I spend a lot of time talking and writing about logical fallacies because they are so prevalent in our society. Today, I wish to speak to the "heads I win, tails you lose" arguments put for by agnostics as proof that there is no God. After spending their entire lives defying God's commandments, they conclude there must not be a God when He decides to ignore theirs. On the rare instances where something miraculous occurs, they attribute it elsewhere, claiming it wasn't miraculous because it was going to happen anyway. The patient recovers from illness because of the doctor; God had nothing to do with it. The strange lights in the sky are the Aurora Borealis...in Oklahoma...not God. The rain that fell in St George UT wasn't because the people paid their tithe but because of a low pressure system in Asia created by a mass swarm of butterflies. If all else fails, they credit brownian motion which is scientific jargon for "random chance". Nothing is divine except for what they will. How convenient. It's a no-win scenario for the faithful, but it's not new. God does not take commands from men. We did not create Him, and we do not boss Him around the universe like the gods created by those who mock our faith and Faith. God intercedes in His way, on His timeline, and to His glory, not ours. There is a center of the universe, but it is not I; there is a Lord of the Harvest, but it is not I. Rather God's inaction is explained in other avenues of logic these logicians of smart fail to consider in their dogmatic desire to destroy our deity and declare Him defunct. God intercedes when it's right and in the best way, and sometimes that best way is to send someone with skin on. Sometimes you are His hands, voice, and answer.
God intercedes where we cannot. He sent His son to save all men who actually desired salvation from death and hell. All men are fallen, and as imperfect beings, eternally indebted to God for what we have and are as well as the consequences of our rebellions and mistakes, a Savior was necessary to vicariously pay the price for those who had nothing to pay. Many men try to save themselves or delude themselves into thinking all they have to do is recite a trite and short prayer in order for this to be so, but it is Christ who saves men from death and the devil. The other times God intercedes is where men cannot do anything in the way necessary or with the tools available. When Moses led Israel from Egypt God interceded first with a pillar of fire to hold back Pharaoh's army and then opened the sea only long enough for Israel to pass through on dry ground. When the lepers came to Christ, since they did not have antibiotics or aseptic technique, Christ healed them. When Midea invaded Israel, Gideon and his 300 defeated their entire army by tricking them into thinking they were completely surrounded by Israeli soldiers. If men are incapable, at least in the moment, God will act to help them. When the people in the Book of Mormon were about to be executed because the sign of the Savior had not appeared, it happened that very moment, and still men found a way to explain it away as coincidence, but in that moment, every believer was actually spared from death. Mordecai convinced Ester that if she did not act that God would raise up a replacement, but he also promised her that if she went that God would protect her from the king's decree that anyone would die who was not summoned, and God not only protected her but saved all of her people. When Daniel was thrown in the lion's den, even though the king wanted to spare him, God shut the mouths of the lions and spared His prophet. If man cannot or will not help, that's when God steps in Himself.
Sometimes God doesn't act because to do what we demand prevents something else from happening that is better. Many old and sick people are surrounded by doctors who lie, nurses who lie, friends who lie, as devils have trained them, promising life to the dying, encouraging the belief that sickness excuses every indulgence, giving the impression that a single deathbed confession ablates a lifetime of wickedness and debauchery. Sometimes it is better for the sick to die, not because God doesn't hear our prayers or care about our heartache, but because those prayers are about US. I remember as a youth a comedian mocking the religious for praying over everything with this bit: "Bless us to travel home safely and that nobody will be hurt while we rob this bank." Ok, if you're doing something wicked, don't expect God's help. Contrarily, sometimes bad things happen to good people. Shadrack Meshach and Abednego were allowed to be thrown in the fiery furnace because the miracle that they did not die converted the king. Naaman suffered from Leprosy, not because God hated him but because God wanted him to ask to be cured. Jonah was swallowed by a whale to protect him after he was thrown overboard until he came to his senses and decided to obey God. Sometimes blessings appear as trials. Sure, that's not fun or preferable, but it often catalyzes something better. I imagine the disciples were totally distraught when Christ actually died, but it was absolutely necessary for Him to die so that He could rise from and overcome death. Just because God doesn't intercede where and when we demand doesn't mean that He doesn't care. I mean, I asked Him to save my marriage, but I'm glad now that He ignored that request, because my freedom from her is preferable to that other request. If God always gave us what we demand, we might miss other opportunities. How many of you really want to still be in the first job you ever held for which you prayed? In the first relationship for which you asked His blessing? Sometimes, He's leading you to a land of promise by not trading what is best for you for what you think is best for you in the moment. God did this with Mordecai. He was some sort of palace official who sat in the gate, who, because of his position, discovered a plot to assassinate the king, told it to his neice Esther, who was able to save the king. If Mordecai had not been in that place, would anyone have passed on the news? If Esther had not been chosen as queen, would the messenger have been believed? God saved the king's life by putting Mordecai and Esther where they were.
Often, He expects us to do something about it instead. Far too many people opine a bleak situation and then ask why God doesn't do anything. Many of God's detractors illegitimately conclude that because He doesn't intercede that God is neither omnipotent nor loving, but how many of those people believe themselves to be uncaring? They can act. Do they, or do they just complain about God's inaction? God did do something. He sent YOU. The story is told of a man trapped atop his house in a flood who prays to God for help only to send away a motorboat, a rowboat, and a canoe, insisting that God will save him. When he dies, he complains to God about not being saved, whereupon God says, "I sent you three boats!" Many agnostics and atheists presume that because God does not appear in shower of fire and light that He does not because He is not. They believe in mother nature or "the force" or dragons or "the great green arklesiezure", none of which can be seen, but they discount our God because they do not see Him. They believe in science they don't understand but declare our faith sophistry when they do not try to understand it. It's very duplicitous. See, they do not know what CS Lewis said about it: "I believe in God as I believe in the noonday sun- not that I can see it but that by it I can see everything." You may not know, but we don't know if black holes actually exist. Much of what we understand about the universe only makes sense if they do exist. We can't prove God exists either, and much of what we understand depends on Him, but their pseudoscience is acceptable but our faith is the tool of their figurative butchery. Sometimes, God lights the path, enlightens the man, and makes us aware, not because He's impotent, but because He's expectant. He expects us to so something about the light and truth given to us. He expects us to act to help other people. Sometimes we do. At other times, conveniently we opine the lack of someone to act while we sit in our hammocks eating food and drinking wine that we didn't produce. I keep two photos above my desk at home- one of Washington's Crossing of the Delaware and one of Juno Beach in Normandy to remind myself of this principle: if you don't really care, you find an excuse, but if it truly matters to you, you will find a way. Forgive me a personal anecdote that's related but slightly off topic. About eight years ago, a friend of mine we'll call Sarah once marveled at my great qualities and wondered aloud why I was still single. I asked her, "Would you date me?" to which she replied that she would not. See, that's the problem. You expect people to act on information that you possess. Why should someone who lacks the information you possess make a better choice than you? Why should someone who does not know me date me if you, knowing me, choose not to date me? Pretzel logic dictates that I must not be desirable, even though Sarah knows and openly declared me to be. Pretzel logic dictates God must not care about my happiness because He didn't send me someone to marry. He did. He sent you, and you decided to date and marry someone else. You show by those choices what you truly desire, that despite whatever virtues I possess that something else, usually ephemeral, mercurial, or superficial, matters to you more. By virtue of our actions we show what really matters to us, and by virtue of so many people's inaction, we see that they don't care enough to do anything other than criticize God and those of His children placed in our way to show us what we truly desire. Again, we can turn to Esther. Hamaan wanted to kill all the Jews, and God could have swung down from heaven and laid waste to Hamaan. Instead, in the words of Mordecai: "For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" In other words, maybe God made you the queen so that you could save our people.
The prophet Isaiah sums it succinctly for our critics: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)" God loves us. God watches over us. God has a different way of responding because He has access to different information and means than we do. If there is nobody to act or nobody who can act, God will intervene. Sometimes what we think is best is actually bad, and God saves us from ourselves. I think of all the unanswered prayers for which I am grateful, and I bet you can too! People come into our lives for a reason. Sometimes it's for them to bless us. Sometimes it's for us to bless them. Sometimes God places people in our path because there are things for each of us to do that nobody else can do as well as we. Neal A Maxwell wrote: "God gives the picks and shovels to the 'chosen' because they are willing to go to work and get callouses on their hands. They may not be the best or most capable, but they are the most available” ( Deposition of a Disciple [1976], 54). Who knowest whether thou art come to the kingdom for a time as this? God cares and acts in our best interest, just sometimes in ways we don't expect or predict or prefer. God doesn't do things our way because God isn't like us. God doesn't follow our commandments, especially when we don't follow His. It's exceptionally arrogant of these people to claim there is no God because He does not do what they demand when they demand and after the fashion they demand. A being more powerful never bows to an inferior one. God will intercede. I don't know how or when or why or if you will notice, but I know that His intercession will probably take the form of someone you meet, someone seemingly insignificant. I know that sometimes He inspires students and strangers to speak words I cannot hear or refuse to recognize. God will send anyone to help you from whom you are willing to accept help, and then He will send others too, those chosen because they were available to help His children His way. God's work will be done, it will be done well, and it will be done on time. Act when He asks it of you. Do not force Him to raise up replacements for you.
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