God works in mysterious ways.
That's usually the response given when something is undeniably negative and a Christian is questioned as to how said negative logically fits in with an all-loving God.
In reality it's a non-answer. It's not like they're claiming they know this to be a fact; they just believe that God is all-loving because it's in The Bible. Moving with that set of logic, a Christian has little choice but to conclude that their God(who in their mind is all-loving and all-knowing) must have some bigger plan that is incomprehensible by humans. They believe this because the part about God being all-knowing and all-loving is factual to them.
Such is the case with the senseless killing of Northern Irish newlywed Michaela McAreavey, who was killed while on her honeymoon on the small Island of Maritius last Monday, January 10th.
According to reports from reputable news sources in the UK(The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Irish Times) Michaela was having tea with her new husband, John, when she decided to go back up to their hotel room to get some biscuits to go with the tea. Her room was(allegedly) being robbed by hotel employees and she walked in on them. She was strangled and left in a bathtub.
At her funeral, Bishop McAreavey(uncle to Michaela's husband John) explained how the newlyweds were truly devoted to each other. "Their lives revolved around one another; each talked endlessly about the other." He also explained how that devotion to her husband was second only to her devotion to God. "She loved the Mass and was faithful to it. She was a young woman who prayed and whose prayer was important to her."
Now here is a woman who is undeniably a devout Christian. What possible purpose could God have for allowing this couple to marry, only to tear them apart while they were still on their honeymoon? And to do it in such a horrible way! What mysterious way could God have been taking when he decided to scar a man emotionally for the rest of his life by allowing the senseless death of his new wife?
Just for the sake of argument, let's say someone can come up with a halfway legitmate reason why this horrible event could, in theory, be considered an overall good move by God. Are we to assume that this is the best way God's plan could be played out? An omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent God wouldn't let a situation like this happen to his subjects. Even if I believed in this God, I could never worship him.
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I often ask my mother, a devout catholic, questions just like this. Her answer is always that God tests your faith. Both of her husbands passed away at reasonably young ages. She has had cancer on and off for over 10 years. She also contracted TB from a co-worker who was coming to work sick. She has dealt with a neice and her son getting murdered. I asked her once, "How much testing does one person need?" If that were the case, why wouldn't her having faith after one terrible thing be enough to please a God? Why wouldn't the fact that she goes to church every week, sometimes more than once be enough? Why isn't the fact that she is a goof caring person enough? She can never answer me after I pose questions to her so directly. It's very frustrating. I feel like she knows that I am making sense but she has nothing to refute what I am saying. I feel she, like many other catholics, are afraid to say it outloud because it is so different from the routines of religion they have been dealing with. I believe she also thinks maybe, just maybe, the rest of us are wrong and there is a God and where will it leave her if they don't believe? Which is even more frustrating that she chooses to take a chance on something that has never been proven over just the facts. But back to the post, what I am curious about is why is there any comfort in thinking that God works in mysterious ways? That would not satisfy me if my spouse were murdered.
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