Lethal Trajectories - Michael Conley [76]
“If we can agree that God gave us free choice, and we have made bad choices that have led to negative consequences, is this God punishing us for those choices, or are we being punished by the effects of our poor choices? For example, if one of us gets behind the wheel of a car after becoming totally intoxicated and hits another car, killing several people, are we being punished for our bad choice, or are these consequences of the poor choice we made to drink and drive?” She had their attention now.
“The Bible is consistent in saying that if we do right by God, things will go well for us, but if we don’t, we will experience hard times. The history of Israel demonstrated that time and again. They were warned, but they walked away from God and His teachings, and sure enough, things went badly for them. Is that what’s happening now? I don’t know, you tell me.” Again, she paused to let her comments sink in.
“Maybe in some ways, God is like a parent telling a teenage daughter that if she messes with drugs, she’ll get hurt. The teenager disobeys, does drugs, and suffers a paralyzing accident. Did the parent in this case deliberately cause the accident to happen because of the choice that was made? I don’t think so. The teen suffered as a result of that choice, not because of it. Does that make sense?” At their affirming nods, she continued.
“The concept of poor choices and adverse consequences is not just an individual thing. It happens to entire nations and cultures. Nations get greedy, take from their neighbors—even conquer them—and try to benefit at the expense of other nations. More often than not, they pay a price as a result of that choice.
“Sometimes I wonder if maybe God isn’t really saying ‘Believe me, people, I created you, and I know what is best for you. If you don’t follow my advice on healthy living, you will set yourself up for hard times. I won’t have to punish you for your deeds; the deeds themselves will punish you.'” As more heads began to nod in agreement, Veronica continued.
“In America, we have led the abundant life for as long as any of us can remember. We’ve wasted vast amounts of food, water, energy, and natural resources in our consumption-based lifestyles. In all honesty, we’ve not been good stewards of the resources we have been given. Now it appears our gluttonous ways are catching up with us; we may no longer have the physical and financial resources to continue the opulent lifestyles we’ve always had. We’ve become accustomed to having everything in America, and we’ve taken our bounties as a right—an entitlement. Maybe God doesn’t see it that way. Is this God punishing us for our gluttony, or are we now about to suffer the consequences as a result of the way we have lived our lives?” Veronica sensed that some of her listeners were starting to appreciate the cause-and-effect relationships of everyday life choices.
“My apologies for the lengthy outburst, my friends, but I think this is an important distinction for us to make as we deal with our fears of the unknown. I think we need to factor our own behaviors into the discussion and take a good hard look at our own lives and how we are living them. We are not entirely the innocent victims. God holds us as accountable for our actions as anyone else on Earth.”
Veronica had hit a hot button, and a loud and vigorous discussion followed. By the end of the evening, a consensus had emerged that regardless of whether or not the world was in the end times, the signs were not good. The group could see they were entering uncharted waters, and maybe, just maybe, they were both victims and perpetrators of whatever was to come. It was a fruitful meeting and a huge first step. Toward what, Veronica wasn’t entirely certain.
A thousand air miles east of them, another meeting was about to start, one that would influence the agenda for the months of Life Challenges meetings yet to come.
29
New York City
27 September 2017
Wang Peng was spent after an exhausting