When Shaun asks: "But does God’s domain have its boundary or limit?" perhaps he is wondering if God’s concept of Goodness is altogether different than the human concept of Goodness.
This often-quoted passage from Mathew can lose some of its simplistic reassurance when we stop to think that God created the sparrow hawk that brought the poor little sparrow down–all as part of His Plan. It is up to each of us to construct a worldview that can perceive an ultimate Goodness in what, to human eyes, may seem ultimate evil.
Some fifty years ago my nephew, Jackie, contracted leukemia, and he fought it bravely for two years before finally succumbing to it. Jackie made visible to me, and to dozens of others, that somewhere, perhaps hidden deep inside the human psyche, was the Image of our God–and that Image was intimately associated with suffering. Jackie’s funeral was attended by as many nurses (nuns) as could be spared and the hospital chaplain got permission to say the eulogy–they all felt compelled to testify how deeply a pre-teen boy had affected their lives.
He certainly affected mine. I had a fresh Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry and was planning a career with Shell Development. Instead we sold our brand new home in a Chicago suburb, and I took a postdoc position with an NIH grant to develop new computer methods to develop better anti leukemic medicinals. Its hard to say just how much good our efforts actually did over these intervening years, but all the big pharmaceutical companies in the world still use our software.
So exactly what reward did Jackie, that freckled faced little league baseball player, get out of life? I leave that up to God’s generosity. And for anyone who searches for Him as you search, @gmt, I am sure you will be rewarded, I just don’t know how.
Al Leo
Touching story, Leo. One of my residency attendings was a pedi oncologist, and was the finest doctor doing the hardest job I’ve ever known. She would fight tooth and nail for her patients, in an time when success was not as great as the present and the losses were devastating. Dr. May Wong inspired me both then and now.
Thanks Albert Leo for your moving story.
Yes sparrows Vs hawks can only be best understood through the fall of creation (Genesis 3) as the only other alternative is evolution - strong eats the weak. I am greatly comforted by the words of Jesus from Matthew 6.
I don’t interpret God through my experience
I do interpret my experiences through God’s goodness.
Hi Al, Thanks for sharing your thoughts and the touching story!
The boundary or limit means whether or not there’s something that God couldn’t intervene even if He wants.
It’s like the “big bad wolf” story. When we were children, the word wolf meant something cruel and bad (we supposed it’s something against us). Now we understand the cruel wolves are a part of an eco system. Without their aggression and cruelty, deer won’t live better, though it doesn’t justify sadist cruelty.
The relationship between human beings is certainly different than that between wolves and deer. I think religious teaching should take it into account.
I have another story. I had never had anyone in my life that practised “lead by example” until I met that Bible teacher I mentioned. He taught love but never demanded us to love. We felt loved and started to understand love and God, and realised what we should do. Maybe it’s very shallow. But it’s a great change in my life.
It sounds very biblical to me. Sometimes the simple things are the hardest things.
John 4:11-17
Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect.
Jesus is both Role Model and King. He is the Way, then Truth, and the Light You cannot pigeon hole God or Jesus.
However God does not demand people to believe in God. God does not need us to believe. God does not need anything from us. Jesus wants us to believe in Him because He is the Truth, and to follow Him because He is the Way. He wants you to do things because they are right and you want to, not because God demands it.
Jesus said, “love one another as I have loved you.”