Looking at all the computer models and video of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, you can easily come away with the idea of divine intervention – that God reached out and tilted his head at the exact moment of the shot, sparing his life. I get the inclination to say that, I really do, but I never could because it implies God decided not to protect Corey Comperatore. It hasn’t caused a “crisis of faith” for me as much as it reinforced one.
I understand the "God has a plan" idea, but that's probably of little comfort to Corey’s family. If God has the power to protect everyone, why didn't He do it? I know there's no answer, at least that we can comprehend, but I can’t help but ask the question and ponder the possibilities.
I do wish I could be someone who simply accepts. There are a lot of ways to finish that last sentence, but I think just stopping it encapsulates all of them.
On the concept of faith, I have it. I believe in God, but I can’t not question things. Maybe that makes me a bad Catholic, or maybe that makes me a typical Catholic, I don’t know. It’s not something I’m particularly comfortable talking about.
I know a lot of people of strong faith. That’s not to say they never have their doubts, and maybe they’re me inside and don’t want to admit it, but they do not seem to question things the way I do.
I don’t mean to imply they’re blindly obedient or drones going about their business, it’s that they “accept” much easier than do, or at least seem to. I can’t be the only one, right?
I do envy the people who have that calm about them when something happens – the “God has a plan” people who, in the face of anything, seem to accept what they cannot change.
I, too, accept when I cannot change – I’m not trying to build a time machine or anything – but I do work like hell to shape what hasn’t yet come to be. If there is a divine plan making effort null and void, I’m wasting my time, right? If I have the ability to create my own destiny, then there can’t be a divine plan, right?
Interesting thoughts can come from anywhere, and the otherwise horrible movie “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” the character of Lex Luthor utters a line that stuck with me since I first saw it. It’s, “If God is all-powerful, He cannot be all-good. And if He is all-good, then He cannot be all-powerful.”
I get that I shouldn’t consider questions of faith through the filter of comic book movies, but it stuck with me. It bothers me still because it makes sense, doesn’t it?
In the context of the assassination attempt Saturday, if there was the hand of God turning Trump’s head, why didn’t it deflect away from the father of two, or the others who were injured as well?
I’m sure some people think it’s blasphemy to ask, while the very same thought has occurred to others. I don’t know what separates the two groups, just as I’m sure there are other groups mad that God intervened and still others who haven’t given it a second thought, ever.
I can’t speak for any other group, all I can do is wonder about what I’ve laid out here.
Hellen, Corey Comperatore’s widow, is quoted in the New York Post as saying she told President Trump “the same thing I told everyone else. He (Corey) left this world a hero and God welcomed him in. He did not die in vain that day.”
That is a beautiful sentiment, and it appears to bring her much needed peace, and thank God for that. But it is something that escapes me.
Maybe someday I’ll get it. Maybe I won’t. If I could see into the future I would have won the lottery by now.
I’m glad it’s that way for the people for whom it is that way, it must be helpful to deal with all manner of adversity. I just stress out and work to find ways to make it better or overcome it. Maybe that’s a fool’s errand. Maybe there’s some middle ground the other people truly occupy that I don’t know about; that my thinking is too “black and white”? I don’t know. But at least I know enough to know I don’t know, and have the ability to seek the answers, even though I may never find them. At least not in this life. Does that make me wrong, normal, a sinner, crazy? I guess only time will tell.
Derek Hunter is the host of a free daily podcast (subscribe!) and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses, and host of the weekly “Week in F*cking Review” podcast where the news is spoken about the way it deserves to be. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter.