Questioning God
By Rev. Frank Majka, S.J.
associate
director, University Ministry
I don’t recall ever being really angry at God, but I’ve known people who have been. They believe God has wronged them or their families. They’ve challenged God’s care for them, their loved ones or the world in general and, like Job, were unconvinced by pious
voices saying their anger was out of line. There is
surely a healthy candor when people tell God what
they truly feel.
But I also think it’s unfair to make God responsible for everything that happens. The worst homily I ever heard was one that attributed a young woman’s death in a fire to the mysterious (yet somehow loving) will of God. In attempting to comfort a grieving family, the preacher made God out to be a monster.
There is a sense, of course, in which God is involved in things. Because God made a world with physical laws, God must be willing to allow those laws and processes to work. Because He also made human beings with free will, He must be willing to let them make choices, even evil and hurtful ones. Still, I don’t regard God as being directly responsible for a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina or when people die or terrible things happen like the destruction of the World Trade Center Towers.
I do, however, expect God to be very directly involved in how people cope with loss, pain and tragedy. That’s how we experience the Resurrection in our lives.
As a priest, I’ve had people ask me why God would cause or permit terrible things to happen to them or other people. They deserve to be heard with empathy and should be allowed to freely express whatever they are feeling, including anger at God. But in the long run, I think it’s better for us to concentrate on how God will be present to help us through our sufferings rather than to blame Him for causing them.
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