Many, if not all of you, have probably heard of a show that has been airing on the Discovery channel for a number of years. It is called “Mythbusters” and the basic premise of the show is to take commonly held myths and urban legends and put them to the test. After these scientific tests, the myth is rated as busted, confirmed or plausible. In a similar way, the readings we just heard serve as a sort of “mythbusters” moment for us and so I would like to briefly touch on some of the beliefs the readings challenge.
Myth #1: Suffering, sickness, and even death are part of God’s will. We hear this all the time when someone we love is sick or has died and perhaps even when we have been ill. The truth is, sickness and death are a mystery, one we will never completely understand this side of heaven. In order to make sense of it, sometimes we pin it on God. But God never intended these things!
In the beginning, God created humans, starting with Adam and Eve, as a reflection of himself. He gave them dominion of all creation. In his incredible generosity and love, he even gave them free will, the ability to choose good or evil. In this, God actually limited his own power. Sadly, as we know, Adam and Eve sinned and literally threw creation out of sync with God. With their sin, death, sickness, suffering and every other maladies are now introduced into the world.
This is what sin does; it fosters chaos, upheaval, and conflict between people and between people and God. Every sin has this effect, whether it is large or small, according to the gravity of the offense. Think of the effects of the sins of notorious people like Hitler, Stalin, or Osama Bin Laden. Think of the millions of people who suffered because of their evil choices! Even more humbling and frightening, who is suffering because of our sins, who is affected by the immoral choices we have made?!
The truth is, God does not will our suffering, he does not will cancer, or heart attacks or little children getting sick and even dying. He does not desire natural disasters or terrible accidents or freak occurrences that injure and kill. He allows them them to happen, which, believe it or not, is even more painful for God than it is for us.
So how do we reconcile the fact that God is all-good, all-powerful, all-loving, all-knowing and yet he still permits (which is not the same as willing or wanting) sickness, suffering, and death? Part of this is and always will be a mystery. However, the primary reason why God allows these terrible things in our world is because he respects our freedom. When God created us, he gave us the complete freedom to choose good or evil, life or death. The only way to eliminate the possibility of bad things is to take away that freedom, to make our choices for us. And while this might sound like a good idea at first, to take away human freedom is to also take away the possibility of love. God wants us to choose to love him and others freely. He is not interested in a forced love. Therefore, he accepts the risk that we might and often do, choose the opposite, which is to deliberately decide to not love God or others. This is what we call sin.
Every bad thing in our world, every suffering, sickness, disaster, or death has its origin in sin and is never part of God’s active will. The sin may not always be the product of an individual’s personal sin, but it is always due to the fact that nature has been wounded and set against God because of sin in general.
Myth #2: God takes our loved ones to be with him in heaven.
This myth can be dismantled quickly if we remember the first reading. God did not create death nor was it part of his plan for us. Because of the sin of our first parents, which we call original sin, we have inherited the effects of their bad choice, just like we would have inherited the happy blessings if they had chosen correctly. The gospel today reminds us that our God is a God of healing and life. He restores the suffering woman who touches his cloak. He raises the little girl who had died. This is not a one-time thing but we see it over and over again in the gospels. God, in his wisdom, did not eliminate death from this world. Rather, he redeemed it. What used to be the end has now become the beginning of new and eternal life. This is wonderful mystery of God; when we, or someone we love, is suffering or dying let us remember that God is not willing or wanting these terrible things. However, he is so good and powerful that he can transform these tragedies into something worthwhile and meaningful.
Myth #3: God lets children die because he needs another angel in heaven.
If this was true, God would be incredibly cruel and selfish. There are several issues here:
- God can create anything he wants. If his angel inventory was running low, why would he snatch a beloved child from the world rather than just making a new angel from scratch?
- More importantly, people do not become angels nor do angels become people. Ever. They are two different creatures. Angels are created persons with an intellect, will, and soul. They never have and never will have bodies. Human beings are created persons too with an intellect, will, soul, and body. When a person dies, their soul meets God and is judged according to their deeds. At the end of time, each person’s soul will be reunited with their body wherever the soul was sent, be that heaven or hell. For those in heaven, their bodies will be a source of dignity, joy, respect, and honor because their body was instrumental in helping live a life that was pleasing to God. The opposite will be true for those in hell, whose bodies will be an eternal source of shame and regret because they were used to offend God and man.
Related to the previous considerations, we know that God does not desire the death of children nor is it ever part of his plan. But, to make a world where no children would die would be to make a world of no freedom and ultimately, no love. We can be sure that God cares for every child who succumbs to injury, violence, or illness with the same tenderness and love that we see in the Gospel today. We believe he has created a place in heaven for every child to be free from any pain or worry for eternity and he wants them to be reunited forever with their loved ones in heaven.
It’s important that we challenge these and many other myths that exist about God. Otherwise, in our minds, he becomes cruel, arbitrary, inconsistent, distant, and untrustworthy. Our faith, the scriptures remind us often that our God is a God of love, life, and healing. Let us remember this in times when we suffer sickness, persecution, loss, and death and know that he suffers with us. And may we believe that somehow, someway, he will redeem these moments of pain and make them something worthwhile.
