Reflection Paper: The Image of God, by Yvonne White

My image of God is a just God. God does not allow bad things to happen to people; instead, he give people choices to make. It is up to people to make their choices in life. To add, some people believe there is no God because of the injustice they face every day and take matters into their own hands, only to make things worse. Nevertheless, there is a God who sees that justice prevails in the end.

Justice can take days, months or even years. However, God will see the innocents enjoy the fruits of their labors, while he will never let wicked people go unpunished. For example, there is a Nigerian movie called Soul to Soul, which is about a father-in-law who tried to poison his daughter-in-law because the girl’s mother refused to sleep with him. However, it was the husband of the girl who was poisoned. The father-in-law and the community accused her of killing her husband and seized everything she had worked hard for. In the end, the father-in-law confessed to trying to kill her after he had saw the son’s ghost. Before the father-in-law died, he gave her a million naira to begin a new life.

Another Nigerian movie is Blood Sisters, about a younger sister named Ester who killed her older sister Gloria out of jealousy. She allowed the brother-in-law to impregnate her and she started to mistreat the children of her late sister. Nevertheless, Ester suffered from a terrible miscarriage and became blind. She confessed to her widowed mother and the villagers to killing Gloria. The society, especially her mother, rejected her. Ester committed suicide by hanging herself. Ester did not get any funeral since it is a big offense in the Igbo Culture in Nigeria to take one’s own life. Moreover, Gloria’s children got a new mother who truly loved and cared about them. This shows that God exists and He never abandons His children.

God looks like a merciful God because no matter how many times people offend Him, He helps them in their troubles. In the Old Testament, when the Israelites committed sins by worshipping false Gods, and when they were faced with difficulties such as the Philistines attacking them, it was God who saved them by sending prophets to lead them on the right path. God gives people hope and faith. As long as they continue to worship Him and believe in Him, good things will come to them in the end on Earth, if not in heaven. For example, in the Jane Eyre novel, Helen Burns suffered from injustice in Lowood Institution for Girls, especially from her cruel teacher Miss Stretchead. Helen bore this suffering in silence, which Jane Eyre could not understand. Helen explained that if one did not bear his or her cross, that person would not gain anything in the future. In addition, Helen died of consumption, but she would be enjoying the afterlife. Likewise, Jane Eyre also suffered injustice from her relatives and Mr. Brocklehurst. But at the end, she became a teacher, governess to Adele, and wife to Mr. Rochester and lived in Fernand.

Kusher asked how God could bring suffering to those who did everything “right.” He meant that no matter how hard people work or do things to please God, they have to bear the burdens so that in the end, they will become happy again and still believe in God. This is because God knows what is best for His children. For instance, in the story of Job, God made a bet with Satan, telling him that no matter what happened, Job would continue to remain his humble servant. Satan doubted this. To prove Satan wrong, God allowed the killing of his children, servants and animals. He allowed Job to have a severe illness. However, Job refused to curse God, even though his wife and friends persuaded him to do so. Job remained faithful to the Lord. In the end, God was pleased with Job and blessed him with new children, servants and animals. God also cured Job of his disease.

When we suffer, God may be testing our faith. To illustrate, God told Abraham to kill his only son as a sacrifice. Abraham was upset because God had promised him he would be made father of all nations. Nevertheless, Abraham was willing to do what God had commanded him to do. As Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac, an Angel of the Lord told Abraham not to kill Isaac since God was pleased with him for being obedient. If Abraham had gone against God’s wish, Israel would not have become a nation.

God sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, so that anyone who believed in him shall not perish but have eternal life. This is why Jesus died on the cross, to save mankind from sin. If Jesus had not died an untimely death, man would continue to sin, and there would be no everlasting life. To add, there would have been no Catholic Church, good news and the confession of sins. In fact, the world would have been wiped out a long time ago. Furthermore, Jesus told his disciples to go and preach the good news to all countries and to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus also told them they would suffer hatred and wickedness for His sake. Even if the disciples witnessed bondage, they should learn to bear it with patience, and they must never give up since Jesus would be with them always until the end of time. It would also prove that people from all over the world would continue to remember them.

To sum up, people should learn to accept suffering and death as a part of life instead of the end because no condition is permanent, and good always overcomes evil by doing the will of the Lord. It might be difficult, as it was for Job, Abraham, and Jesus Christ. However, they obeyed God and were blessed with fulfillment from Jehovah. In this way, people would become happy again and also have hope both in Earth and in Heaven.