I myself grew up in a Christian home, and I've always liked music. I remember my parents (mainly my mom) threw away a mix tape of heavy metal I had as a young boy because it was too dark. It dealt with death, drugs, sex, etc. The funny thing is I didn't care about the lyrics, I just liked the songs. So then they bought me some Michael W. Smith and Stryper. I thought the lyrics were interesting because they dealt with spiritual stuff, which I loved, but the music was complete crap. We had battles over my music for years. Later in high school, my best friend asked me to bring my Bible over. It wasn't like him to even say the word "Bible." I brought it over and he had the book to "Achtung Baby" over and told me some verses to look up. He showed me how lyrics from "Until the End of the World" and how they were plucked from the Bible.
This turned my world upside down.
The coolest band has Biblical lyrics? WTF?
From this, and then the whole idea of MacPhisto and his origins coming from Bono's inspiration found in C.S. Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters" taught me one of the most important lessons in my life:
My faith can be Biblical, yet my own. I can be creative as a Christian, and find that source of artistic expression through God. Christians don't have to be boring.
I've never been the same since. These guys, with the exception of Johnny Cash, not only made Christianity cool -- they made it relevant. (Hence,
www.relevantmagazine.com, whose founders have been called "U2 Christians." )
butter7 - After reading your posts I can tell you have a great heart, including a deep sense of what people go through. The world needs more people like you.
The questions you're raising are tough to answer, and worse yet, maybe their answers are hard to accept. Pain is real and we all experience it -- sadly, some experience incredible amounts of it. Without cluttering this up with Bible verses, I encourage you to do just a little research on the issue. It's a great question, and I'd hate to see you dismiss God simply because you haven't researched it enough to arrive at an answer you're comfortable with. And maybe you'll feel the same after you look into the Christian perspective - I don't know.
My personal feeling is that the evil in the world is our fault. God allows it, because of the rule of free will. If there wasn't free will, we'd be pointless robots. However, I believe God interacts with us and comes to our side during times of trouble. I believe he can give us "peace that surpasses all understanding" as the Bible says. I believe he is love like the Bible says.
I guess one question to ask your self is what exactly is bad? I know stuff like the holocaust and the Virginia Tech stuff are horrible, horrible things. Evil. But what about other stuff that seems wrong? I know people who have gone through hell -- cancer, other diseases, paralyzing injuries, etc., and they thank God for them. They're lives are better now. They're closer to God, their families and they understand life better. They're happier. That, at the very least, may answer part of your question.
On a larger scale, the same line of thinking can take place when considering Jesus. God's son, sent down here in enemy occupied territory and teaches his followers about God and love, and what happens? He dies nailed to beams of wood. Humiliation was part of it. Torture was part of it. Death was part of it. I'm sure his early followers felt like you do about God after that.
Then he rose again. He conquered death. And through that, we can, too, living eternally with God. A God who can identify with our worst pain AND provide eternal life through it is a God I want to follow, even though there's still tough questions. And without sounding cheesy, I think the reason U2 gave you hope in humanity is because through their own humanity they've shown us all what it means to live like Christ. I know Bono's relationship with Christ is his guide for the day. I wish my own relationship with God was as strong as his.
Thanks for sharing where you're at. I hope I don't sound preachy, but I did want to put that out there in an attempt to offer another perspective.
God bless, butter7.