Last night I watched a documentary, "Cartel Land". This documentary focused on two separate citizen's groups who were taking up arms to combat the drug cartels. One group was deep in Mexico while the other was a group of Americans operating on the Arizona border.
In one of the opening scenes shot deep in Mexico, the viewer witnesses several men cooking up a large batch of methamphetamine. Through a face mask, he tells the cameraman, "We know what harm we do with all the drugs. But what are we going to do? We come from poverty. . . . But if we start paying attention to our hearts, then we'll get screwed over. We will do this as long as God allow it. And every day we make more, because it is not going to end, right?"
As a principal of an elementary school, I often have to enforce the rules of the building. No running in the halls. Yelling in the cafeteria? Let's not do it. Can't allow you to hit each other. If the teachers and I did not enforce rules and redirect students in their behavior, we would be giving tacit approval to those behaviors. If I watch a child kick a classmate and do not intervene, then that child assumes it is okay to kick another. If cheating on tests is not addressed, then the message is that it is okay to copy someone else's work.
I wonder how often this logic is used each day by people who know but don't care about the negative consequences of their actions? An adulterous affair that is undetected. A porn web site visited in the dark hours of the night. The venomous gossip spewed to a friend. "Well if God wanted me not to do this, He could stop me. I will continue as long as He allows."
What a frightening thought process, but in a warped way a logical one. God can do all things God sees all things. God allows this. Therefore, it is His fault since He chooses not to drop the hammer.
This thought process can take root only if we view God through a human lens. We are reminded in Isaiah 55:8-9, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts that your thoughts."
It impossible to understand all of God's plan. All of the reasons He does/does not allow/cause events to happen on earth are beyond the scope of our understanding. Our belief in God is predicated on faith. Our salvation is based on faith. So must our acceptance of the good and evil in our world be based on faith. Faith that He is in control. And faith that the sin will be dealt with in His perfect timing. "All things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose", and silence does not give consent.
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