Punching in the dark while being mad at the wrong guy

Now, if that's not a title for a blog entry, I don't know what is.

Was thinking about how people, in general, react to God. God gets alot of blame. I mean, ALOT. He's blamed for not doing anything to save our world when things are so bad, He's blamed for not existing (is that even possible?), He's blamed for being too much of a control freak. There appears to be so much contradiction in all these accusations.

What I find most curious is how people blame God for the state of the world. "It's so bad. There's evil everywhere. Why doesn't God DO anything??" We have free will, people. Secondly, people blame God and Christianity for being so "rule-oriented" and don't like how they'd have to conform to someone else's standards. Hell, who am I kidding? I don't like it either. We're human - we revolt against being under anyone's thumb. Plus, I just said "hell" in a post about "religion." Now I'm freaking out because of my legalistic upbringing.

People (myself included at different points in my life) just have a problem with God, period. They want someone who will just step in a fix things. Well, God has ordained us with free will and humanness. We are apt to do evil things and have wild mood swings. That's who we are. So, God has decided not to run the earth with a totalitarian choke hold. I respect that. People, in general, also don't like it when God sets standards and rules that are, in the long view, for our own good. He designed us and knows us better than we do. Our independent nature revolts against that. We want it both ways.

When the crap hits the fan and life gets messy, we find ourselves being "mad at God." Why does God make this happen? Why has God done this? We need to break down the situation a little more. Much (notice I didn't say "all" - "much" is what was said) happens due to our own choices and the fallout from it all. We bear the weight of our own consequences. When bad things happen to us that are in no relation to our control, we become victims of evil. We are touched by darkness. LIke many have heard before, this is the devil's greatest victory (I believe C.S. Lewis said that): No one thinks he exists. By default, God gets the brunt of the blame.

We find ourselves punching in the dark while being mad at the wrong guy. We're frustrated and angry at God. In reality, God is our hope in these situations. We live in a world where bad things happen to us, either from our own hand or from the hand of another. God is our friend, reaching out a hand to us, looking to step in when invited. Sadly, we easily fall into the trap of turning our backs and eating the bitter pill of stubborn independence.