Most people with a Twitter account know there are always ‘trending topics’ – subjects that attract thousands or even millions of tweets, often from around the world.
Those trending topics range from silly (Things I’m Scared Of, for example) to stargazing (when I wrote this, Dear Taylor Swift was trending; I’m not kidding) to the latest news items.
But recently, I was astonished to find Thanking God was trending. And not just for a few minutes, but for more than a day.
Just as interesting were the tweets on this subject. Some were amusing, such as thanking God for Justin Bieber. But others used the topic in startling ways.
One man wrote “There is nothing more selfish than the privileged thanking God while so many starve and die terrible deaths as their God does nothing.”
Then there was the person who typed “Thanking God for AIDS, hunger, and SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Some top managerial decisions there, man.”
These tweets address an age-old challenge for anyone who believes in a creator: if this creator is good, as many claim, why is humanity stalked by AIDS, hunger, SIDS, and ‘terrible deaths’ – and why has God apparently done nothing about it?
Before I address this, please know that people who claim they can fully, credibly answer these questions are bigger fools than TV bad-boy Charlie Sheen was in his worst moments. An ancient prophet addresses the mystery of these questions like this: “I [God] don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work.”
That said, is God really doing nothing about starvation? Aren’t governments, churches, aid groups, and others helping in poverty-stricken areas of the world? If you claim that’s not God at all, but just charitable people/institutions, can you prove it? Just as important, are YOU part of God’s work in this broken world?
As for terrible deaths, while I wouldn’t dream of trying to explain most of them, how about those committed by evil people? Does it really make sense to blame God when sick, twisted men in Norway (2011), Las Vegas (2017) and Nova Scotia (2020) use God’s gift of freewill to commit mass murder?
It’s these kinds of horrifying events that truly, truly test that gift.
Many people know there’s another such event: the death of Jesus of Nazareth, who they believe is the Son of God.
Jesus followers know He died to pay for the wrong things we’ve done and the right things we haven’t done. What if God prevented the Roman authorities of the day from carrying out that murder? Even Jesus knew it shouldn’t be stopped. He told His followers that He “didn’t come to be served but rather to serve and to give my life to liberate many people.”
So, is thanking God a waste of time (and Twitter space), or does it make sense? Post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.
Frank's Cottage 
I’ve heard this kind of inconsiderate and self-damaging argument from the general public far too long: “If God is so good and powerful, why doesn’t she/he/it do something?” As an educator, still trying to learn what I can within this short span of a lifetime (I can’t afford to wait on evolution), I teach to help diminish ignorance of all kinds. But in a democratic society where people rampantly deem it their right to display it by what they say, I’m assured of a longer career than ever.
A simple full reading of the Bible, and then some objective study of its meaning and significance, rather than cherry-picking verses or quoting hearsay, would go a long way to solving that problem. I propose a “Sunday School” for the masses (of course, this will never fly), whereby the general public will begin to understand how the very prejudice and ignorance they condemn is so prevalent among so many of them.
I don’t say this out of any great claim of superiority; I have my own prejudices and ignorance. But I can’t allow myself to settle on it and try to coordinate social engineering to suit my own thinking. For the sake of what remains of our free society, all persons need non-vindictive discussion and humility.