Where is God?

Sometimes, when presented with situations of what seems like insurmountable suffering or cruelty, we may have cause to question, "Where is God?" or "Why doesn't God fix this?" Recent examples may include the unrest in Libya and the earthquake in Japan. A better question might be does God intervene in worldly issues or not? Again this comes down to our fundamental ideas about who or what God is and what our relationship is with the Divine.

Marcus Borg describes this conflict in his book The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith. He talks about the supernatural, corporal type God versus the panentheistic "everywhere in everything" God.
For me God is everywhere and in everything. An energy of love and compassion that wishes for balance. Does God intervene in our world? I don't think so, but nobody knows for sure.
I am more comfortable with the concept of Karma in this situation than any sort of divine intervention. Karma suggests that there is a set of cosmic laws that have consequences, if you cause suffering you will intern receive suffering. Maintaining a Karmic balance works for me on an individual level but when extended to nations of groups it becomes problematic. To me saying that women in the Republic of Congo are raped because of bad Karma, would be a terrible miscarriage of justice. Or, to give another example, that the people of Japan deserved the earthquake because of bad Karma. This is just cruel and ignorant. There is no easy answer.

Whether God intervenes or not, we cannot blame God for the ills of this world. Most of the suffering we experience is a result of human nature, ours and that of others.Knowing whether or not God intervenes will not cause an end to suffering. This is precisely the reason the Buddha refused to answer his students questions on the nature of God.  In his book Zen Keys, Thich Nhat Hanh describes this idea, known by Buddhists as the Poison Arrow Teaching.

"Suppose a man is struck by a poisoned arrow and the doctor wishes to take out the arrow immediately. Suppose the man does not want the arrow removed until he knows who shot it, his age, his parents, and why he shot it. What would happen? If he were to wait until all these questions have been answered, the man might die first." Life is so short. It must not be spent in endless metaphysical speculation that does not bring us any closer to the truth."

Knowing everything about God will not make life any easier! I think this statement can have meaning for all of us, believer, agnostic, atheist and evangelical.

Namaste