Plow
Creek Mennonite Church
Sunday
Meditations
Disclaimer - meditations are the personal reflections of the worship leader, not official church doctrinal statements.
Thoughts on Evil and Justice
Louise Stahnke
The abuses being exposed in Iraq and my own struggle with the evil done to me as a child, along with my anger, have led me to try to understand this through Jesus. This is what is coming together for me. The evil that any person does, or allows when they are responsible to prevent it, is always dealt with by God. When a person embraces evil or does evil acts, pain and a kind of living death comes as a consequence. Everyone who willingly does evil suffers for it. There is suffering for those who permit it as well, i.e., a non-protective parent who doesn’t abuse, but doesn’t protect either. Each person has responsibilities in life, to combat evil in some form. Each parent has responsibilities to protect and nurture their children. The particular kinds of responsibilities for bringing good, outside of parenting, may include prayer, action, and for the Christian, obedience to the particular things the Lord is asking that person to do. The Lord does not expect us to fix all the evil in the world. Nor does He hold us responsible for it. We are responsible only for our particular assignments that He makes known to us and enables us to fulfill.
Evil itself is a total failure to love. To embrace evil is to put a person’s energies into hate and violence. For those who choose this, there is indeed a living death while still on earth. I don’t know if God in his mercy does provide a way to life after the death of those who are dedicated to evil, but, if so, the suffering of that way must be great. For they must feel/know fully the pain they caused others.
If we have not been open to really seeing and owning the suffering we have caused others during our lifetime, it does catch up with us at the time of death. At that point, we are without our defenses, our chosen blindness, our set of lies. We see truth for what it is. And we also have come up against the full realization of God’s love for us. The coming together of pain filled truth and divine love can indeed be suffering. It may not be the pain of rape or torture, but the spirit does acutely feel the pain he/she caused others. If the evil done by the person has been great, so will be their suffering.
When I choose to forgive, or be willing to forgive much pain, do I then end my abusers’ suffering? Or has it been increased in the face of my love? Forgiveness frees me from the hard work of anger, frees me to know the Lord’s truth and love and leave my pain behind. But my forgiveness doesn’t offer “cheap grace” to those who have abused me.
God’s goal is always the same — to teach each person the fullness of love. It is my choice to again be willing to forgive the suffering given to me, because I choose freedom and Life.
Disclaimer - meditations are the personal reflections of the worship leader, not official church doctrinal statements.
Thoughts on Evil and Justice
Louise Stahnke
May
5, 2004
(These
are my thoughts from a journey through a
past filled with abuse.
I do not know if my understanding of theology is right or not, but leave that to the reader and the Lord to discern — Louise)
I do not know if my understanding of theology is right or not, but leave that to the reader and the Lord to discern — Louise)
The abuses being exposed in Iraq and my own struggle with the evil done to me as a child, along with my anger, have led me to try to understand this through Jesus. This is what is coming together for me. The evil that any person does, or allows when they are responsible to prevent it, is always dealt with by God. When a person embraces evil or does evil acts, pain and a kind of living death comes as a consequence. Everyone who willingly does evil suffers for it. There is suffering for those who permit it as well, i.e., a non-protective parent who doesn’t abuse, but doesn’t protect either. Each person has responsibilities in life, to combat evil in some form. Each parent has responsibilities to protect and nurture their children. The particular kinds of responsibilities for bringing good, outside of parenting, may include prayer, action, and for the Christian, obedience to the particular things the Lord is asking that person to do. The Lord does not expect us to fix all the evil in the world. Nor does He hold us responsible for it. We are responsible only for our particular assignments that He makes known to us and enables us to fulfill.
Evil itself is a total failure to love. To embrace evil is to put a person’s energies into hate and violence. For those who choose this, there is indeed a living death while still on earth. I don’t know if God in his mercy does provide a way to life after the death of those who are dedicated to evil, but, if so, the suffering of that way must be great. For they must feel/know fully the pain they caused others.
If we have not been open to really seeing and owning the suffering we have caused others during our lifetime, it does catch up with us at the time of death. At that point, we are without our defenses, our chosen blindness, our set of lies. We see truth for what it is. And we also have come up against the full realization of God’s love for us. The coming together of pain filled truth and divine love can indeed be suffering. It may not be the pain of rape or torture, but the spirit does acutely feel the pain he/she caused others. If the evil done by the person has been great, so will be their suffering.
When I choose to forgive, or be willing to forgive much pain, do I then end my abusers’ suffering? Or has it been increased in the face of my love? Forgiveness frees me from the hard work of anger, frees me to know the Lord’s truth and love and leave my pain behind. But my forgiveness doesn’t offer “cheap grace” to those who have abused me.
God’s goal is always the same — to teach each person the fullness of love. It is my choice to again be willing to forgive the suffering given to me, because I choose freedom and Life.