I Can See Clearly Now

Sometimes, things just don't make sense.  A child is killed in an automobile accident by a drunk driver, but the drunk driver survives.  What the hell is that?  A legislator acts as though he was present when Moses received the tablets, but is caught hiring prostitutes.  Seriously?  Then, of course, there's the O.J. Simpson trial outcome.  What the hell happened to those jurors?  That kind of stuff just boggles the mind, or at least it gives me a headache trying to figure it out.

My zealous Christian friends will chalk it up to God's mysterious ways, or that He is not to be second-guessed.  They feel as though there is no reason to question these types of events for to do so would be tantamount to blasphemy.  That's just poppycock. Sure, the Scriptures teach that we're not to doubt, but at the same time, it's not like we can't ask legitimate questions about such shenanigans.  Even David, the man after God's own heart, asked the question in Psalm 94, "How long shall the wicked, O LORD, How long shall the wicked exult?"  See?  David asks, doesn't he?

For a long time, these types of questions, these scenarios blinded and baffled me.  But I think I can see now.  

There is good and evil in this world and each human being possesses a piece of both.  And I'm not talking about some bullshit duality of man psychobabble.  I'm talking about hardcore darkness and extreme light existing in the same creature.  Even the most pious struggle with that dark, frightening specter of evil that lurks between their ears.  The existence of that darkness in its entirety scares the hell out of people, so, their response is to become hyper-critical to those who aren't withing the tiny keyhole of there world view.  Conversely, for some who live in nothing but darkness, I'm convinced that it takes nothing short of the miraculous to break through that veil and let the light out.  

I've come to believe that for every unexplainable event, there was something that caused it.  Things don't

happen in a vacuum, I don't believe, and I don't believe in abject random chance anymore either.  I do, however, believe in miracles, but they are exceptionally rare.  If they do take place, we would never know about them.  I believe in angels and demons, God and the devil, but I've come to see that it is rare when divine intervention takes place. Prayers - real prayers - are also rarely answered.  The old axiom that "God answers prayer in three ways; yes, no, and wait a while," is balderdash.  God does answer prayers, but not all prayers.  Some prayers are so selfish, so incredibly asinine that God is just not going to pay attention.  

Now, in terms of the devil, I find it laughable how easy it is for people to attribute calamity to him when they themselves are responsible.  Another point is that the devil isn't omnipresent.  He can't be in two places at once, so when sister Betty from Detroit proclaims that the devil is terrorizing her at the same time as brother Bubba in Arkansas, one or both of them are full of malarkey.  Don't get me wrong; the devil is a powerful bugger, but he drags his chains with him wherever he goes.  

You see, even when things don't make sense, they kind of do.  Fear, joy, anger, and love are emotions felt by just about every human being on the planet and yes, sometimes we experience more than one emotion at the same time.  I look around and I see what I've done in my lifetime and the aggregate results were contingent upon which path I chose; that of light or that of darkness and to be honest, I've followed the dark path far too many times.

Of course, I could be wrong, but I seriously doubt it.

Gorilla