God Only Gives Us What We Can Handle
Whenever someone is in a difficult time in life or is dealing with difficult circumstances, religious people are quick to push their religious beliefs. They often say something like, “God only gives us what we can handle.”
While I understand that the believer has the best of intentions and I understand that the message they are trying to convey is that the person can get through their difficulty, I still think that this is a retarded statement. To me, it once again shows how little religious people think about the things they say.
For starters, it is not factually true that people are going to be able to handle their difficult situation. They may not be able to handle it or they may need help in handling it and that help better be more than from just God, because if a person is waiting for God’s help alone, he or she will have to wait a long time.
Second, this line of thinking flat out blames God for the difficulties. If God gives someone what he or she can handle, then God gave them their current difficulty. Blaming God for one’s problems is no different than blaming the boogieman. Not only is it not true, it takes responsibility away from the real blame. Many difficulties in life are the result of poor choices made by the one in trouble. It is important to recognize that a person may have caused his or her own difficulty and that he or she needs to learn from their mistakes. That may not get someone through the difficulty, but it could prevent future difficulties.
Some of our difficulties in life however are not our fault. They could be the fault of others or of circumstances beyond our control. If they are the fault of others, blaming God serves no purpose. We must place the blame on those who are to be blamed. Then we can confront those parties and hopefully prevent future difficulties. We live in a world with other people and we need to learn how to get along with each other.
If the difficulties are the fault of circumstances beyond our control, then reaching out to God is not going to help. We must reach out to each other for help. God didn’t give people these difficulties. God can’t help people out of them. While difficulties sometimes seem insurmountable, often times when we stop focusing on the problems and focus on solving small parts of the issues separately we can solve our problems ourselves or with a little help from friends, family, or human organizations created to help out.
Rome wasn’t built in a day and sometimes it may take more then a day to solve a particular problem or multiple problems. Often times we just need to remember that a long journey begins with a single step and that first step is usually the hardest step to take.
Dangerous Talker Note: This will probably be the last blog of this year. I will however be posting new articles on the Examiner Page during the winter break. If you enjoyed the blog this year, please consider donating a dollar or two. Your contributions are greatly appreciated.
Filed under: discussion, god, People of Reason, Religion, responsibility, Self-Help
