If anyone tells you that you deserve the evil done to you by an evil person, that person does not speak from God.
If anyone tells you that you know hardship because you do not deserve happiness, that person does not speak from God.
If anyone tells you that you deserve to have been stricken with a physical catastrophe, that person does not speak from God.
If anyone tells you that you suffer a disease because you need to be taught a lesson, that person does not speak from God.
If anyone tells you that a loved one died or is dying an untimely death because you need to learn to suffer, that person does not speak from God.
If anyone tells you that there is evil in the world because there is meant to be evil, that person does not speak from God.
If anyone tells you that those who commit harm are moral instruments, that person does not speak from God.
If anyone tells you that you must go out and do harm to another to uphold the moral order, that person does not speak from God.
Even if someone tells you that laughter and humor are sins because they reflect a disrespect for the moral order, that person does not speak from God.
And most assuredly, if a person tells you that you deserve abuse, punishment or death because of what your parents did, or because of the culture or "race" you belong to, that person does not speak from God.
How, how, how can I "know" these things?
Because God is love.
The world is suffering, but it is also joy, if you open your heart to it. God is there to rescue us from our suffering, to heal us, to connect us with good people, to a fellowship of light. We can indeed learn moral insights from our inevitable suffering, learn bonding empathy for others, but only if people reflect God by showing us love and help us to recover. Some suffering is so great and lonely it teaches nothing but despair, and that surely does not come from God.
We are imperfect. We are emerging from ignorance. We are learning. We are seeking. We blunder. We fear. Sometimes we do rash things. But we have the power to love, the power to heal, the power to bring joy, the power to rescue the alienated. For these things, we are God's children, and good parents do not will harm to their children.
None of us are yet complete. There is unhappiness in even the most prosperous and healthy, even if unconsciously. The harm that the fortunate sometimes do is a reflection of their painful hollowness. The rich are rich without respect to their moral merit, and some do harm to the humble with the influence of their wealth, or in order to obtain their wealth. Does this seem like a divine plan? Does it seem like a sane or moral scheme? God does not reward people with wealth, health and success who come by it selfishly and without moral conscience. They have it by cleverness alone, not holiness. But who is happier in the long run? A good conscience and fellowship with good people is priceless. That may be an old saw of sorts, but it is no less true in the Silicon Age than it was in the Steel Age or the Iron Age or the Bronze Age or the Stone Age.
Let it not be said that one cannot find peace and healing and a sense of love, even in a solitary space and moment, amidst a scene and movement of "inanimate" nature, for God is surely there in that quiet beauty, as much as in good people.
Let it not be said that one cannot learn love also from observing the tender animal families of nature or the companionship of one's pets, for their love is also a reflection of God (and their souls are sacred too).
God can communicate and elevate the soul through music and art and dance and poetry and novels, and none of these needs to be overtly or directly or intentionally sacred.
God is forgiveness, God is mercy, God is grace, God is compassion, and for these things alone, God is Great.
Amen.
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