Thomas Oord - God Cant: How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, and Other Evils

God Can t !

How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, or Other Evils

Thoma s Ja y Oord

All Rights Re served

SacraSage Press

SacraSagePre ss.com

2019 SacraSage Press and Thomas Ja y Oord

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written consent of the author or SacraSage Press. SacraSage Press provides resources that promote wisdom aligned with sacred perspectives. All rights res erved.

Editorial Consultation: Susan St recker

Interior Design: Nicole Sturk

Cover Design: Thomas Jay Oord and Nicole Sturk

Photography: Sean Dodge and Thomas Ja y Oord

Print (Hardback): 978-1-94860 - 11-1

Print (Paperback): 978-1-94860 - 12-8

Electronic: 978-1-94860 - 13-5

Printed in the United States of A merica

Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publicatio n Data

God Cant: How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, or Other Evils / Thomas Ja y Oord

Book website: GodCan t.com

To My Life-Long Partner i n Love

Cheryl

Table of Contents

A Solution to Evil

The Las Vegas Strip was packed and buzzing. Nearly 20,000 people milled about the Route 91 Harvest Festival that October night, singing with country music star Jason Aldean, the festivals final perfo rmer.

High above the crowd, a 64-year-old former auditor, Stephen Paddock, looked down from the Mandalay Bay Hotel. He visited Vegas often, living eighty miles northeast of the city, and casino hosts knew him by name.

Placing Do Not Disturb signs on adjacent rooms, the ex-auditor moved to the windows of the hotels thirty-second floor, smashed them with a hammer, and began spraying bullets into the crowd below.

In the next ten minutes, Paddock pulled the triggers of twenty guns and fired at least 1,100 rounds. Fifty-eight people died; 851 were injured. Thousands of survivors are traumatized long after the deadliest mass shooting by an individual in the United S tates.

Many asked questions in the aftermath. Where was God? Why didnt God stop the massacre? And does it make sense to believe God cares for eve ryone ?

Many people think God had the power to prevent the Las Vegas shooting, its deaths, injuries, and resulting trauma. They think God could have warned officials, temporarily paralyzed the gunman, jammed the rifles, or redirected every bullet flying 400 yards. They assume God has the ability to do just about any thing.

After the shooting, some explained why God failed to stop the tragedy. Theres a higher purpose in this, they said. Others appealed to mystery: We just cant understand Gods w ays.

The president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Russell Moore, captured the thoughts of many. We do not know why God does not intervene and stop some tragedies when he does stop others, said Moore. What we do know, though, is that God stands against evil and violence. We know that God is present for those who are hurt ing.

R eally?

If God stands against evil and violence, why doesnt God stop them? Does Gods desire to be present for those who are hurting trump Gods desire to protect? Does God allow death and injury because Hes needy, desperate for attention, or wanting to feel u seful?

Where is God in the midst of tragedy, abuse, and other evil?

This Book

Life can wound, abuse, cut, and destroy. Im not talking about a bad day at the office or a Facebook argument. And Im not just talking about horrors like the Las Vegas shooting. Im talking about genuine evil of various kinds: rape, betrayal, genocide, theft, abuse, cancer, slander, torture, murder, corruption, incest, disease, war, and more.

Sensible people admit evil occurs. Survivors know the pain person ally.

I wrote this book for victims of evil, survivors, and those who endure senseless suffering. I wrote it for the wounded and broken who have trouble believing in God, are confused, or have given up faith altogether. Im writing to those who, like me, are damaged in body, mind, or soul.

This book is also for those who dont call themselves victims or survivors but have been wronged. They may not call what happened evil, but they hurt. These people wonder what God was doing when they were betrayed, personally attacked, or unjustly laid off work. Where was God when they struggled through divorce, had miscarriages, were cheated, suffered prolonged illness, or had a freak acci dent?

In light of suffering, we ask challenging questions and seek believable answers. We want to make sense of evil, love, freedom, pain, randomness, healing ... and God.

We want to under stand.

The answers in this book are different from those youve heard.

You and I arent the first to ask these questions. But the answers youll get in this book are different from what youve heard. Its a safe bet, in fact, this books ideas will change you. Youll think differ ently.

I say this as a theologian, clergy, and scholar of multi-disciplinary studies who trained at leading institutions of higher education and lectured in prestigious universities on nearly every continent. I also say this as someone who engages people in small, out-of-the -way communities among the everyday living of down-to-earth folk.

I spend most of my time exploring the big issues of life; I care about what matters most. This means drawing from science, philosophy, spirituality, and religion. It means looking carefully at day-to-day life, both the ordinary and extraordinary. My experiences with diverse people tell me the ideas in this book will not only strike you as unusual, theyll change the way you think and live.

I wrote this book fo r you.

Our stories yours and mine matter. They portray the reality of our lived experience. We must face reality with clear-eyed honesty if we want to heal, love, and believe. Being honest about the past can open us to a better fu ture.

I tell true stories in this book. But I sometimes change the names of survivors and details of their stories to protect their identities. You probably know similar stories. Perhaps your story sounds like one I desc ribe.

A word to the conventional, play-it-safe reader: you probably wont like this book. Youll think these ideas are too radical, too mind blowing, too audacious. You probably wont understand that taking evil seriously means rethinking conventional ideas about God and the world. This book may infuriat e you!

Taking evil seriously means rethinking conventional ideas about God and the world.

This book is for survivors those who hurt those who care those who want to make sense of life and those who want to heal. Its for those who want to love, to be loved, and to live a life of love.

My Friends are Hurting

Survivors tell painful stories derived from personal experience. Listening to them helps us understand suffering better. Their pain is often not just physical or emotional. It also includes confusion, hopelessness, and anger a t God.

Our stories point to what hangs in the balance: the nature of love, belief in God, and the meaning of life. There are no higher s takes!

When we take survivors seriously, we take the questions of existence seriously. Finding answers requires wrestling with what life is really like: good and bad. Pretending isnt helpful; we want and need the truth.

There arent enough books to record every experience of tragedy, abuse, and evil. But I want to tell the stories of four friends. Their experiences help us focus on whats at stake.