New York Daily News: God Already Fixed This
Why did the editors of The New York Daily News develop a sudden interest pointing blame at God? After the massacre in San Bernardino, their front page loudly and unashamedly proclaimed: "God Isn't Fixing This."
Provocative headline? Sure. Accurate diagnosis? You decide.
The first question is this: Which "god" are those editors blaming? Possibly the "god" of mother earth. Or perhaps the "god" of Islam. Or maybe the One who came to Bethlehem 2000 years ago; you know, "Immanuel," which means, "God with us." (Matthew 1:23)
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Americans historically have felt a connection to the God of Christianity and the Bible. After all, it's ingrained in our national DNA. We do not have a national history rooted in Islam and their "god," or some other religious deity. The history of America is much different. It involves freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and the freedom which comes from faith in Jesus Christ.
So let's assume the editors of the Daily News are referring to the God of the Bible; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Three Persons in One God. He created the universe and man, and then gave us both the Old Testament and the New Testament. In fact, all other "gods" are false gods. There is only One Lord, and He rules the heavens and the earth.
The Bible is God's love letter to His people. And America has a rich relationship with the Bible and Christianity.
John Adams was our second President, and he wrote, "The Christian religion is, above all the religions that ever prevailed or existed in ancient or modern times, the religion of wisdom, virtue, equity and humanity."
Adams also wrote, "I have examined all religions, and the result is that the Bible is the best book in the world."
God is the "Creator" who endowed us "with certain unalienable Rights," as stated in the Declaration of Independence.
G.K. Chesterton said, "America is the only nation in the world that is founded on a creed. That creed is set forth with dogmatic and even theological lucidity in the Declaration of Independence."
America was built on a creed of liberty and freedom.
And yet, the editors of the Daily News decided to take aim at the One who gave us the Bible, and who gave us Christianity and everlasting life through His Son. I wonder if those editors blame God for all acts of terrorism. What about the Holocaust, not to mention all the other atrocities carried out by evildoers over the centuries? Why didn't God "fix" those situations?
Or is it just the terror in San Bernardino that the Daily News wants to pin on God?
I don't read that newspaper often, but I have never known the Daily News to write much about God in the past. If you are only going to use God's name when you have a complaint against Him, wouldn't this classify as taking His name in vain? Then again, we don't even know which "god" those editors had in mind. Are they blaming the God of the universe? Or the "god" of Islam? Or some other "god" amidst the various religions of the world?
The Daily News seems to have forgotten one little piece of the puzzle. It's called "free will."
Men and angels were not created by God to be robots. Do the editors of the Daily News want God to remove free will from man? I don't know. They didn't elaborate. They just blamed "God," and then went on their merry way.
It's almost like those editors think God is going to "put the genie back in the bottle." You know, the genie of sin which got out when Lucifer rebelled against God in heaven, and then tempted Adam and Eve to sin in the Garden of Eden. The genie of sin has been out for thousands of years, and God hasn't put it back in the bottle over those many centuries.
Do the editors of the Daily News really think the San Bernardino terrorist attack is going to prompt God to change course and instantly remove all evil from the hearts of men and women? Seriously?
I wonder if those editors realize that Christmas is about God fixing the problem of man's separation from our Creator. I wonder if they realize that the little baby in the manger is God's answer to sin, death, evil, and suffering.
Is it a quick fix? No.
Is it a permanent and everlasting fix for everyone who accepts Christ as Savior? Yes, it is.
Some choose to blame God, even though He sent His only Son to redeem mankind from sin, death, and the devil. Others see things from God's perspective, now that God has revealed His plan to us in Scripture and in history.
Some say God isn't fixing things. Others say God provided the ultimate fix through events which took place at Bethlehem, the cross, and the empty tomb. And so the Daily News has one perspective, while Scripture presents God's viewpoint.
Which perspective do you embrace? Do you know the love of God as revealed in the life and death of His Son? Or do you prefer to blame God for things you assume He should "fix" right away?
Blaming God won't solve anything, and it won't bring your soul to heaven. But loving God, after first trusting Jesus to forgive you, is the one way to gain God's perspective and to celebrate Christ's free gift of eternal life in paradise. Heaven will be like celebrating Christmas everyday, only a million times better.
And so you don't have to do what the editors of the Daily News chose to do. You can choose to praise God rather than criticize Him, even when many things in this world remain unfixed. If it wasn't for man using his free will to choose evil rather than good, there would have been no need for Jesus to suffer on a cross to provide the ultimate and eternal fix. This of course means there would have been no need for Bethlehem.
So it boils down to what you believe about Christmas. How timely. With your free will, decide whether or not God provided the ultimate fix through the birth of His Son. And once you discover the truth on the matter, be sure to share it with others.
If the Daily News can crudely blame God on their front page, you and I should certainly do what we can to promote the truth about God's everlasting "fix-it" plan of salvation. How else can anyone find real hope and peace in a world with increasing terror and darkness?
"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11)
Man sinned. God fixed it. But your relationship with your Creator won't be fixed until you accept the truth about your sin and the Savior. I suppose this is the perfect time to ask, "Would you like your relationship with God to be fixed forever?"
Christmas gifts which go unopened benefit no one. And that is never more evident than when an unbeliever lives through another Christmas without opening the gift of salvation.
No wonder so many people assume that "God isn't fixing this." If reconciliation with God hasn't happened in your heart, it won't appear in your writing or in your daily conversations. You can only give people God's good news if you believe it and receive it yourself. Otherwise, you end up with what Jesus referred to when he described "the blind leading the blind." (Matthew 15:14)
Newspapers are run by human beings, and are therefore prone to getting key facts wrong from time to time. Scripture always gets it right because God knows everything.
So where do you get most of your news?
