Richard Steinpach's

HOW CAN GOD ALLOW SUCH THINGS?

Introduction

by Ifeoma Ikenze, MD

Many of the world's most distinguished scientists, philosophers, educators and religious and political leaders convened in San Francisco, California during September, 1995 at the State of the World Forum, a multi-year, global initiative sponsored by the Gorbachev Foundation. Their mission was to articulate the fundamental priorities, values and actions necessary to constructively shape our common future. They addressed the statement by Vaclav Havel, "There are good reasons for suggesting that the modern age has ended. Many things indicate that we are going through a transitional period, when it seems that something is on the way out and something else is painfully being born. It is as if something were crumbling, decaying, and exhausting itself while something else still indistinct were arising from the rubble."

The State of the World Forum sought to address such questions as global anarchy, and the roots of human violence, social and economic liberty versus license, the drug crisis, the reformation of science and technology and the search for Divinity in the midst of chaos. Many cameseeking answers to these questions in their personal lives. Everyone, from the highest political leader to the simplest man on the street acknowledges the progressive and distressing chaos and suffering in our world. Everywhere one looks one finds ration in the environment, our institutions, our individual lives as well as in our relationships and the greater society. We fear for our children and for the future. How did we get into this crisis situation? How are we to extricate ourselves from it?

Political summits are held, religious conferences convene, innumerable books are written...and the persistent questions "why" and "how" remain unanswered. As one of the three hundred and fifty participants in this historic event, I listened to each speaker and could only think to myself, "I wish every member of this forum would read thisbook!" For fundamentally, Steinpach has succeeded in exposing "how" and "why" the world is in its present state.

What, in fact, do people really mean when they say "How can God allow such things?" Perhaps when uttered angrily in a moment of desperation, it is a declaration of blame. Can we blame God for the particular circumstances and experiences of our lives? Expressed as a plea for help it, at the very least, reveals our confusion in the midst of disaster.

Many turn away from religion because they perceive a serious incongruity between their religious beliefs and the reality of their daily experiences. Science, in an explosion of new discoveries of unprecedented scope presents an evolving view of the cosmos that challenges our previously held ideas concerning God, creation and man. Through this view we can begin to observe an order and exactness in the microcosmic and macrocosmic manifestations of life that is mind-boggling in its complexity and yet awe inspiring in its uniformity, perfection and simplicity.

Where does man's freewill fit in this intricate picture? Where does his responsibility begin? As the creature with the most highly developed intellect, whose influence on the material world is so painfully visible, are we the masters of the universe as science leads us to believe? If so, how can we reconcile that notion with a religious belief that seeks to relinquish responsibility to a capricious, inscrutable or elusive God? Do we intuitively sense that each experience, whether painful or pleasant, is meant to serve a deeper purpose than we are willing to recognize?

Perhaps more importantly, the question "How can God allow such things?" brings to light our desire to understand how and why misfortune strikes. The wanting to understand the "how's" and "why's" of our misfortunes catapults us into our personal and collective mission as human beings. If we are not to abdicate all responsibility to an unfathomable God, who then is responsible?

In this book, Dr. Richard Steinpach leads us to an appreciation of the unity of the spiritual and material world, and man's pivotal role within it as an intelligent and responsible creature. By applying the basic Laws of Nature, Richard Steinpach has successfully brought together two worlds that have remained separated until now: the physical material world and the ethereal world of the spirit. If people truly understood how the Natural Laws, as explained by Steinpach, underpin everything spiritual and scientific, they would dramatically change how they live. With Steinpach's insight, we need never again cry despairingly, "How can God allow such things?" again, for the real question is, "How can man allow such things?"

As the architects of our own destiny, we can determine for ourselves--must determine for ourselves, in fact--whether or not we will use this brief time granted us on earth, to paraphrase Havel, in order to "crumble and decay, or to arise from the rubble." Dr. Steinpach shows how we are responsible not only to ourselves but also to a Higher Order in creation. Acknowledging this all-encompassing and awe-inspiring impartiality and perfection must bring every serious observer to a genuine recognition of God.