Victims of God? or Hands of the Divine?

Responsibility: Noun. 1) The state or fact of having a duty to deal with something
                                 2) The state or fact of being held accountable or to blame for something

 Responsibility sucks, doesn't it? Its much easier if some one else is in charge. That way, if anything goes wrong, its their fault. It is so much easier to pass the buck, and if you can pass it to the greatest of them all, GOD, then how cool is that?

One problem I have with the christian view of God is that humans are not held responsible for much. It is an ACT of God. The Devil made me do it. God answered my prayers. God led me to do this. God sent a hurricane because gays are having sex. She's been possessed by Satan. If God wills it, there is nothing I can do. Blah blah blah blah.

When God and his evil counterpart, Satan, are in charge of everything, we are VICTIMS. Just like victims of rape who bare no blame, we are VICTIMS of an almighty god. Well, it was God's will, what could I do? God ordained it to happen since the beginning of time! It was time for God to take her home to heaven. We bare no blame for any bad. We bare no glory for any good.

In the conservative evangelical movement, there is a strong belief that we are in the End Times, and Jesus will return soon to claim his own, and the Great Tribulation will come during which time a few people who will refuse the mark of the beast (666) will be saved (their soul, not their body). According to prophecy, we know we are in the end times because of certain signs. War, famine, and all other manners of bad shit. When watching the news, a believer will say "See, I told you we are in the end times!"

The thing is, as an End Time believer, you WANT Jesus to come back. You want him to scoop you up into heaven and save you from all the sadness of this world. And, yes, millions of people will die, and go to hell, but they had their chance. The more signs you see of Jesus' return, the better you feel. Relief is near. Heaven is coming soon.

Why in the world would you pray for peace? That would screw up everything. Besides, God must WANT these wars, otherwise he would stop them. See the pattern?

What brings peace? Stopping war. What stops war? People who lay down their weapons. It is an act. A purposeful movement. God's influence is not required. Ours is.

What stops hunger? Food. Who has food? We do. Who could get food to the hungry? We can.

Sometimes, we have to realize that WE are the answer to prayer. I'm a firm believer that prayer occurs when all other options have been exhausted. "I'll pray for you" is all to often code speak for "Geez I'm really sorry, but I don't really want to help you, but I'm too embarrassed to say that so I'll pray for you". TADA! Now its God's problem if things don't get better.

In discussions I have with conservative regarding homosexuality, for instance, they quiet often tell me that homosexuals are vile, disgusting, abominations to God and they will rip hell wide open some day. When you tell them they are being judgmental assholes, their reply is, without fail, "those are not my words, they come from God's holy word!". When you remind them that it is that type of message that drives so many gay kids to commit suicide, they shrug....they can't help it. God said it, not them. They are simply a victim of religious prejudice. They are just following God's word, and the world is hating on them. Poor little christian.

What would happen if we all took responsibility? Would we spend our time praying WHILE putting food in the bowls of the hungry? Would we say "Its time to lay down our weapons, this war is over."? Would we realize that happiness can indeed be found in this world instead of waiting for an almighty God to come to our rescue? Would we think "maybe I'm part of God that can BE that rescue"?

I'm not asking to make humans feel more important than they already do. Human arrogance has done great damage to this planet. But the same humans that can create war, can create peace. The same humans who overpopulated the earth and farmed too heavy causing the conditions that brought famine, can use some freaking birth control, eat lighter, replenish the soil, and feed everyone. We CAN BE the change we seek.

In the same way, I am not discounting a God. I'm not saying forget about a deity. I'm not saying never pray. I'm saying if we are made in the image of God as many religions believe, then realize that maybe there is a bit of God in us all and we CAN BE the hands of the Divine. The hands of the Divine are OURS. We can wait around for heaven, or we can be a little bit of it for someone else. It IS our choice. Blessed be.