*sigh*
That's a big topic, but from a Christian perspective I'll try to answer as much as I can. I know life is horrible, and God really is horrible... if you think life is a happy thing. But according to Christian's, we live in a fallen world, which means essentially that everything is bad. More importantly, we caused it, through a common human trait that most of us know as rebellion. So the reason good things happening is a blessing from God is that everything really should be bad. Note that the strongest nation in the world, which we are, was founded on Christian principles, and that the further we move from those principles, the more morally bereft we become. Now it is arguable that there is no correlation, so I won't press the topic, but it does say something for the validity of Christian principles if not the existance of the God Christians say exist.
God's plan is not to make everybody happy or even to make Christians happy. It is to get as many people into heaven as possible despite the fact that we blew our one chance for a perfect world. If God tried to make everybody happy at the expense of redemption, he would surely be a terrible deity, because he would be sacrificing eternity for a mere century. So: Jenny's husband dying was a favor to him- forgive me if that sounds calous, but try to understand what I mean. I'll pray for his family (though I'm sure you're thinking that won't do them much good) but we live in a fallen world, and what happens to them is our own fault. It's your fault and my fault too, because we're not perfect. And only perfect people make a perfect world.
Why is God a man? The easiest answer to that is that He isn't. Jesus was a man because coming down and manifesting as a woman would have been just plain stupid. I'm sure if he were in a gender neutral society it would have been a toss-up or at least an evaluated choice. The reason God is referred to as 'He'- even to this day- is because we lived and still live in a male dominated society, and there is no third-person gender-nonspecific singular pronoun to use in its place. If you have an alternative suggestion I'd probably take it to hard since I think it gives Christianity a bad name, to be so intrinsically cheuvenistic.
Faith and forgiveness... faith requires that you realize that you are blind no matter what you do because nobody can know everything. That's not a bad thing, that's just life. I'm a Christian and I am strongly opposed to anybody who ascribes to the 'ignorence is bliss' maxim. I happen to love knowledge.
I don't know what to tell you about forgiveness, except that you'll someday reach a point in your life when forgiveness sounds awful good. The greatest sins are lying or stealing or even killing; they're the little things that happen every day and every hour; pride, hatred, bitterness. When you see how they effect your life and the life of others, conviction hits you like a brick and suddenly the prospect of divine forgiveness make a lot of sense.
Life can be cruel, I agree. But its not God's fault, its ours. It's the flip side to freewill. God could have made us robots and everything would have been perfect. It also would have been pointless. I, for one, am willing to accept the pain that comes with imperfection, because my free will means a great deal to me. I think therefore I am, right?
I hope Jenny's family can keep life in perspective in spite of the tragedy and perhaps even because of it. God does ease pain and He's the best friend that anyone could ever have. I know, because He's been there for me every time.
My words won't convince you or anyone else of anything, but I just want to point out that even if you don't agree, Christians are stupid or senseless. Given, the vast majority are, but that's just how people are. Some of us- still referring to Christian's- are smart, analytical, and won't take any of the cheesy mumbo jumbo about religion that makes it more like a gimmick and less like salvation.
~Dan
