Andrew Cooper | Contributing Writer
The week between the end of SU elections and Reading Week, the Dublin University Christian Union ran their annual Missions Week. Every year the Missions Week aims to fulfil the CU’s goal of making Christ known throughout campus; and alongside several events, stands are put up in the Hamilton and Arts Blocks during the week. During the Monday and Tuesday of the Missions Week, those manning the stall asked passers-by to answer the question, ‘If you were God for a day, what would you do or change?’ writing their answer on a post-it note. 129 answers were provided. Many answers didn’t explicitly talk about changing something about the world while others addressed perhaps less pressing issues (see “Build a chocolate house”, “Make Dragons Real =D”, and “Cheaper Drinks in the Pav”), but the majority addressed grave issues that we face in our world.
Some of the answers explicitly mentioned equality or inequality, and included “Gender Equality”, “Economic Equality”, and “Equal Access to Freshwater”. Other answers mentioned compassion or empathy (such as “Soften Hearts,” or “Make Love thy Neighbour a Law”). This concern with lack of empathy often extended to the ceasing of wars (“World Peace” was given thrice), and many people decried people’s prejudices (such as “Change Attitudes on Homosexuality”, “Revert Prejudices,” and “Close[d]-Mindedness”).
One answer pointed out “Exploitation – Nasty World – Horrible Results,” and another set out to “End Human Trafficking.” These selections of answers cover a broad range of problems, particularly inequality, that are clearly at the forefront of many people’s minds when they think about what’s wrong with the world. Some answers presumed this inequality often results from prejudice or lack of empathy. One answer read simply “Hatred.”
Some of the answers pointed to how we treat the world around us, not just the other people in it. We saw answers like “More Care of the Planet,” or “Stop Environmental Problems.” The fact that these often human-caused problems were used as answers for this question reflects a certain despair about whether humans can fix these problems at all. One answer in particular sums up this general despair: “Why go to the bother of creating us?”
To some, it wasn’t enough to pinpoint one thing that needed fixing. “Fix Everything” came up twice. The theme of suffering and pain was also generally pointed to, giving rise to several answers like “Get rid of suffering,” and “Remove Pain from the World.” And to a few, it seemed like the best thing to do wasn’t to try to improve things at all, but to start over entirely, with the answers “Start Over” and “Clean Slate” appearing. Clearly to some, the problems that we see around us in the world are symptoms of a terminal illness, and it’s simply pointless for even God to try and fix them. A few of the answers questioned God’s work in creating Earth – “I’d regret creating evil things,” for example. And one of the more enigmatic answers – “Anything” – perhaps suggests that changing anything at all would make a better world than the one we have now.
Some of the answers explicitly come from a position of not believing in a God (“I’d Make Myself Exist :)”, “God Doesn’t Exist!”). Others come from an explicitly Christian position (such as “Nothing, He is sovereign!” and “Nothing, He knows everything”). The answers run the gamut, but most openly point out the problems with the world. The theme of the Missions Week was ‘Has God Failed?’ The answers provided at the stands show quite clearly that the idea that God isn’t doing the best job is one that’s occupying many minds. Only six of the answers given said specifically that they wouldn’t change anything.
What, then, can we tell from this informal survey? It’s all well and good writing an article in The University Times describing the answers, but where do we go from there? It’s clear many are despairing about the problems in the world, and some see no way of resolving them. Most pointed to problems caused by humans, particularly their selfishness and closed-mindedness. As a result, inequality and suffering abound. As it is put to the Israelites in the book of Haggai, Chapter 1, verse 6: “You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.” We often suffer need and prejudice, and may often gain little for our toiling, and yet know that many in the world suffer far worse than we do, so what can we make of this except despair? We live in a fallen, imperfect world, and that means struggling with sin and its consequences on a daily basis. But the Bible also offers the way out.
As it says in Romans Chapter 3, verses 23-24: “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus….” The meaning of Christ’s death on a cross was a sacrifice in our place. The punishment earned by mankind’s sin was, out of mercy, poured onto Christ in his pains, so that all of us who sin can find redemption. In the Christian worldview, there is no need for despair, for through Christ’s sacrifice all of us can look forward to a restoration, both of ourselves and of the world. I would say that God has not failed, and that the Easter Death and Resurrection is the greatest victory of all.
The English Standard Version was used for the Bible verses quoted in this article.
