Not Everything Happens for a Reason
Category: Unitarian Universalism - General
On my previous post about the war in Iraq, Elizabeth wrote a comment about the “important tension between hope - of stones rolled away and resurrection, and acknowledging the thousands of lives and situations where miracles didn’t happen - where on the third day, the body was there, the stone untouched.”
The heartbreaking situations — where hope does not win out, where God does not seem to intervene, where justice does not prevail — are difficult to understand.
Maybe religion helps us cope with terrible situations not by providing a systematic theological worldview, but by providing a place to ask the questions, connect with other people, hear stories that relate to our own lives, and engage in prayer and worship.
This doesn’t mean that theological ideas are unimportant. Ideas about the sacred can bring us tremendous hope and the strength to move forward with life. But these ideas do not form a foolproof system for explaining and responding to every event; the idea that brought insight in one situation may not make sense in another.
To some extent this is a uniquely Unitarian Universalist proposition. Because our faith does require us to hold fast to a particular doctrine, Unitarian Universalists are given freedom (even encouragement) to doubt and to change direction. We can seek truth and meaning in many different religious traditions, and we can discover that what sheds light on one part of our experience may be less relevant to another part (and that’s ok).
But people of other faith traditions doubt too. I keep mulling over Lizard Eater’s post about meeting other parents whose children had cancer: “UU or Catholic or Jew, we all come to the same place: I can’t understand why things like this happen.” I’m also reminded of this story today from EthicsDaily.com about Whitney Cerak, young evangelical woman who survived a car accident and questions the reason why everyone else in the car was killed. Cerak writes, “They all loved God so much, and all of them would have done wonderful things for Him. Why did God keep me here and not them?”
I’ll end with this clip from “Scrubs,” which illustrates both how the search for reasons can give us solace, and how sometimes the reasons just can’t be found.
March 27th, 2008 17:54
Wow– really powerful clip!!
I don’t know much about reasons… this kind of thinking just never sat well with me. Though I have learned important lessons from pain and suffering– I just can’t believe that those things happened SO THAT I would learn those lessons. Especially if it was the pain and suffering of others.
What you say here rings so much more true…
“Maybe religion helps us cope with terrible situations not by providing a systematic theological worldview, but by providing a place to ask the questions, connect with other people, hear stories that relate to our own lives, and engage in prayer and worship.”
Those things help us see the beauty in darkness, I think, and help us get through the dark nights.
I also like what you say about UUism giving us the freedom to doubt and change direction. This was exactly the reason I came to UUism after my dad’s death– I found more comfort in the freedom to doubt and question and–eventually-to create my own meaning than the easy answers that were being handed to me in Christianity . I LOVE the spiritual journey aspect of UUism, and have found it so vital to my life.
March 29th, 2008 11:33
Hi Terri,
Thanks for writing. You said, “I LOVE the spiritual journey aspect of UUism, and have found it so vital to my life.” I love it too, and I think that our freedom to look for new answers (and help each other find those answers) during difficult times is one of the under-rated strengths of Unitarian Universalism.
Also, you wrote, “Though I have learned important lessons from pain and suffering– I just can’t believe that those things happened SO THAT I would learn those lessons. Especially if it was the pain and suffering of others.” I so much agree.
March 29th, 2008 12:49
That was a great post, Shelby. I had a lengthy comment in my head, but it has vanished. One of my pet theological peeves is the God made this happen for a reason line of thinking. I know people find that comforting to think that things happen for a reason, but I’ve never received a greeting card from God that communicated that message (Stephanie, I had to do it. My plan is greater than you can understand. XO, God).
March 30th, 2008 14:27
“I’ve never received a greeting card from God that communicated that message (Stephanie, I had to do it. My plan is greater than you can understand. XO, God).” LOL! I’m still waiting for explicit messages from God on a number of issues…