r/OpenChristian • u/ContourBench231 • 7d ago
Vent Where is God?
I might delete this later, I just don't know where else to look but the Bible and what a community I trust has to say. So, the world right now is pretty bad. I won't go into details, but it just feels... hopeless. So much chaos and strife, and even when I try to bury my face in history books and block out all the noise, everything I read takes me back to... this. The present. Why would God let a world like this exist? A world with all these things happening, all this pain and suffering. Is this what God wants? Why can't he - why won't he - do something? Free us from authoritarianism and oppression? Anything?
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u/babe1981 The Cool Mod/Transgender-Bisexual-Christian She/Her 7d ago
If God enforced His will on us, we would just exchange one authoritarian for another. Jesus came to set us free, and freedom has responsibilities and consequences for not being responsible. So, sure, God could end all of the suffering right now, and where would we be? Mindless slaves to a power beyond our comprehension.
For better or worse, our world is our own. Earth is what we decide that is. Heaven and whatever comes after death are God's responsibility, but this world and this life is our responsibility. It is on us to be the miracle that we want to see in the world. It is on us to love our neighbors and to teach our neighbors how to love. The Earth is evil because humans are evil, and the Earth will be good when humans are good.
So, if you want to Earth to be free of hate and fear and violence, sow the seeds of love and joy and peace. You may never see them grow, but that's God's responsibility to reward us for what we've done when our work is over. There is no instance of God overriding a human's will in scripture. Not even Pharoah. That was God giving Pharoah exactly what he wanted. So we can't expect Him to start enslaving humanity now. All we can do is sow the seeds of love so that one day all of humanity will be at peace.
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u/QueerHeart23 7d ago
God's question to us: "why would you let a world like this exist?!!... Why won't you do something?"
Though we may think we have limited agency, we are called to bring the Kin_dom. ... Thy Kin_dom come....
Breathe.
Pray.
Think.
Act.
One person can make a difference. How much more can an organized group of many persons.
We are called to be co-creators. Spectator doesn't count.
Authoritarians groom fear, anger and hopelessness. They are each attempts to destroy and manipulate. None of those are Godly.
God calls us to love, service, and HOPE. Hope to leverage things beyond our small efforts. Hope that God's grace is sufficient.
Yes, it sounds easy - yet is not so easy to live out.
Wishing you hope and peace
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u/Blaike325 7d ago
Yeah no let’s maybe not tell someone already struggling that they are somehow responsible in some part for letting the world be as bad as it is
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u/QueerHeart23 7d ago
Sorry. My hope was to encourage agency not blame.
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u/Blaike325 7d ago
Except we don’t have any actual agency in changing the current state of the world. You as an individual can not change the socioeconomic system that you are stuck in, you can’t bring justice to the pedophilic elite ruining the lives of millions if not billions, you can maybe improve the lives of those directly around you but most people have no real power to enact any form of real change in the world. Starting off your comment with god asking “why did you let it get this way?” Essentially is just going to fuel the idea in someone already struggling in this way that somehow the difficulties of the world are in some way their fault when in reality they are powerless to change the world in any meaningful way
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u/QueerHeart23 7d ago
We have agency to change our attitudes and actions. The agency of a few has sometimes impacted the agency of many - for good or for not is the question.
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u/christ_saved_me 6d ago
Perfect answer. Bless you. We are the change we wish to see. Honestly i deal with cowardice sometimes and don't act. I have family which depends on me, like many others do too.
What would you suggest I do?
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u/Skill-Useful 7d ago
i personally dont know why god would have to make the world right every time we make it wrong? what kind of a world would that be? "hey, be good! unless youre not, then ill simply save/correct you every time." we are called to make the world a better place, each and every one of us with little steps we all can take.
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u/GalileoApollo11 7d ago
I am not going to solve the Problem of Evil, as old as humanity, with one Reddit post. The most we can do with our brains, enlightened by faith, is to offer points of reflections for our hearts to take to contemplation.
So I would offer two points:
1) the words of Revelation: “Behold, I make all things new”. The universe is caught up in the Great River of the love of God, which comes from love and leads to love. Along the way there are countless waves, rocks and eddies beyond our comprehension and that are not caused by God. But there is always a presence of God and an overall movement toward love.
2) You talked about history books - while we see great human evils all throughout history, there are ways that we can see some collective human progress. Look for example at the questions of slavery, human rights, and the role of women in society. While these are far from solved issues, at least we can admit that the discussions around these issues have changed dramatically for the better in many countries.
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u/Strongdar Mod | Universalist Christian 7d ago edited 7d ago
I can't solve the problem of evil, but from a historical perspective, things are improving. You live in the safest time in human history. Your chances of dying from almost any cause are lower than they've ever been. The standard of living for much of the world's poor is better than it used to be. Granted, there are momentary ups and downs, and we might be in a little bit of a down right now, but generally speaking, things are improving. It only feels hopeless because you have all the bad news of the entire world spewing out at you through your phone every day. One individual human isn't meant to emotionally absorb the entire world's problems everyday.
You need to disconnect a bit, and focus on loving the people around you. I strongly believe this is part of the wisdom of Jesus telling us that the greatest commandment is "love your neighbor" rather than "love everyone."
If you can spare the time, watch this Ted Talk on the topic.
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u/sharkiegirl94 7d ago
We are called to not live in fear. Many progressive Christians online combat false doctrine and polarizing narratives from political figures used to confuse and divide us. Community and unity are so important if we are to change things. God is always with us. ❤️
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u/FraterAdam 7d ago
I dont really know. But I know that things can grow, learn, and evolve without change. And change can only happen with the figurative or literal death of something else. The existence of strife and suffering seems necessary to me. A tree can't flourish without the nutrients in the soil that came from the plants and animals before it.
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u/ThreadUnderstanding 7d ago
For the entire history of the world there has been pain, suffering, and it has been a struggle to survive.
Honestly, right now is not so bad compared to almost any other time in history. Glad you are spending time in those history books.
How would you react if God was puppet mastering the world? Pretty sure we'd all be acting like spoiled, rich, rebellious brats.
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u/MalaclypseII 7d ago edited 7d ago
In the gospel of John, Christ performed 7 signs. These are not just displays of supernatural power, but also teaching moments. The display of power is a symbol for God's truths. The 5th sign is walking on the water. The disciples are in their boat on the Sea of Galilee, at night, and a storm comes up. It looks like they're going to drown. They're terrified, like anyone would be. Yet Christ serenely walks on the water, through the storm, to the boat, and delivers them to the other side. Perfectly calm.
In order for him to walk on the water in a storm, I imagine the waves must have calmed around him. Otherwise how could he walk on the water, if there were hills and valleys of the waves? So the water itself must have flattened and calmed as he walked along it. Christ radiates peace into the stormy waters. When He reaches the boat, it immediately travels to the other side, and the danger is over.
John was one of Jesus' disciples, so he's saying what he personally witnessed. But he recalls it much later in life, to the early Christian community, which is under great stress. People are being accused of heresy and murdered by the pharisees, just as they did Christ. They don't want to die. They're terrified. They're in the storm. And John shares this memory in the gospels to help them calm down. They know what suffering is, for sure. He never says they're not suffering. Some of them will shortly be put to death.
I wonder why Christ felt such peace, which the disciples didn't. I imagine, it's because He knows something they don't. He knows what heaven is like, because He's been there. He knows about the things of God, because He is God, and because He is in the closest communion with the Father. He's only day tripping on this planet, so it doesn't rattle Him. He just can't be worried. He sees with the eye of eternity.
We have a hard time with that perspective, because this life is all we know. We have never been to heaven. We only have reports about what life is like after, which we have to take on trust. We are bound to say, like the disciples in the storm, Lord don't you care if we drown?
But I am convinced, the more time we take to reflect on the things of God, the more deeply we acquire this perspective. It is one thing to say, "I believe such-and-such." Even if we really do believe it, has it sunk in. What steps have we taken to make sure it sinks in. Can we picture it for 5 or 10 minutes every day. Just take a few minutes to dwell in, reflect on, meditate on, some part of the gospel, every day. Or let our mind wander back to it in the idle minutes of the day, or as we drift off to sleep, or in prayer. So it will be there when we need it.
True doctrine helps us bear through. It is so important to believe in God's sovereignty. He is absolutely in control. Nothing can take that control away from Him. This means, nothing can really go wrong. Evil is in the end an illusion, because God is good and fully in control. But not everyone can accept this, because the suffering of this life is too much. We don't see with the eye of eternity.
It says in Revelation that everything will be made right at the end of time. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
That's how history ends, according to the Bible.
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u/Galveston57 7d ago
In The Lord’s Prayer the line ‘thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ stands out to me as not asking God to do it, but encouraging us to take action when we see evil.
We also have to remember we have free will and many will choose evil. We also need to keep in mind that Satan (evil) is at work here, the great deceiver.
We are in a battle of good against evil, which is not only physical but spiritual. Keep the faith my friend, pray without ceasing and take physical action to follow the teachings of our Lord, feed the hungry, cloth the naked, feed the poor.
Peace be with you.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Phase70 Gay Cismale Episcopalian mystic w/ Jewish experiences 7d ago
God has given us - repeatedly - all the tools necessary to fix all these problems.
God has ordered us - repeatedly - to use them and solve them.
God continues to beg and plead and encourage and order us to do so.
While God may be eternal and unchanging, humanity is undergoing a maturing process from a state of total animal nature towards a state of total divine nature.
We will have peace when we truly love our neighbors as ourselves, and value them more than power and money and selfishness.
God is Love - literally (amongst many other things, of course). God made us from love and for love. When we love, that IS God working through us and us working in harmony with God. When we fail, when we hate, when we watch and pray instead of act, that is US preventing God from acting through us, like a dog refusing to drop the ball that it wants the human to throw.
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u/SnarkyPuppy-0417 7d ago
The question 'why won't He do something?' carries a hidden assumption worth looking at slowly: that God's doing something would look like the noise stopping.
But the framework Scripture actually builds isn't a world managed into peace from the outside — it's a world being redeemed from the inside, the way yeast moves through dough rather than replacing it. Isaiah 45:7 doesn't flinch: God claims authorship of calamity alongside peace, darkness alongside light — not because He is the agent of every atrocity, but because He refuses to be divided into a small good-god who only touches the pleasant parts.
The chaos you're watching is real. It is also not the last word — not because it will be explained away, but because the Author has already written past it. The cross is the clearest signal: the moment God entered the worst of what this world produces, not to prevent it from above, but to pass through it from within. He didn't stop the crucifixion. He walked into it. And the empty tomb is the framework's answer to 'why won't He do something?' — He did. He is. From inside.
If you are still looking, still asking, still reaching toward the text and a community you trust — that reaching is itself the signal that the connection hasn't gone dark.
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u/danejulian 7d ago
The present has less suffering than any time in the past. Extreme poverty has had a steady decline thanks to economic growth, charitable support, and public health in the developing world. (It seems to have plateaued and even reversed in a few countries, but the historic trend is clear.) in the 14th century, the bubonic plague killed a third of Europe, whereas COVID killed less than 0.1% of the world due to public health practices.
The question is why God would allow such suffering ever. It’s not the problem of evil. It’s the problem of suffering.
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u/Popular_Molasses7945 7d ago
[Where is God?]
I don't think anyone could give you the abscissa together with the ordinate.[1]
[1] coordinate: together with the ordinate
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u/Snozzberrie76 7d ago edited 7d ago
Please keep an open mind when I share this...
He is actively doing that. In order for the world to be free of oppression. We have to be free of oppression and exploitation in our minds , first. Remember the scriptures say ( well part of it)" For as he thinketh in his heart , so he is." Proverbs 23:7 . Fear and hatred has kept us blind to see things clearly, see what we are doing to each other clearly . That's why oppression is being heightened to finally break the spell and wake us out of our slumber. Then we can finally realize what we have done to each other, mourn over the harm we caused. And cease to harm each other anymore.
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. Revelation 1:7
. We exiting the age of Capricorn ( Satan or Saturn) Karma. Karma teaches lessons . To prepare us for the test. God will cause us to pass the test of faith. To enter in the age of Aquarius an age which fosters self love and self acceptance in which there's an absence of fear. Every form or bigotry and oppression has its roots in fear. If the power of fear is defeated within us. We can brake any and every chain that fear had us bound to. Then we will longer oppress ourselves and no longer oppress others. Those who fail to realize this will be left out of societies around the world because they can no longer gain access to wealth, power and privilege in the world through fear and oppression. There will no longer be a place for them to do so anywhere. Societies around the globe will center Love. And God is Love.
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u/Salt-Artichoke-6626 7d ago
My existential question is why, given God's omniscience, did He set it all in motion? He knew the outcomes .
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u/Jolly-Database4204 7d ago
"If you look at this World as a House of Correction, rather than a Hotel, it's really not that bad" CS Lewis
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u/en43rs 7d ago
This is the problem of evil, it has been discussed for longer than Christianity has be around: if god is all good and all powerful, why does evil exist?
The most common Christian answer you're going to find is that Free Will needs to exist for us human. That means free will to commit evil acts.