For true believers, faith in God does not require proof. I accept that. However, that does not make it any easier. I have speculated most of my life why God made the world the way it is.
Is the world what it is because that’s the way it was naturally meant to be, or did we in our arrogance and God-like pride, foul our own nest creating the suffering and misery that so many souls endure?
The Bible tells us, we razed our own nest with our conceit and lust for individual power.
Accepting our obvious flawed human nature, I would think a loving God would at least leave us footprints – some examples of His presence? This is a question that is not going to be resolved in this short essay.
However, I can, speculate. I believe a loving God creates beacons for us to witness as signs of His existence. Such a person was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. While we may have created this valley of tears, God, in his loving mercy and tolerance gave us this heroic figure to inspire and lead us to Him.
Dietrich, a Lutheran minister, lived during the rise of the Nazi evil that swept Europe. As a leader of his Church, his followers wanted him to be safe, so he could carry on his ministry in exile rather than in his native Germany.
He did escape to the United States to continue his ministry. However, his convictions and never-ending belief in God’s destiny for him brought him to the early conclusion that he could not remain in safety while his flock suffered in his native country. He had to be with his flock. His conscience allowed him no other choice. So he returned knowing full well the inevitable consequences of his actions.
After his return to Germany, he could not let his voice be silent. His message of God’s love could never be reconciled with the brutality of the Nazi philosophy. He joined the German Secret Service and became a double agent. He used his position to help rescue Jews from Germany.
It was only a question of time before he was arrested. For many, this would be the end of the story. For Dietrich Bonhoeffer, it was the beginning of his - his last days in prison, and his eventual execution by the Nazis became his cross – a cross he bore as only a true lover of God could.
If ever God created a saint whose life by its very existence is a beacon of faith for all of us to follow - it is this man. For many this would be the end of the story. For Dietrich Bonhoeffer it was the true beginning of his.
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“Cheap grace is preaching forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession. … Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, and grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate." Dietrich Bonhoeffer
http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/martyrs/dietrich-bonhoeffer.html
Recommended reading: Books by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Life Together
The Cost of Discipleship
Letters and Papers from Prison