John Whitehead's Commentary
When Bad Things Happen to Good People: Hope When All Seems Lost
As we try to understand the horrible acts of terrorism that have left our nation grief-stricken, various individuals of different faiths and walks of life have come forward to offer their perspectives on how this could have happened and why.
Some attribute the attacks to a government conspiracy, others a lack of security. Still others chalk it up to fanaticism. And then there are some, such as Reverend Jerry Falwell (who has since apologized for the untimeliness of his remarks), who stated the following on the 700 Club this past weekend:
The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way--all of them who have tried to secularize America--I point the finger in their face and say, "You helped this happen."
It is attitudes like this to which I most heartily disagree. Perhaps it is human nature that causes us to look for a scapegoat, someone to blame for the suffering around us that we find so hard to understand. In the aftermath of the tragic attacks on New York and Washington, DC, it is not only ignorant but also futile of us to attempt to point fingers, throw stones and blame each other for the state in which we find our country. Rather, as we attempt to recover and rebuild, asking still why God would allow such painful, horrible things like this to happen, let us remember the wise words of C.S. Lewis, who pondered such a question in his book, The Problem of Pain:
[T]he possibility of pain is inherent in the very existence of a world where souls can meet. When souls become wicked they will certainly use this possibility to hurt one another; and this, perhaps, accounts for four-fifths of the sufferings of men. It is men, not God, who have produced racks, whips, prisons, slavery, guns, bayonets, and bombs; it is by human avarice or stupidity, not by the churlishness of nature, that we have poverty and overwork.
The question, I believe, is not why God would allow such evil but why the individuals who committed such crimes chose to let evil guide their actions. After centuries in which society's well-defined concepts of good and evil gave shape and direction to its morals and culture, modern Americans seem to shy away from the concept of evil. Even many of our spiritual and political leaders have trouble defining evil.
Yet it is evil that we must blame, just as it was evil that ruled the hearts and minds of the hijackers and their accomplices. God gave the gift of freedom to humankind--the freedom to believe or not, to act for good or not, to love or hate--but with that freedom comes responsibility for one's own choices, one's own actions. The men who crashed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon and those individuals who plotted with them must be held responsible for their actions.
So, in the end, how are we to respond? One way to deal with such acts of inhumanity is to rely on the Judeo-Christian foundations in our judicial system to bring these individuals to justice. But there is a greater mandate for our actions than simply seeing justice served. And it is in how we treat our fellow human beings.
"Now what is history?" writes Boris Pasternak in his legendary novel Dr. Zhivago. "It is the centuries of systematic explorations of the riddle of death, with a view to overcoming death. That's why people discover mathematical infinity and electromagnetic waves; that's why they write symphonies. Now, you can't advance in this direction without a certain faith. You can't make such discoveries without spiritual equipment. And the basic elements of this equipment are in the Gospels. What are they? To begin with, love of one's neighbor, which is the supreme form of vital energy. Once it fills the heart of humanity it has to overflow and spend itself."
Thus, in the midst of anguish and turmoil, we need to reassure those around us and reach out to help them in their time of need.
All of a sudden, mainstream television and radio programs are covering church services. There is standing room only in churches across this country. Americans are struggling to find grace, forgiveness and tolerance in the face of unbelievable suffering. And while it was not God who flew those hijacked planes into buildings bustling with humanity as an act of "retribution" for America's sins, it is God who offers comfort and hope in times of need.
Some attribute the attacks to a government conspiracy, others a lack of security. Still others chalk it up to fanaticism. And then there are some, such as Reverend Jerry Falwell (who has since apologized for the untimeliness of his remarks), who stated the following on the 700 Club this past weekend:
The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way--all of them who have tried to secularize America--I point the finger in their face and say, "You helped this happen."
It is attitudes like this to which I most heartily disagree. Perhaps it is human nature that causes us to look for a scapegoat, someone to blame for the suffering around us that we find so hard to understand. In the aftermath of the tragic attacks on New York and Washington, DC, it is not only ignorant but also futile of us to attempt to point fingers, throw stones and blame each other for the state in which we find our country. Rather, as we attempt to recover and rebuild, asking still why God would allow such painful, horrible things like this to happen, let us remember the wise words of C.S. Lewis, who pondered such a question in his book, The Problem of Pain:
[T]he possibility of pain is inherent in the very existence of a world where souls can meet. When souls become wicked they will certainly use this possibility to hurt one another; and this, perhaps, accounts for four-fifths of the sufferings of men. It is men, not God, who have produced racks, whips, prisons, slavery, guns, bayonets, and bombs; it is by human avarice or stupidity, not by the churlishness of nature, that we have poverty and overwork.
The question, I believe, is not why God would allow such evil but why the individuals who committed such crimes chose to let evil guide their actions. After centuries in which society's well-defined concepts of good and evil gave shape and direction to its morals and culture, modern Americans seem to shy away from the concept of evil. Even many of our spiritual and political leaders have trouble defining evil.
Yet it is evil that we must blame, just as it was evil that ruled the hearts and minds of the hijackers and their accomplices. God gave the gift of freedom to humankind--the freedom to believe or not, to act for good or not, to love or hate--but with that freedom comes responsibility for one's own choices, one's own actions. The men who crashed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon and those individuals who plotted with them must be held responsible for their actions.
So, in the end, how are we to respond? One way to deal with such acts of inhumanity is to rely on the Judeo-Christian foundations in our judicial system to bring these individuals to justice. But there is a greater mandate for our actions than simply seeing justice served. And it is in how we treat our fellow human beings.
"Now what is history?" writes Boris Pasternak in his legendary novel Dr. Zhivago. "It is the centuries of systematic explorations of the riddle of death, with a view to overcoming death. That's why people discover mathematical infinity and electromagnetic waves; that's why they write symphonies. Now, you can't advance in this direction without a certain faith. You can't make such discoveries without spiritual equipment. And the basic elements of this equipment are in the Gospels. What are they? To begin with, love of one's neighbor, which is the supreme form of vital energy. Once it fills the heart of humanity it has to overflow and spend itself."
Thus, in the midst of anguish and turmoil, we need to reassure those around us and reach out to help them in their time of need.
All of a sudden, mainstream television and radio programs are covering church services. There is standing room only in churches across this country. Americans are struggling to find grace, forgiveness and tolerance in the face of unbelievable suffering. And while it was not God who flew those hijacked planes into buildings bustling with humanity as an act of "retribution" for America's sins, it is God who offers comfort and hope in times of need.
ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD
Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.
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