GOD'S PLAN
Last week a reporter for the C.B.C. did an anniversary follow-up interview with a man whose wife and 7 children died in a house fire. The first interview focused very quickly on the man's faith in God. After filling in background and getting up to date the interviewer focused again on faith by asking the man how he managed to survive such tragedy. He replied that he continued to believe in God's plan. The following evening 2 authors of letters to the editor said it was reassuring that the man could continue to believe in God's plan after such a loss.
Since the sample letters always represent the majority, I must have been the only one thinking it is so utterly absurd to believe and extremely offensive to hear that a woman and her 7 children died as the result of God's plan. That's an obscene distortion of life which in part allows us to sit by and watch millions of people die of aids and starvation while we are starting to spend multi-billions on gifts for Christmas. Neither these nor any other scenarios of death by unnatural activity can be in God's plan.
God's plan is life by self-realization, the consequence of reaching out to the limits of our capacities, to others and to God. Though it is the plan, this innate ideal reaction to the void is not entirely compulsory. We can choose to replace it with any measure of the far easier reactions of trying to fill the void or giving up. Contrary to popular belief however, when we choose to follow our plan, God loses control to the extent we choose the easier reactions. The consequence of our plan is our chosen measure of self-destruction that in the extreme is best described as "all hell breaking loose". We can avoid "hell" simply by choosing God's plan. (see poem)
Monday, November 21, 2005 at 10:23AM
Reader Comments (1)
Once God set the matrix as exemplified physically by rules of physics and mathematics - and who can guess what mentally and spiritually - He walked away, so to speak, knowing He had created the very best milieu He could in which we could grow spiritually. That it was devilish as well as heavenly, horrible as well as wonderful, ugly as well as beautiful, was simply what was required. I like to believe, as an optimist, He would have spared us the suffering if He could have, but it was needed to build a world with a way out. If He would actually feel, which is probably like everything else we can conceive, far, far beneath Him, I'm sure He would feel as we all do when our children are getting old enough to leave the nest. Such a thought as this answers nothing; I like it because it makes a little sense and keeps me from hating the very guts of the old Guy-Gal. I've been fairly lucky so far and have only had maybe a few hundred or so awful, awful, times, which you forget when you're feeling ok, but I look after myself very carefully; I sure as hell don't leave it up to My Maker, though I like to believe in the way out and I thank Him-Her for the really fantastic joys in life along the way if one is not too unlucky and does his best to live with love. Yes, now that I'm thinking on it, I give God some extra credit for creating Love. And luck, if it's good.
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If God is and has a plan, it is written in our genetic code. The result of following this natural plan will be the realization of humanity by the self-realization of individuals. All other 'plans' are unnatural, man-made and when followed, the result as we can see, is self-destruction and the destruction of humanity. We would be wise to follow the natural plan. We would at least realize what we are capable of being; and we might even 'see' if God is. Would that we were wise. Doug.E.Barr