World Trade Center

I saw the movie “World Trade Center� the other day. My mother-in-law was going to see it and invited my wife and me. I don’t know if I would have initiated seeing this movie; not because it was too painful or of no interest to me, I guess it just never really crossed my mind. Perhaps I am too dependant on being entertained and I knew this was not going to be the feel good comedy of the year.

To be honest, I was greatly affected…much more than I expected. It accurately relived the misery of the day but it was on a far more personal level, which I suppose was its purpose. How easy it is to let the overwhelming nature of such an event numb us. This movie however, focused on two lives, two families. Two survivors of twenty pulled from the carnage of the collapsed Twin Towers. I was thoroughly devastated during the movie and at times had to suppress sobbing; for the most part I was successful.

Why did it affect me so? Of course it was horrific but I knew there was something more: something raw, something that resonated into the deepest, darkest corners – the place where questions lay unanswered and more often lay unasked. One screams through my mind as I sit in the theatre. It’s not a complicated one; in fact it comes up often and can be summed up with one word, “Why?� Why do some live and others die? Why are some blessed and others cursed? Why are some cured and others not? Why are some saved and others damned?

Now like any other well-read and educated Christian I have some “theological answers� laced with sound “orthodox doctrine� to tackle such issues but that will only silent the questions for so long. No “logical� answer can ever really silence our pain, only love is fit for such a task. And yet love never really answers the questions, it can merely hold us as the reality sets in…the desolation of living in a fallen world.

As the story of these two characters develops I am desperate for them to survive. After all, they have children, wives, mothers and families. The more I am brought into the intimacies of their worlds, the more my heart cries out for them. But what about the other 2700 people or so that died amongst the ruble of the Towers that day? Did they not have families, lives, loved ones, dreams and hopes? Had I sat through a movie documenting their experiences would I not equally feel that they deserved to live? Deserved to live…

I guess this begs the question, “Does anyone deserve to live?� Do I deserve to live? Deserve to be blessed? Deserve to be happy? If so, who owes it to us? Our family? This world? God??? Where do we get the notion that we deserve anything? Is not each day a gift, each laugh a treasure unearthed, each life an expression of grace? Why do I reflect upon the pain of an absent father and feel that God owes me a son to fill that void? Why do I look to my abusive past and feel that God owes me a wife as an expression of healthy love? Why do I look at my sickness and pain and feel that God owes me happiness and joy? In actuality He owes me nothing and the sooner I can release Him from this imaginary debt the sooner I can begin the process of becoming a healthy and whole individual…obviously easier said than done.

Where did this conceptual debt come from? How did this ill-conceived thought get planted in our psyche? It began with a lie; a lie that attacks the fundamental truth of ultimate reality. And what is that truth exactly? It is the foundation of all things, good and evil. It has the power to give life and the power to destroy, and it is wrapped up in three simple words, “God is good�. Pretty basic, perhaps you were expecting something more profound? Maybe we better try it again, “God is good�.

I truly believe that all of our pain, all of our suffering, all of our joy, all of our happiness is tied to these three words and how we deal with them. It is the struggle of all humanity, originating in the Garden of Eden through a serpent’s hiss and yet it is just as prevalent and potent today. Does God really have our best interest at heart? Is He really good?

I think if you are too quick to answer you are either very ignorant or very wise…most of us usually fall somewhere in between. Do the families of the victims of 9/11 think He is good? Do those who are raped? How about cancer patients or the parents of stillborn babies? It is far too easy for us to regurgitate answers without really thinking about all the ramifications of the question. Yet, how often do we think about the other side? Does the winner of the lottery think God is good? How about the person cured of AIDS or families reunited with lost loved ones?

So, assuming you answered the questions above appropriately, does that mean God’s goodness vacillates? Is He good to one and not another? Is He good sometimes? The only way we can rectify these examples with the constant and eternal goodness of God is by realizing that our experiences do not reflect or affect His goodness. If our basis for the goodness of God is dependant on our daily experiences then we will never find true peace and happiness; not in our life or in our relationship with God.

How often we get things backwards. We think that if we’re happy and life is great then God is good, but the goodness of God must be the axiom of our thinking not a conclusion from our experiences. His goodness must be our foundation. Only then can we say in the midst of heartache, “God is good�; when death is all around, “God is good�; when destruction threatens us, when our health fails, when loved ones abandon us, “God is good.� If you don’t believe it before calamity comes then you certainly won’t believe it afterwards. Unless we really believe that His plan is best, regardless of what it brings, we’ll never find peace. The early Apostles ability to find contentment in good times and bad comes out of their belief (or knowledge) that God is good.

Many are waiting for more answers before deciding on the goodness of God but we may never know the reason for such horrendous acts as 9/11, tsunamis that sweep 10,000 people out to sea, genocide or the death of innocent children. We must have faith in the goodness of God first, or the pressures of this world will collapse all around us. I use the word ‘faith’ intentionally here because in the end it’s all we have: faith in the goodness of God. There are times when we will not see His goodness. Experiences will occur in which logic cannot accept His goodness, it is then that only faith will hold on.

Without faith in His goodness there can be no hope: hope for salvation, hope for redemption, and a hope for love to conquer and that light will overcome the darkness. After all, a God who is not good has no need of salvation or redemption. I think we would find that a God who is not good is no God at all.

So when everything is said and done and the lights are out and we lay in bed, when the voices begin to whisper, “is God good?� don’t tritely respond, “all the time�. Honestly think about your answer and where it comes from, because I think it is more important than we realize. This is the question birthed at creation; that which attacks the foundation of our faith, and seeks to destroy our lives.

Is God good?