An Uncharacteristically Controversial Post From My More Reflective Side

  This is going to be about a Benevolent God and Abortion, so stop reading now if you suspect your opinions differ from mine. I will not respond to hate. Just walk away. I have freedom of speech, and you have the freedom to not read what I write.

   I've been knee deep in teaching Night by Elie Wiesel, and by extension the Holocaust for five weeks now.
   I have no idea how a single Jewish person continues to have faith in a Benevolent God after those events. I have no idea how we as human beings have any faith in other human beings after that. We all have our arguments with God, we all struggle, but dude, that was uncalled for.

   Abortion. This is my opinion, and where you should stop reading if you are pro life.
   I believe, against all evidence to the contrary, in a Benevolent God. I believe that he gave us free will, which means free choice, and that was his mistake. We make terrible choices, but he gave us that freedom. I do not believe it is on other humans to judge the choices that other humans make, unless you are judging Hitler and the Nazis, and then I'm on board.
    I believe that God, in his wisdom and power and sadness, knows who we are and what we are going to do. Therefore, he knows before we do when when are going to get pregnant, when we are going to miscarry, or abort, or give up for adoption or keep the baby. He knows before we do what kind of parent we will be, and he gave us a choice. 
    I believe it frustrates and angers me to see people with children who I believe have no business being parents. (Do you hear me judging when I say I shouldn't? See how we are?) I see the children with no hope for the future, no engagement or stability because mom is a drug dealer, dad bailed, someone is abusive, etc etc. I hate it and I hate humans, but that is a human choice. I hate that God allows it, but I also hate that he allowed the Holocaust and Milli Vanilli, so there you go.
    I believe that God in his wisdom and power and sadness (I say sadness because he is a parent, and we kids make horrible choices sometimes) does not place the next Nobel Prize Winner in the womb of a terrified young woman whose birth control failed. I believe he knew ahead of time that she would choose abortion, and therefore the  embryo placed does not have a soul yet. They're like, empty vessels, just being used to teach a lesson without causing more pain. Because he is a Benevolent God, and he would not place a Nobel Prize Winner in this situation, knowing they are going to be returned to heaven shortly.
    I believe that God could have prevented that conception, and avoided causing such pain and angst in the life of that young lady. I believe he chose not to for reasons only He knows. That is His right.  Freedom of choice goes both ways. I don't love it, but again: Holocaust.
    I believe in God, not in Christianity. It's the Christian faith that wants to remove all of our freedom of choice, they've always been about control. The Crusades, anyone? I just want to love God and believe that I'm not going to agree with him, always, and that it's going to suck, sometimes, but that goes with the territory. Just believing doesn't mean my life is going to be without conflict and angst and I'm going to gush thanks to Him at the Academy Awards. It means understanding that there is a lesson, somewhere, or a reason, somehow, that is none of my business because I'm just a microscopic cog in a catastrophic plan...I don't really mean that, exactly, but I do love that lyric.
   Somewhere there is a Hebrew saying that I am paraphrasing: The single fabric cannot see its part in the completed rug. Or something. You get me, you've heard it. I have no idea why, and I never will, but I can attest to the presence of God's greatness at many dark moments in my life when things sucked, but it could have been much worse.
   So in conclusion, all in all, to sum up, Free will is a gift and a curse, and God is a disappointed father crossing his fingers that we figure it out before we destroy ourselves.
 
   Scene.