Why Calamity?

Why calamity? That question seems to have been around since the beginning of time, but the answer is simply as follows:

God is training and screening people for “Eternity.” Therefore, this old creation could be considered as a “Training and Testing Universe,” from which God selects people for positions on the “Ground Floor” of His “New Corporation” in the New Heaven and Earth and even above and beyond it!

Although He already knew, God wanted to show ourselves and the whole universe how each of us would react to various circumstances – and reward us accordingly.

The end result for those who pass the toughest testing is beyond anything we could imagine, as we become members of His Own Heavenly Body, of His Flesh and of His Bones! Note: we assume the reader is aware that the term “Corporation” is derived from the Latin word for “Body” which is “Corpus” – as in “Corpus Christi,” which means “Body of Christ” – a lovely city by that name is located in Texas, which the author often visited while in Navy flight training at nearby Kingsville, Texas.

So don’t take adversity or calamity as being a useless hindrance, but as an opportunity to truly excel! It’s what tests our mettle and shows our true grit!

Of course, those who pass the lower testing levels also achieve a great reward, which is, at the least, eternal paradise on the New Earth!

Yet people claim that if God existed, there would be no adversity or calamity on earth. WHAT!!! Let me get this straight. Are they saying that we should all live in this present, training universe in a “Bed of Roses,” with little or no reason to grow or learn to overcome? Even normal growth and maturity requires endurance and overcoming hardship, from babyhood to adulthood, without which we would become little more than overgrown babies! Of course some of those do exist, but are pitied and avoided.

Worse yet, are they saying God can’t exist if He allows adversity and calamity? Or is it the overgrown babies speaking?

Perhaps we should consider that Jesus Christ was, and is, God in human flesh – and He endured more adversity and calamity than anyone else ever has or ever will! So God has obviously not confronted mankind with anything which He Himself hasn’t been confronted – and in the vast majority of cases – far LESS than that with which He was confronted!

Looks like some haven’t done their homework before making absurd claims, but then again they seem to not be interested in the truth anyway.

Perhaps the most important issue is that this present world is absolutely TEMPORARY! It’s not the end but the training, ground floor of an entirely New Beginning! We often get the idea that time is almost over as the future prophecy of the last Book of the Bible is near upon us, but that’s not the case at all! God is just now in the process of building the Real, Permanent World of the Eternal Future and we’re all in on the deal!

Trillions of years from now, perhaps everyone will look back in time and recall how the Whole New World started – complete with adversity and calamity! We may look back at 2016 as one of our best years. And we won’t regret it, but will glory in it, praising God for it – especially the adversity and calamity – without which there would be no glory!

Does everything necessarily have the concept of “Time” in it? Of course not! But God has implemented the concept of time into our daily lives so that we may complete our individual missions while overcoming adversity and calamity – just as He did!

However, after God completes His current mission, members of the Church today, of His Eternal Body, will exist beyond the limits of time, space or matter. We will be able to travel trillions of light years in less than a second and relish the Fullness of Life in our New Home “Far above all heavens.” And when we reflect upon it, we will feel a sense of extreme gratitude toward God for including adversity and calamity in our lives!

Think about it. Even now, we learn how much others care for us by observing how much they are willing to suffer for us – enduring adversity and calamity, and they learn the same about us. Medals are awarded, including the Congressional Medal of Honor, for those who bravely suffer the most adversity and calamity in showing their love and caring spirit for their comrades in arms. Some such Medals were awarded to soldiers who intentionally fell on grenades to save their buddies. Does a grenade produce adversity and calamity? Who allowed that?

Of course, those who bravely suffer for others in such a noble way will be greatly rewarded – both by God and mankind – forever.

Roger Conner
US Navy pilot (retired)

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