So I was watching along with the nation the horrible story of Pheobe Prince, the fifteen year old who took her life after being harassed by classmates. It is not surprising in any way that the families of this community are pointing fingers and trying to assign blame. I believe most people wonder why such horrible things happen. Why did a nine year old hang himself in his Texas elementary school bathroom? (this boy's story) How could adult security officers watch one teen girl beat another unmercifully and do nothing? (more on this story) The answer is a simple one but it is still far from being simplistic. The simplistic answer is the blame-game the excusing-game and the ignoring-it-game. None of these methods for explaining the reason these horrible things happening are complete and satisfying. The only grand synthesis is one that comes from the God of the Bible.
Why the God of the Bible? Because all other notions fall hopelessly apart when held up to reality. The God of the Bible states that He is supreme over all and has the only right to judge all. This God has defined what is evil and what is good. The result is that only through the God of the Bible will we find meaning and hope in spite of the horrific pains experienced in this life.
Here are some popular theologies applied to the pain of Pheobe Princes situation and many of our own pain.
· The Buddhist philosophy states that all is God. This means that ultimately good and bad are just “Illusions”. The problems is, if good and bad are illusions then why are people so made that a few teens teased and harassed another 15 yr old and that she committed suicide?
· The Agnostic believes in one way or another that you just can’t know for sure there is a God. This means that there are no explanations or basis for morality at all. How could we know what is right or wrong if we can’t even know if there is a God. Another issue would be, with no God who decides what is right or wrong? The problem here is that people have a conscience that informs them on some level that what happened to Pheobe Prince was wrong. If we can’t know right and wrong then we shouldn’t feel bad at all for Pheobe or the others involved in this situation. This philosophy is similar to Atheism but from a passive perspective.
· The Atheist denies for various reason the existence of God. This belief essentially makes man God. If there is no God then where does our knowledge of right and wrong come from? Who decides what is right and what is wrong? Who then has the right to tell another person what is right and wrong? The problem with Atheism is that people become the final arbiter of right and wrong and the result is that right and wrong will always be relative to the person. So Hitler believed He was right; who could say other wise. The obvious self-contradictory statement is; There is no God! In order to make this absolute statement you would have to have absolute knowledge…Atheists must know everything. It is obvious that Atheism is a way to bring freedom from other peoples versions of right and wrong and so allowing me to do as I please. If I want to kill I can, If I want to do anything I want to do, NO ONE CAN SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT.
There are many more philosophies and teachings. Like Humanism, Scientology, T.M., and the various theistic beliefs like Islam, Judaism, Mormonism and Biblical Christianity. But the only grand synthesis is found in Biblical Christianity. The reason is because it is only the God of the Bible that gives a true definition of what Sin and pain are and how to deal with it. The message of Biblical Christianity is the only message that gives hope to us all in the face of horrific tragedies and pain that we will experience in life.
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