I was just on Twitter where I saw a disturbing meme. It was a picture of an emaciated African child accompanied by text that read, "If there is a God, f*ck him."
Throughout the years, I've heard many people say that they're angry at God. I used to get angry at God myself, so I understand their pain, frustration, or confusion. I used to blame God when I couldn't find a job or a boyfriend. "God must have put a curse on me," I've thought more than a few times to myself when I was younger.
I really hope I don't need to actually tell anyone that God putting curses on someone is BS...but just in case, it is BS.
Because today I vehemently believe that God doesn't cause anyone's misery, or punish them. God doesn't give a person cancer, or causes a child to be born with autism, and God certainly isn't punishing anyone that doesn't go to church.
The reason I believe this so strongly is because of a book I read years ago, by Harold Kushner, called "When Bad Things Happen to Good People." The book was originally published in 1981 and became a media and public sensation, and has been read and shared by people of all religious faiths. If anyone had a reason to be angry at God, it would have been Kushner. His only son was born with the incurable disease progeria, which causes the body to age rapidly. He died at the age of 14 in 1977 and his death inspired Kushner to write the book.
Did I mention that Kushner is a rabbi?
At the beginning of the book, he explains all of the emotions he went through and indeed, how angry he was at God. How could God supposedly punish him, a man of faith that helped others, and furthermore, how he could punish an innocent child that never hurt a fly?
Throughout the book, Kushner shares his personal stories as well as the tragedies of those from his synagogue that struggled with the same questions. But through examining logic, he reaches the conclusion that God doesn't play an active role in determining who will contract a disease, who will die, and who will survive a plane crash. Instead, he believes that God is there to help through others when something upsetting happens; he's in the people that are inspired to launch support groups that can help others, or in the first responders that come to the scene of an accident.
It hard for me to explain this but personally, I feel the same way, and I don't think of God as an old man with a long beard sitting on a throne in heaven, rewarding those that do good deeds. I consider the term "universe" to be synonymous with God and the all-that-is. When I think of the law of attraction, I like to think of it as being connected with the source that created everything.
And throughout the years, I learned to stop praying in the traditional sense and asking God to help me or for favors. Instead I bask in the knowing that I'm connected to him and the inspiration or solution I need will be shown to me. It almost always is.
Furthermore, I believe that God/the universe is a loving force, made of love, and not something or someone that wants to strike people down as has been depicted in the bible.
For anyone still struggling with God's role in the world and looking to blame someone for something that was out of their control, I highly recommend Kushner's book. I think it will give you enormous relief and understanding, and will enable you to let yourself off the hook.
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