A good parent doesn't favor any of their children, so I'm not sure why a good God would, either. Christian rhetoric is often, "You have to become a Christian to be one of his children." No. One of many proofs: God will not miraculously heal your loved one because you/they are a Christian while ignoring his pagan child in the next hospital room who isn't. He won't heal you because you pray harder, or even because you believe in prayer period (though I do think prayer has power in the sense that each of us, regardless of label, as a little piece of love, may alter outcomes by connecting to suffering people with our hearts and minds).
God will not give you a better or worse life than someone else because you believe in him; life just happens, good and bad, to us all. Atheists experience spontaneous remission from cancer, and Christians die in random car accidents. Outside of things we can't control, it's mostly personal choice that affects the directions our lives take. That choice can come from different parts of us - our center in God, or our fear-brain, say. But it's still us doing the choosing.
The concept of special reward for joining God's club is ego talking, and it sets people up for even greater disappointment and pain when shit goes down, which is why I get so frustrated with that perspective. "The rain falls on the good and bad alike" is a scripture reinforcing that all are God's children, and in spite of the hard stuff, love - in many forms - is available to us all. As anyone who's visited this blog before knows, I get tired of the Christian club lingo, pride, untrue promises surrounding suffering, and false theology around God's ways. ("His ways are not our ways" is a great Bible verse that seems to turn the way many Christians approach the Bible on its head.)
On a positive note, Nate and I watched this interview on the Daily Show and I almost burst into tears, it moved me so much. I turned to Nate and said, "That guy is a missionary."
RSS Feed