So, Mother's Day and Father's Day has come and gone. I can never quite understand why it's only on these days that all the mushy lovey-dovey messages are posted everywhere in adverts, malls, and of course on social media. And everyone gets into a frenzy over buying presents and crowding restaurants to treat the 'stars' of the day. I thought we are supposed to love our moms and dads every day, and to let them know it whilst they are still alive on this earth? In fact, why are we confining our gestures of love to moms and dads?? If we really wanted to do something special for our loved ones, to appreciate them - as we should - why wait around for the second Sunday of May or the 3rd weekend of June? Why not just do it, today, tomorrow, or whenever according to our heart, not a calendar? Ok, ok maybe I am just an old grouch....Anyway, I crammed in 2 super-hero movies in between those 2 occasions. Both depressed me somewhat, although as far as movies go, "Captain America: Civil War" and "X Men : Apocalypse" are well-worth the ticket cost in terms of action and drama. But considered in a deeper vein, both movies actually pose some very real dilemmas of life choices. Like who decides what's right and what's wrong in every circumstance? Is it right just because it 'seems' good? Is war justified when innocents are killed in the cross-fire? Should absolute power and freedom be given to those who purport to exercise them for the greater good? What's the price to be paid for pursuit of the so-called 'common good'? Does/should freedom have any limits; if yes, where do we draw the line?
I liked what Capt A said, "We try to save as many people as we can. Sometimes that doesn't mean everybody." That's so like salvation, and quite the perfect answer to every skeptic who asks, "If your God is so powerful or so good, why doesn't He save everyone?" It's not that God cannot save everyone, but rather that not everyone wants to be saved. Some are not bothered about heaven, hell or God. Some want it done their own way. We prefer to put self above God. Like someone said, we are our own god, because we don't want to answer to anybody else. We value our independence above all, even if that very independence causes our own downfall ultimately.
This quest for independence is nothing new. Adam and Eve exhibited it when they preferred to listen to the devil instead of God, since the former's version of truth was more palatable and preferable. After all, who doesn't want to be 'like God'? It's intoxicating to be offered a shot at being the most powerful person in the universe, without any elections to bother about, rather than being constrained by rules, (arbitrarily) made by some Being called God, who cannot be seen or proven. It's a no-brainer which one our naturally selfish self would choose to believe is right. The tragedy is our "rights" can be so "wrong".
I am sure God could have stretched out His mighty hand to stop Adam/Eve/us from sinning; for that matter He can easily stop all the very real evil and suffering in the world, but that would have involved Him taking charge of everything and everybody, which would have made nonsense of His claim to love us. For the proof of love is giving the beloved the freedom to choose to follow and obey or to walk away. Which is why God stood back and allowed His creation to go ahead and make a mess of our lives, other people's lives and of the earth we live in. It's not that we weren't warned. Apostle Paul confronts us that , "Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done." (Romans 1:28) In short, God said go ahead, do what you want, how you want, when you want.
God isn't at all like Apocalypse in X-Men who pouts and rants because no one wants to worship him anymore. Much less is He bent on destroying a world running after idols of their own making. Instead He holds the door open for every prodigal to return. One of the most quoted verses of the Bible is that " God so loved the world that He sent...Jesus not to "condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3;16-17) The problem as always isn't with God, but with man. God could behave like Apocalypse certainly; in fact He could very easily destroy a rebellious sinful world, which after all He is entitled to, as Creator of the universe. And quite unlike Apocalypse, He doesn't need to gather power from a bunch of mutants. In fact, no army of super-heroes would be able to stop Him, if He so much as lifted a finger to touch earth. Actually I can't help thinking perhaps if God did that, it might just jolt mankind into fear and repentance. Maybe if God got angry a bit more like Apocalypse, we would 'get it'. But nah, that's not His way.When 2 angry disciples wanted to call down fire from heaven to consume a village who rejected Jesus, He rebuked them and said He had not come to destroy man's lives but to save them (Luke 9:56). That's the God of compassion, grace and mercy that I know, who gave up His all so that we could have it all, leaving us to make that ultimate choice at our own peril - to love or to leave Him.
“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it" - Matthew 16:25
