I don't want to tell you specifics about the movie, but for the purpose of this post, I will say that one of the characters dies in a car accident. The offender was a drunk driver, and he/she (we never meet this person) does not die. One of the characters is very upset and angry and wants to know why God would allow such a thing to happen. Why is the drunk driver still alive and the sweet, young, and innocent victim dead? Where is the justice in that?
As I watched, I thought about how so many people have asked me questions like this. Many non-believers use this as grounds for debating the existence of God. If there is a God, why do good people die? Why are murderers allowed to go on living? And to be honest, I don't really know. I don't try to come up with something, but I do trust that there is a good reason for it. Naturally, this doesn't really sell people on my point. But of course, I cannot sell them on anything--only God can do that.
But as I watched this movie, a thought came to me. Is life about the good being rewarded and the bad being punished? Is that God's goal? Or is His goal to see as many people come into salvation as possible? He doesn't want to punish us. He will, but He delights to see people saved. And killing off the "bad" people wouldn't necessarily help this goal. Once they're dead, they're going to Hell. They are out of chances to come to salvation. But if they go on living, God can keep working in their lives, and maybe, just maybe, one day they will be saved. And then they can be forgiven for all the bad they've done in their lives. And then when they do die, they will go to Heaven.
This also led me to think...what is really the punishment in this scenario? If the person who died was a Christian, they are going to Heaven. They now get to be in the best possible place and get to be with Jesus! That "better place" isn't just something we say to comfort others. It's true! They are in a better place! And what of the person who gets to live? The drunk driver in this scenario, for example. He has to go on living, knowing he killed someone. So which is the punishment? What is more just? And if he had died in that accident too, if he was not a Christian, he would go to Hell. Maybe God spared him to give him more time and more opportunities to come to Christ. Does that sound like an unjust God? Or an incredibly loving and merciful God?
It's just something that makes you think. Or it makes me think. And it brings me peace knowing that God has a bigger plan. And even though we can't see it, we can trust that it's good. And you may never figure out why it's good. But that doesn't mean that it isn't. We are not God. We do not think like He does. Our ideas about justice are not necessarily the same as His. But can you accept that His way is better? It's not always easy, but more and more I'm learning to believe, trust, and accept that.
1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. 2 Corinthians 5:1-10
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