]]> http://arnold.gamboa.ph/2012/05/beegees-is-for-my-dad-as-eraserheads-is-for-me/feed/ 0 http://arnold.gamboa.ph/2012/04/god-is-unfair-and-heres-why/ http://arnold.gamboa.ph/2012/04/god-is-unfair-and-heres-why/#comments Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:13:39 +0000 Arnold http://arnold.gamboa.ph/?p=1546

While meditating on Craig Groeschel’s message at LifeChurch Makati last Easter Sunday, I posted a simple yet profound question on Facebook. I said, “God is not fair, don’t you think so?” And sure, I did receive some very personal, very interesting and others, heartbreaking responses. Check out the link to see what I’m talking about. 

I promised to share my thoughts on this subject, so here it goes.

When we see good people suffering and the bad living their full life, when we see a child rapped, when a town is devastated by natural calamities, when innocent people are killed by some lunatic, when your brother or a parent die of cancer even if you prayed your heart out, when you lost your job, when you don’t feel like you deserve what’s going on in your life — we question God, “Are you fair?” Why are these bad things happen to good people?

Craig admitted with honesty and sincerity, that he doesn’t hold all the answers and wouldn’t want to try to give absolute answers. True enough, who can? Can we really explain? 

However, he offer possible answers based on God’s Word itself. Some, “maybe’s” that we can think of.

When bad things happen to good people…

1. Maybe you’re just a victim of a fallen world. The reality is, the world we live in is sick. It’s dying. In this world, the Bible says, you will face troubles. It guarantees that we do, because we live in a sin-sick world. Why do our love ones get sick, and eventually die? Why would somebody hurt us even if we do good things to them? It’s not your fault. It’s just that we live in a sin filled world and we become victims of it.

2. Maybe it’s a direct result of your sin. We would ask God why he allowed us to be financially messed up? Because probably, you loaned a car, a house and purchased the newest iPad even if your income cannot support it. Why wouldn’t your children love you? Maybe because you were out most of the time. Sometimes, we suffer because it is a direct result of our own sin.

3. Maybe God has something bigger in mind. I was watching this not-so-good Gerald Butler movie (and yes, we kinda saw that just because it’s a Gerald Butler movie) called “Machine Gun Preacher”. In that part of the movie when he gave his life to God, you would probably rejoice already. But then, right after that, he got laid off as a carpenter and his house got destroyed by a storm. You would think, why would that happen to him considering that those events happen right after he committed his life to God? Isn’t that unfair? But then, because of those two events in his life, a door opened up for him to start his own construction business. When something seems unfair, maybe God is doing something else for your benefit.

But here’s the bottom line. Asking the question “Why bad things happen to good people” is a flawed question in the first place. The right question is “Why good things happen to bad people”. 

The reality is, in the eyes to a holy God, all of us are bad. We are all sinners. And if God is fair, he would have given what our sins deserve. Because he is UNFAIR, he gave us what we do not deserve — love, care, blessings. And for those who accepted Christ as their savior, he gave salvation — we don’t deserve it, we didn’t earn it, we CAN’T earn it, and yet he gave it anyway. 

Mercy is God NOT giving us what we deserve.

Grace is God giving us what we DO NOT serve.

God is UNFAIR.

Here’s a clip of Craig’s message last Sunday…

Yep, I’m late, but I finally saw the super viral KONY 2012 — I’m probably the 85th million to see this.

I’m not going to deal with the details, but I took notice of some related information about effective communication.

1. To get people into action, you need to effectively communicate the problem. They did that.

2. Effective communication starts with the heart first, then the facts.

3. People loves to be empowered. Give them the tools and with effective vision communication, they will use it.

4. Starting a movement requires passionate leaders. People listen when there is passion.

Now, I’m not saying KONY 2012 is something that I support. That’s not my point in this blog. In fact, I think this thing is massively wrong. It is, however, a very effective communication and marketing strategy.

Ever since the birth of the internet there have been social networks. Forums, blogs, instant messaging and online profiles have made the world that little bit smaller. Distance is an easier burden to bear.

The trouble is, there are positives and negatives to consider. While you love playing on www.foxybingo.com, chatting on Facebook or blogging on Tumblr, everything has a downside. The question is: are social networks worth it?

Pros

Socializing – Networks have revolutionised socializing. You no longer have to be in the same room as the person you are speaking to, or even the same country to communicate via the web. You can share photo’s, communicate via instant messages and comment on one another’s online profile.

Cost – Keeping in touch with your friends, when they are across the other side of the country, or around the world from you can get costly. Phone bills are extortionate. However, when you contact someone via a social network, there isn’t an extra cost, besides what you already paid for your connection.

Interests – Sometimes your friends are not interested in the same TV shows, hobbies or books. There is bound to be someone out there who shares your interest though. All you need to do is look online and befriend them.

Cons

Safety – Knowing whether someone is genuine can be difficult. When you have never seen a person before, they could easily pose as someone else entirely. You have to be careful who you trust.

Security – Identity theft and people performing malicious acts on a site will always be a risk. You could get a virus from a seemingly innocent link, or perhaps hack into your online profile, change the password and edit the content.

Censors – It is harder to keep tags on the material children and teenagers gain access too. They could easily stumble onto content that isn’t age appropriate, despite parental censors.

We’re all devastated by the sight of people who died and was affected by the recent typhoon that hit Northern Mindanao. While I’ve seen really kind hearted people using the internet for good, most just use it as venue to criticize.

All the finger pointing won’t help at this point. Let’s stop criticizing the President or PAGASA for what happened in Mindanao. Let’s just stop talking and grab our wallets and help Sendong’s victims.

Choose your agency: Redcross, ABS-CBN Sagip Kapamilya, GMA Kapuso, TV5 Kapatid Foundation, Operation Blessing (our family’s choice NGO http://www.obphil.com/v2/page/p/mindanao-needs-you — it has a credit card facility, if you have the capability, you don’t have any reason not to help). Whatever it is, let’s just act. 

What’s saddens me more is that tragedies like this reflect our character as a nation. Last night was the worst: we even knit picked on an actress’ innocent tweet to have a chance to criticize the President? What are we now, a bunch of radio commentators? I don’t know what to say. 

Act. Now. Stop. Talking.

This year is probably one of our best, not only because of the new web applications and partnerships we've established, but most notably, we were given a chance to work with TV5 on several web projects they launched this year — one of which is launched just recently – KapatidTV (http://kapatidtv.com).