BBC
Radio Leicester Thought for the Day
©
John Denney 10 September 2004
Dear God
I
am writing to complain about the behaviour of some of the people You
created. Last week, some of them
massacred hundreds of innocent schoolchildren and parents and teachers in
Beslan. Yesterday another lot set off a
bomb in Jakarta and killed and injured lots more. I’m so angry with the wicked people, and full
of pity for the victims, and I’m frustrated that You allow these things to
happen. Why don’t You step in and zap
these murderers?
With
love,
John.
Dear
John
Believe
me; I’m even angrier with the wrongdoers than you are. When I made your great-great-great- well,
lots of greats – grandparents, Adam and Eve, I gave them free will. As their descendants, people today can choose
whether to do good, or do evil. I
suppose I could step in whenever there was something unfair going on. The trouble is, where do you draw the
line? Should I step in when that driver
overtook you dangerously and made your heart race? Should I step in when a Prime Minister
shuffles his ministerial team and overlooks other worthy members of parliament
in the process? Should I take sides and
make sure England qualifies for the World Cup at the expense of, say, Wales? Sorry, but I had to choose between making you
a race of robots or giving you free will.
And free will is the only way to give you a fulfilling life. So leave the wicked to me.
And
believe me, too, that I feel more pity for the innocent victims than you can
begin to imagine. Do you remember what
my son Jesus said? What's the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more
than you do. He pays even greater
attention to you, down to the last detail--even numbering the hairs on your head!
So don't be intimidated by all this
bully talk. You're worth more than a
million canaries.[1] I know
exactly how many hairs are on each blameless sufferer’s head. I promise that I’m taking good care of
them.
So
don’t worry about these things. Trust
me. I’m in control. You can’t see it yet, but the forces of evil
have been defeated and they’re being driven back. It helps if you keep on trying to be good
yourself. The most important thing is to
bring a little love into your world.
Keep the faith.
With
more love than you can conceive of,
God