Wednesday, June 15, 2005

who sinned?

The disciples were gazing at a blind man. They probably were feeling something like "but for the grace of God there go I." And they wanted the explanation. Why him and not me? Who sinned, this man or his parents?

Yesterday the baby across the hall from Ira died. And now it seems everyone is searching for an explanation, one which will assure them that there's a reason this happened across the hall and not to Ira. One that will assure them that this won't ever happen to Ira, because Ira is safe from the dangers that strike other babies in the NICU.

It's too early in the morning for me to rant about this. It just makes me feel tired. Why haven't we learned? Why do we insist on fabricating neat little explanations for things that aren't neat and tidy? We read the Bible. We have Elie Wiesel and The Sparrow. Why don't we hear truth? Why do we close our ears to it and prefer to make comforting shit up?

Here's some truth. God didn't "spare" Ira because Joe is a good Christian man. God didn't "take" the baby across the hall because the parents didn't pray hard enough. And Satan is not "poofing" out my faith because I dare to notice and say these things. If Satan is involved in this in any way, I'd say he's playing the role of false comforter and dispenser of easy lies. Get thee behind me.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why is it that every time I'm getting ready to post a rant about something you seem to have beat me to it? Perhaps it's the time zone difference and the fact that I don't wake up at 5:30 in the morning for anything. I was getting so pissed off at all of those replies to Joe's latest blog. Why do people think that hard situations really have the power to "poof" out our faith? Is it more indicative of the instability in their own faith? Why are people so freakin' afraid of being authentic and truly human in the face of suffering and the mystery of life and death? Dorothee Soelle has some wonderful things to say about God's pain and how we share in experiencing it in her book Theology for Skeptics. Anyway, I hope I have people like Joe and you in my corner when the s*** hits the fan in my life. You can put it in a box and wrap it in pretty paper, but when you open it up, it's still a pile of crap, and no amount of explaining is going to cover up the stench.

JTB said...

always ready to rant 'round here. oh, and the time thingy lies. i don't get up at 5:30 in the morning unless there's some kind of dire emergency.

but don't hold back...rant away...i think the poofing satan comments deserves multiple rants.