives.  He has jotted down writings and scribbles about why he lets things happen (or not happen) to us.  One day we'll get to Heaven, read the Book of Life, and see exactly what He was thinking.

Do we really want to know?  It's not as easy as it may seem.  Yes, it would be nice to have a better understanding of why we go through trials.  But we may not want to know that in a week we'll be in a car accident and loose our family while we survive.  Foreknowledge is a mixed blessing.  But I sure wouldn't mind some post-knowledge or present-knowledge.  I think that sometimes it would be easier to go along with God's plans if we actually knew what they were.

But that's not the case.  And that is why we have Job and other examples of how to have faith despite not knowing the details of His plans.