perspective

my perspective on a subway train bombing. horrible. unthinkable. how could someone do a heinous act? how could they take innocent lives? how could they knowingly strap a bomb to their bodies and in one act decide who lives and who dies? who do they think they are? why is their vision of life and death and eternal glory superior to another?

my perspective. the suicide bomber's perspective. who is right? who is wrong? who determines? if i have a choice and the suicide bomber has a choice, then we act of our own free will.

Why would I blame God for the suicide bomber's choice? What did He have to do with their act? Could He have prevented it? Would He have? My perspective says, "yes, this time, He should have stopped it, intervened, prevented loss of life. Or maybe, no, those people deserved to die because they don't live in a christian society." When I play God, I step into a dangerous role. I am limited. I don't have the entire picture. I don't have an eternally perfect perspective.

When I wrestle with horrible acts committed in the world I live, I recognize that I don't have the full perspective God has. And the only thing that gets me through is faith that I don't see it all clearly right now and I won't know why, but I can trust in the only true God who does. And that's a comfort, a strength, a power I can rest in.