New Name Doesn’t Justify Physician-Assisted Suicide
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God Knows You Inside and Out
And Loves Every Part of You
Does God know the location and function of the trillions of cells in each human body?
Yes. And he knows how many grains of sand are in the Sahara Desert, how many pints of water are in the Pacific Ocean, and how many stars are in the universe. In short, he knows everything.
If he did not, he would not be God.
He knows you, too—everything about you, down to the number of times your heart beats every day.
But God uses all of his attributes lovingly. In fact, he loves you more deeply than you can imagine, regardless of your appearance, personality, IQ, skills, and talents. After all, he is—ultimately—your parent. He wants you to succeed and one day take your place in paradise. In the person of Jesus, he even died for you.
True, there are conditions or circumstances that, from time to time, test every fiber of your being and make you question whether God truly loves you. These conditions or circumstances may include a physical disease or deformity, mental illness, the loss of a loved one, working for a tyrannical boss, living in a slum, enduring racial prejudice, or going bankrupt.
“Why,” you might ask, “does this loving God allow me to undergo such trials?”
God does not will your suffering; he permits it as a result of original sin, which rendered you an imperfect being and, therefore, subject to affliction and a gallimaufry of sorrows.
But God knows how you feel. As the messiah, he suffered scourging that tore his flesh, humiliation as he bore his cross through the streets of Jerusalem, and excruciating pain as he was nailed to the cross.
Dying on the cross, Christ said, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).
What must you do to please God? Revere him, acknowledge Christ as your redeemer, and live according to God’s commandments and other moral precepts, including the duty to love your neighbor and perform good works that demonstrate your faith.
If you’re among the Catholic young people today who reject religious dictums in favor of “doing your own thing,” bear in mind that rules exist to guide you. On the highway are signs telling you to observe the speed limit. On an airplane are blinking lights telling you to fasten your seatbelts. On your tax return is a paragraph warning you not to falsify information. In all the professions and trades—medicine, engineering, ballet, bricklaying, plumbing, and law enforcement—you must follow certain rules to avoid making mistakes.
As for the church, it teaches you the moral laws of the faith not to impose its will on you but to smooth your path in living a righteous life.
If the idea of an all-powerful God intimidates you, remember that this same God is all-merciful and all-loving.
Psalm 145 says, “How gracious the Lord is, how merciful, how patient, how rich in pity! Is he not a loving Lord to his whole creation; does not his mercy reach out to all that he has made?”
Before retiring, Michael J. Cummings was a public-school English teacher, a journalist for 17 years, an adjunct instructor of English for 19 years at the Pennsylvania College of Technology, a freelance writer, and the author of more than thirty e-books and five print books. He was born in 1941 in Williamsport, Pa.
