Whatever We Believe, Is What God Becomes. Or, Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?

By Maurice Lacunza

  Whatever We Believe, Is What God Becomes

Gays Go Boom

According to the leader of the the Southern Baptist Convention, Fred Luter, North Korea leader Kim Jong-un is aiming missiles because of the recent gay marriage support across America. (BTW, the irony of missile obsession is not lost on me.) He said, "Could our slide into immorality be what is unleashing this mad man over here in Asia to punish us?”

As I look back in time, in my own life, I see that I have often used religion to explain why bad things have happened and also why good things have happened to me. I came to see that mankind in general needs an answer to explain why things happen to us. The alternative is to accept that life doles out random events and sometimes it is the throw of dice that determines your fate.

Why do bad things happen to people?

Whatever We Believe, Is What God Becomes

You Are What You Believe

As I considered the statement of Fred Luter, I was a bit offended that he could make such a huge leap of logic. But then I stopped and considered who he is, where he came from, the belief systems supported by his peer group and the teachings of his religion. Luter believes in an Old Testament God of hellfire and brimstone.  It only makes sense that he would need an explanation to understand why a madman would aim nuclear missiles at America. Clearly God is punishing us; according to his guilt based understanding of religion. The truth is harder to accept however. The fact is, there are crazy self serving dictators in the world and they do crazy things because they can. 

An Angry God Punishes, And A Loving God Loves. Which God do you believe in?

Don't Make Me Feed You!

Does God really want to punish America just because the people have decided to accept and love their brothers and sisters who are gay? Does a loving God really do that? No. But an angry God would. And that is what we have here: an angry God which is an extension of what Fred Luter believes. And each of us have our own version of God, whatever we believe is what God becomes.  For Fred, he believes in a God who punishes. He can't make sense of senseless acts, so, he turns to God. And his God punishes; thus, he has an answer for unanswerable actions. It is the nature of humans to explain why things happen.

Time. Reveals Everything.

 The March of Time Reveals All

For some of us, the march of time reveals that chance and fate are often the real reasons behind untimely events. Not to say that God doesn't intervene. That is probably true. But I think a reasonable person could assume that nuclear warfare is not a punishment from God for supporting and loving gay people.