Appalling

Today I was talking to someone about my new image of God (God is a stream flowing over and around us, and we are the rocks in that stream. God influences and shapes us, but we make the ultimate decisions.), and he said something that truly disturbed me. I don't mind different opinions, but this one was appalling.

I explained to him the same belief that I outlined within the parentheses above. He said that in his opinion that view gave people too much power and that He thought God washed away the rocks when the stakes got too high.

I responded, "What about the Holocaust? Six million Jews died. Were the stakes not high enoguh then?"

His response: "The Jews didn't fight back as hard as they should have. the Germans acted with great deceit, but the Jews also trusted them too much."

I find that answer appalling, simply appalling. I find it dismaying that someone could think that six million lives were taken because people "didn't fight back hard enough" and "trusted their killers too much." Exactly what would he have liked them to do that they didn't do, and when?

I'm not so sure that God can wash away the rocks. I think the God-stream is already flowing before the person-rocks are positioned, but once they are there, the flow must be changed and is changed permanently.

P.S. Tonight, please plant your rocks of prayer or good thoughts for the little girls, ages 0-2, with Down Syndrome listed on the Reece's Rainbow website. May they all find families soon.