{"id":69885,"date":"2020-02-09T18:20:03","date_gmt":"2020-02-09T16:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=69885"},"modified":"2023-09-04T17:29:57","modified_gmt":"2023-09-04T14:29:57","slug":"a-question-without-answer-why-do-the-wicked-prosper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-question-without-answer-why-do-the-wicked-prosper\/","title":{"rendered":"A Question Without Answer: Why Do The Wicked Prosper?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[391,436,412],"acf":{"old_id":"69885","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33992,"related_cahpter":"412","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Don\u2019t sit on the sidelines and contemplate suffering: lean in and help those who suffer\u00a0\u00a0\r\n\r\n","content":"

Jeremiah launches this chapter with one of humanity\u2019s timeless questions: \u201cwhy does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are betrayers tranquil?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The question is more than an inquiry. It is a cry of shock, of anguish, and of rage. How is it possible, in a world governed by a loving God, for there to be such senseless suffering, gross injustice, and the apparent triumph of evildoers time and time again?<\/span><\/p>\n

Reality is an affront to our moral compass.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond our sense of injustice, the apparent wellbeing of evil people and the success of their plots shreds any sense we might have of a lawful universe in which compassion or goodness have a self-preservatory role.<\/span><\/p>\n

The world as it is just doesn\u2019t seem reliable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes, the power of a gut-wrenching question transcends even the possibility of an answer. After all, religious people have been attempting answers to the \u201cbad things to good people\u201d question for as long as literature has existed. We are told that it is all for the best. Or it\u2019s a mystery. Or that nothing happens without a reason. Or that we will know by and by.<\/span><\/p>\n

None of the answers satisfy, and often they simply make it worse.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wisely, then, this chapter in Jeremiah raises the ancient question, but never offers an answer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Neither God, nor the universe, provide a verbal response that makes the problem go away. Instead, we are faced with a mute appeal to take a different route. Instead of seeking a comprehensive rationale that makes the current levels of tragedy tolerable, the silence pushes us to seek a remedy in our own engagement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t sit on the sidelines and contemplate suffering. Instead, lean in and help those who suffer. Ours is not to reason why, ours is the task of sharing the load, feeding the hungry, sheltering the outcast.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":69886,"id":69886,"title":"jer12-wicked3","filename":"jer12-wicked3.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer12-wicked3.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/a-question-without-answer-why-do-the-wicked-prosper\/jer12-wicked3\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer12-wicked3","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":69885,"date":"2020-02-09 16:19:49","modified":"2020-02-09 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