I just want to be the first on record to say that, contrary to your statements, it is not the majority opinion that what Professor Jongeward is contending is what you say it is: that God would break His own rules about the natural world in order to inflict harm or pain on others so that He can “teach them a lesson” – as you say in your comment. This is the logical paraphrase of what you assert, unless I am mistaken.

It would seem that a closer observation of Dave Jongeward’s statements from this chapel warrant a close investigation in to the issues that Wesley M raises in his comment.

What say you, community?

I received a Th.B. from Multnomah in the early 70′s. For 46 years I was a Christian, with time in Europe as a missionary, and many, many years in para-church ministries. And after much reasoned thought and research, I have had to give up my Christian faith, as it had no correlation with the actual evidence that we have in the natural universe around us. And I have to say, that Mr. Jongeward’s reasoning as displayed in this chapel address, is a perfect example of that.

Even Jesus said in Matthew 5:45, that the rain falls on the just and unjust alike. Disasters befall believers and unbelievers with a randomness that is outside the control of supernatural beings, whether they be the triune God of the Bible, or the Greek Zeus. Nature is no respecter of persons. Cancer hits people randomly; sure, there may be a genetic disposition that puts some people at more risk, but let us not think that God is choosing a certain person to inflict cancer upon, because he has a “lesson” that He wants to teach that person, or his family.

I disagree with most points in Mr Jongeward’s address. If we as human parents acted towards our children in the way that he says God has a right to act towards us, we would soon be in prison on charges of child abuse. I am so thankful that I am now free of this kind of “God is trying to teach you a lesson” reaction to every negative thing that happens in my life (a teaching that my parents drilled into me from the time of my conversion). Of course, there are times when we see negative results of certain kinds of behavior, but plain observation of human behavior reveals that. A supreme being is not necessary for those observations, either.

I do agree with Mr Jongeward on two out of the ten points: 1) “There are worse things than physical death”, and 2) “Hard things are guaranteed to happen in life, the only things you can change is your response to those circumstances.” Those are common-sense facts – no God required.

However, I ask you to see the danger in this kind of teaching found in the other eight points: I ask you see the danger in this kind of teaching: that when catastrophes occur in life, somehow it’s my fault, because God had to get my attention or had to teach me a lesson. This can lead to people feeling responsible for the death or injury of a loved one, when in actual fact it had nothing to do with them. It was the just the universe being the universe.

God did not cause the car accident in which Mr Jongeward had a neck injury because God wanted him to get his attention off of sports. Would you do that to your child? No, of course not. It’s about time Christians stopped trying to find God’s purpose in every little twist and turn of life. It’s just life, and nothing more, and nothing less.

I recognize that people do get comfort in having these religious explanations for the hard times in life. If that’s what they need to get through these times, then I do not begrudge them that comfort. But I have seen and experienced the other side of the coin, where people blame themselves for provoking God into inflicting pain on themselves or their loved ones, and as a result suffered deep emotional trauma, stress and injury that is totally without rational basis. It is that which I speak against here.