This weekend I watched the movie Ran. It is King Lear in a Japanese setting. In one scene, the court jester laments the death of his lords, blames the gods for this tragedy, and is reproached with the following words:
“Do not curse the gods! It is they who weep. In every age they’ve watched us tread the path of evil, unable to live without killing each other. They can’t save us from ourselves.” [1]
We Christians are like the court jester. We think that God’s sovereignty means God must control all events in our world and many blame God for the misfortune that befalls them. While God is in control it does not mean he causes all events to happen. It is us humans who are the cause of the evil in our world, not God. The problem is that we do not want to accept our responsibility for this evil.
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[1] Akira Kurosawa, Director, Ran, Nipipon Herold Films, 1985.
