We are Gods Children, Not His Dogs
My son was in a particularly self-pitying mood one day and asked me, “Dad, if there is a God, why does He let so much wrong happen? Why are there poor people, people with diseases, murders, rapes, and all the other bad things that happen to us?”
We were out in the yard, and watching my dog destroy my yard and aggravate the people walking by outside the fence. I said to him, “Son, see Bruiser? I feed him, I take him to the vet, to the groomers, and when he whines and cries at me, I’ll take him for a walk in the woods, because I know that is what he wants. I built that fence just so he wouldn’t get into trouble or wander off and get lost. I will take care of Bruiser from now until the day he dies. He can get lazy, get fat, and never have to worry about actually being useful. I will take care of him. He is my most loved dog. You are my son. I have done my best to teach you how to live, how to work, how to treat other folks, and how to demand to be treated. When you got to be grown, I insisted you work and that you get your own place to live, because when you got grown, you rightfully didn’t really want to follow all of my rules anymore. If you screw up, I will let you take it on the chin so that you learn from it. If you insist on being a criminal, or an addict, or some other type of person I can’t think of until I see it and go ‘damn!,’ you will have to do all of that on your own and accept the consequences from it, including poverty and homelessness, if your choices cause that. You know that, right?”
My son expressed, “Of course I do, and wouldn’t expect it to be otherwise if I made such choices.”
I asked him, Who do you think I love more, you or Bruiser?”
Thankfully, he looked at me like I was stupid for asking, “Me of course. I’m your son. You just want me to be able to take care of myself.”
“Good answer. Remember, we are Gods children, not his dogs. We will make our choices, and benefit or suffer as a result of those choices. But He still loves us best. Not even the Angels were allowed free will or forgiveness.”
