Xanthippe
You ask: “If a bolt of lightning strikes
a person and stops their heart who directs that? What is the goal of
flesh-sizzling lightning?”
The principle of justice is inherent in the fabric of the cosmos.
In Chinese religion there is both an impersonal Tao or Heaven which gives
recompense according to PRINCIPLE and
Taoist deities who execute judgment.
“for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”—Galatians 6:7
Law of justice is inseparably connected with God’s very being. It
goes like this: God does only what is good, hence giver of happiness. (Mathew
5:44-48) So if you give happiness to others, happiness will return to you
(means by which it returns may vary from person to person depending upon each
one’s circumstance); and if you make others sad, sadness will return to you (by
what means matters not). Suppose I insulted you, and I may not be insulted by
anyone—because insult will not make me distressed. Hence God and nature will
make sure that I get distressed in other areas—may be through financial loss.
Then I cannot lament saying: “I do lot of charity work, and why I suffered such
a financial loss?”
So Law of justice is all about attitude, rather than action. An
innocent may SEEM to be punished. That is because we see only the tip of the
ice berg. The sowing may have been happened in the past—distant or immediate,
or committed crime yet not caught, or planned but not executed, or would happen
only in the future—it is all about attitude you carry, not necessarily about
action. It is like you going to a house [which you were sure nobody was in] in
the middle of the night with the intention of stealing; but could not steal as
the neighbors were awake! But in principle you are a thief in your
heart—something which you ONLY know whereas the rest of the world does not
know. (Compare What Bible says in Mathew 5:28) Now years later you are caught
for stealing about which you do not know anything. Knowing your plight, the
world may lament saying: the innocent is suffering! Take another case which I know personally: One
Elder’s daughter was detained in the Air Port as terror suspect, but later was
released as she could prove her innocence. But it caused to her and the whole
congregation much distress as she missed her flight. You would have blamed the
system! But wait! Soon she was disfellowshipped from congregation for a
long-term adulterous relationship with another Elder (which was going on secretly
for years). This shows the attitude of betrayal was already there in her heart as she was already married to an innocent Elder. If you give distress to someone, distress will
come to you—not necessarily the exact way in which it was given by you! If
you caused a suffering to someone as though a bolt of lightning struck him, you
are actually paving the way for such calamity to come to you.
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