tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504008859438635433.post8271944243541918525..comments2023-10-15T20:34:44.665-04:00Comments on Beverly Akerman: Letter to God about Lorna Dueck and The Globe & MailUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504008859438635433.post-31924864403470164082012-06-04T16:33:51.729-04:002012-06-04T16:33:51.729-04:00Yes, well caught Beverly. The crux of the proble...Yes, well caught Beverly. The crux of the problem: why does God not stop evil before it happens? <br /><br />Because God does not violate personhood. God loves humanity so much that free will, even when employed in evil, is allowed. I think there is a huge sigh of relief in the heavens when God hears people calling out for repair. <br /><br />God reconciling humanity to God's ideal then begins .... LornaLorna Dueckhttp://www.contextwithlornadueck.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504008859438635433.post-80736608275120940762012-06-04T15:33:52.953-04:002012-06-04T15:33:52.953-04:00Beverly, you seem to believe that God is responsib...Beverly, you seem to believe that God is responsible for horrors on earth. I often wonder if people jump up and down and cry, "Why me, God?" when their cup runneth over with good things and many blessings, or do they only cry out when bad things happen? I think you have conflated God with the Blue Fairy.<br /><br />God gave us the greatest gift when He gave us ethical monotheism and the teaching that we, who were once strangers in a strange land, must care for the other, for the stranger. Ethical monotheism took us away from the belief that our lives are at the whim of nature and the capriciousness of the gods.It gave to us free-will and more importantly, the obligation to exercise it-to choose rather than go with the flow.<br /><br />It was revolutionary 3500 years ago in a tribal society and needs to be resurrected,today in a world inhabited by people with grandiose infantile delusions of grandeur; people who talk about rights, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness without considering responsibilities.If bad things happen, surely they carry no responsibility? It must be someone else's fault.When men like Taylor take control over a country, is that God's fault?<br /><br />George Steiner wrote about God and the Holocaust. Of all the many extraordinary things he has written, I remember this one question he asked about God. Was He distracted? Even for a moment, and that's when the horror occurred. Or, as I prefer to think about it,where were the ethical human beings? What happened to them? <br /><br />Those who pray with the idea that they will "get something" have an immature understanding of prayer. They are still children in that respect. Prayer opens us up to possibility. Prayer is like mediation in that it makes room for silence and the opportunity to listen to the still small voice within. Prayer, in a group, like a minyan, enables us to come together in strength and for strength. God is not hard of hearing, Beverly. It is human beings who don't listen.<br /><br />Diane Weber Bederman www.themiddleground.caDiane Weber Bedermanhttp://www.themiddleground.canoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504008859438635433.post-78000280356498979292012-06-01T15:41:22.997-04:002012-06-01T15:41:22.997-04:00Lorna, I appreciate your comment, and its ability ...Lorna, I appreciate your comment, and its ability to nod toward yet complete skip over the crux of the problem that many people have with belief in a just God. If God exists, why didn't She stay the hand of the killer, rapist, sadist, or genocidaire BEFORE the crime? Why only a God of healing? God has to be responsible for the bad as well as the good...and only healing after the prayers of so many for so long? What, God is hard of hearing or something?<br /><br />Or maybe God is busy elsewhere...in any event, your position implies that those who pray and don't receive answers or healing aren't praying hard enough. Or maybe their costumes aren't pleasing enough in God's eyes...<br /><br />Either way, God is distracted, cruel, or an idiot. Not exactly an inspiring endorsement of belief. <br /><br />I look forward to your future columns. I believe the issue of abortion is next on the Harper agenda.Beverly Akerman MSchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06049705953923022347noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2504008859438635433.post-61009560385734903442012-06-01T14:22:53.904-04:002012-06-01T14:22:53.904-04:00Thank you Beverly for thinking about the effect of...Thank you Beverly for thinking about the effect of the women's prayer movement for peace in Liberia. <br /><br />Here is the key thought to consider, a thought which you write in your blog, when you ask, : "God, your help was based on some kind of numbers game, a sort of celestial version of “Who Gets to Be the Fulfilled Petitioner?” <br /><br />No, rather, God's help is based on human hands. I think these women, equipped to be activists through the power of prayer, were some of the hands God used to heal Liberia. They were the answer to a child who prayed after they saw father killed and mother raped by Taylor's goons ..... the stories go on, but we need not be passive. God's love pushes out to flow through human hands. <br /><br />These women in Liberia changed into women of courage because they prayed. Prayer orientated them to be releasers of justice. They demanded peace for Liberia at great risk to their own safety and comfort. <br /><br />The history of God has countless examples like this .....a mysterious thread that shows God's love persists in giving us the ability to resist evil and reset the moral compass. <br /><br />Onward to a better tomorrow --- <br /><br />with thanks, Lorna Dueck <br /><br /> www.Contextwithlornadueck.comLorna Dueckhttp://www.contextwithlornadueck.comnoreply@blogger.com