Skip to main content

Where Was God On Sept. 11, 2001

The events that occurred on that date will never be forgotten by those old enough to remember. The senseless murder of thousands of people by a few Muslim terrorists seems so utterly wrong, that many have questioned their faith in God. They reason, if 9-11 was so bad, and God is supposed to be good, it doesn't make sense that he would allow such a terrible thing to happen. Where was God? Why didn't he intervene? Could he intervene? Is there even a God at all?

I want to look at the question everyone is asking, "Where was God?" Many have concluded that God is supposed to be good and fair, and so they come to "believe" in a deity that represents their idea of what is good and fair. They then expect God to behave in keeping with their ideas of fairness and goodness, that are all too often adopted from cultural or political ideas. So, when something happens that seems unfair, we get angry at God because he didn't behave as we would have if we were God. I think that's the problem. Most people believe in a God that they've created themselves. A God that never lets anything "bad" happen to "good" people. A God that loves and protects America because, well, were America...were the good guys, A Christian nation, right? So, where was that God on 9-11-01? Nowhere! That God doesn't exist.

There is a God, however, and He was well aware of the events of 9/11 well before they took place. He not only permitted them, He ordained that they would occur. If God didn't or couldn't ordain those events, then He isn't fully sovereign and therefore, not God. Does this make God "bad", just because the bad guys seemed to win on that day?

So, Why did it happen? Certainly God did not ordain this as an act of judgement? That's crazy talk, right? Several evangelical leaders suggested this as a possibility and were ridiculed and rejected as kooks by the culture and the church as well. Most of them recanted their position to avoid further scorn.

For the record, I have no idea why God allowed those attacks. He didn't tell anyone, so no one knows. I would have liked to have seen a great big hand reach out and guide those planes safely to the ground. There were many people praying on the planes as they were racing toward their final destinations. Did God ignore those prayers? No, he heard, but ultimately accomplished His will that day. God sees all things, through all time. Why do we think we know better than God?  Perhaps we should trust that God knows what he's doing, even though sometimes it seems to us like He doesn't.

Let us learn about the one true God from the bible, and not from our own minds which are a jumble of cultural influences.

To conclude, I believe that God loves the people of the world, enough to send His son to be sacrificed taking on the penalty of our sin and making effective the salvation of those that would believe in Him. Let us trust in that love, even when things happen that we don't like or understand.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards In Plain English. (#1-10)

Jonathan Edwards is known as one of the greatest and most profound of American theologians. His writings have benefited many Christians throughout the years. I was impressed with these resolutions and so I have attempted to translate them into the language of the day. I understand that I may have missed Edward’s full meaning at some level, but I made every attempt to capture the essence of the original author and summarize in such a way as to benefit the modern reader. There are 70 resolutions in all. I have summarized the first ten here. I hope you enjoy these. ________________________________ 1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God's glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriad's of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I mee...
4 comments
Read entire article

Removing Planks and Seeing Clearly

Is it ever appropriate to speak out about sin even though we all have sinned? Worded this way most of us would say, "sure!, of course. Especially if the Bible calls it sin."  And I would agree. What if I worded the question like this? "Since we have all sinned, and many of us sin terribly in secret, is it hypocritical to condemn the sin of someone else?" This one should make us all think a little more before answering.  I think Jesus spoke to this matter. In his famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus spoke these words in Matthew 7:1 ff “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?    You hy...
Post a Comment
Read entire article

My Thoughts On The Same-Sex Marriage Debate

The teachings of the Bible reveal to us that marriage was designed by God to be a “picture” of the relationship between Jesus and His “church” (his true followers.) He did this to show His love and devotion, and to illustrate His role as “head”. Those of us that embrace the Bible see marriage as one of the most important institutions created by God. Therefore we cannot and should not try to redefine it. To do so would distort God’s purpose in creating it. Marriage is one of the most explicitly described concepts in the bible. It only has one meaning. Ephesians 5:31-32 , which quotes Genesis 2:24 Opponents of same-sex marriage are often described as bible-thumping bigots that hate people who have embraced the homosexual lifestyle. This is a fallacy that attempts to paint an opponent with negative stereotypes in order to discredit them. While there may be a few people out there that can be described in this way, most are not. There are good reasons to oppose the homosexual agenda,...
Post a Comment
Read entire article