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This afternoon I was visiting the Caring Bridge site for our friend, Jon Gabriel; his wife Angela does a great job of letting us know how he’s doing—which is not especially great at the moment. (I also remembered that I could leave a short comment for him on the site.) Since Jon was an energetic, religiously engaged man, I wondered if he'd contemplated how his cancer could be explained: did some gene go crazy? Had he not taken good enough care of himself? Was it divine intervention?
Now I’m not at all suggesting that Jon should think any of those thoughts. But I think when the unfathomable happens, it’s not surprising when a person asks, why?
When I had breast cancer, however, I didn’t spend a great deal of time on the why. Breast cancer didn’t run in my family; they caught it early, so the treatment was tolerable. And my husband was a great source of comfort and encouragement. It never occurred to me that my contracting cancer had anything to do with my relationship with G-d. That is, I don’t believe that G-d had anything to do with introducing it to me. I assumed that He could comfort me, strengthen me and even help heal me in some ways during my treatment, but I never thought that it was some kind of punishment. It was probably an unruly gene that went out of control.
I discovered not too long ago that a friend of mine believed that G-d acted retributively and that our behavior was the cause of His actions. Now I’m wondering if I’ve “misunderstood” how G-d acts in our lives, so I decided to ask the Ricochetti.
Do you think G-d punishes us through illness?
Does He play any role in our treatment?
Does He help with our recovery?
Discussion (39)
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There are many conceptions of God, so I can imagine that in at least one of those conceptions God is believed to cause illness. I am an agnostic believer in God, continuing to consider how His presence involves Himself beyond establishing the foundational rules of existence and the path that maximizes human thriving like all other creatures. Suffice it to say that in the many possible conceptions of God that I see probable, the retributive God is not amongst them.
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You've been an agnostic for a while, Rodin. I'm glad you are still considering the possibilities.
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No. Yes. Yes. It is smart to view every challenge as an opportunity for something.
Jon is a funny guy. He would probably make a joke about nuclear submarines or bad ecstasy at an indy band show.
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He is funny. I hope he feels well enough to crack a joke very soon!
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