Question 24 – If God existed, he wouldn't allow...?
This general question was inspired by an experience shared by a Christian friend of mine, who had a conversation with a colleague at work. As often happens, the topic turned to the existence of God. My friend's colleague dismissed the idea by saying: "If God existed, He wouldn't allow me to be in debt right now." As you can see, there are no sophisticated or complex scientific arguments against the existence of God here, just a simple reaction to one's own, not particularly happy, life. I have encountered similar statements before: "If God existed, He wouldn't have allowed my marriage to fall apart." "If God existed, we wouldn't be in such a bad situation now." We could certainly continue listing such grievances. The common denominator of these complaints seems to be the belief that God owes us something—that He is obliged to provide us with happiness, health, harmony, peace, and wealth.
At the outset, I want to emphasize that I do not wish to delve into problems or tragic events for which those asking these questions couldn't possibly be responsible (for example, "Why did God allow my child to die?" or "The flood took away my home..." and so on). A partial outline of answers can be found in question no. 18 and other sections of this book. Here, I wish to focus on issues that are more or less influenced by humans. As you might already sense, these are not logical or factual arguments, but rather emotional ones. I can think of several possible responses, yet I wish to concentrate on one specific area—the independence of humans and their disregard of God.
People often lament their situation and lay the blame on a non-existent or existent God. However, I dare to assert that in many cases, they are merely projecting their complexes, shortcomings, and failures onto someone else. I suspect you may know people in your vicinity who see faults in everyone except themselves. This is precisely the "phenomenon" I have in mind. It is far more widespread than it might appear at first glance. Its chief cause is perhaps pride and an unwillingness to admit that I am the one who bears responsibility for my flawed life. Yes, maybe we don't want to acknowledge that we are fully responsible for our own lives. It's not the grumpy neighbor next door, not the greedy politicians, not our employer, not our parents, but we ourselves. Certainly, many people around us can influence us, and there are many things we cannot change—this is true. I'm not addressing these cases. However, we are responsible for how we react to life's challenges (both good and bad). We do not like to hear this. It goes against the grain to bear all the burden of our miserable existence alone. It is easier to lay the blame on someone else, ideally someone with the power to change everything.
Blaming God
People blame God but ignore Him themselves. Maybe we could ask that indebted man if he sought guidance from God in prayer about whether to borrow money and how much? We could inquire whether he involved God in his business decisions and everything associated with it. What could we conclude? The answer is clear—God was excluded from his life, and he did not live by His principles. Similarly, we could ask the disappointed woman whose relationship collapsed whether she sought God's will through prayer about her partner. Did she choose her partner based on God's criteria or her own? What would we find out? The same conclusion—God was not let into her life. These are merely two examples from real life. They reflect a multitude of wounded souls who ignored God, rejected His authority in their lives, but when failure came, suddenly God didn't exist for them, because such hardships surely couldn't happen to them. Do you know what many of them would say if they were successful in their lives? I can almost hear it: "I don't need God in my life." or "God never helped me; all that I have is because of what I have done."
Lesson – If you are one of those who blame God for your failures and infer from them His nonexistence, then know that you cannot blame someone whom you have not allowed into your life for causing or allowing your failure or difficult life situation.
From the above, one might ask: "And what about believers? Do they have no problems if they seek your God and His will?" A difficult question. Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that seeking God's will and living with Him protects us from many unnecessary falls, disappointments, and personal catastrophes (when we adhere to God's general principles and commandments, it saves us a lot of trouble). No, in the sense that a believer is not superhuman and faces many problems (especially those not self-inflicted), from which no one is exempt. Yet, they have a source from which they can draw peace, help, and strength. At the same time, God turns the suffering of a person living in accord with His will into good and for his advantage.
Summation
There are many who attribute their failures and life's downfalls to God. Paradoxically, they ignore Him and presume that He should provide everyone with prosperity and happiness (despite overturning His order, ignoring Him, and insulting Him through their conduct). God longs to forgive us and forget any failures. Yet, for Him to forgive us something, we must first admit our guilt and ask for forgiveness. In this case, it means accepting responsibility for our failures and entire life (to the extent we could influence).