All posts by Ashley Strange

I am studying Communications and English at Trinity University In Washington, D.C. I spent five years in the D.C. foster care system after my mother passed. Life for me has always been a struggle. Specifically, school. I thank God that I was able to graduate despite being told I wouldn't. My learning disability seemed to be too much for teachers to handle; so, I was casted away and did not learn much. After entering foster care I began to go to school everyday and managed to graduate with a 2.7 GPA. I consider myself an advocate and an example for foster youth and for those who were told to basically give up. To this day, I find it amazing that I got my High School Diploma, and will soon be a college graduate. My advice to people like me is to never give up and always strive for success!
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Evil and Suffering: Why Does God Allow it? Why Can’t Humans Be All Good?

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why_did_god_allow_the_possibility_of_evil_and_suffering_tWhy does God Allow evil and suffering? Why is it that God didn’t make us all good and not evil?

If God made humans completely good, there would be no free will because God is not “able to create a world in which there are free human creatures without, thereby, permitting the occurrence of considerable evil.” (Rowe, 117). However, because God allows evil in order for humans to have complete freedom, some think that God “is probably either evil or both good and evil.” (Johnson, 120). But God is not evil or both evil and good, he is all good. This does not mean that God does not have the power to do evil, but God “will never exercise” that power (Rowe, 7). Because God gave us free will, does this make God responsible for natural disasters and evil? Yes, the fact that God allows free will to people is the cause of evil and disasters. But Satan as well as humans are also responsible. Free will means that Humans can choose to stay on the path towards Heaven or stray away to the path of Hell. Satan manipulates the freedom of humans, which makes Satan the indirect cause of destruction and evil.

Most Christian theologians and philosophers reject a world without suffering and harm because suffering and evil isThe-Problem-of-Evil_Eastside1 a part of our moral development. Suffering and evil is necessary in order to teach people. It’s the same as a young child learning what hot is. For instance, a child likes to play around the stove and dose not yet know or understand why it’s dangerous. One day the child touches the stove while it’s on and gets a little burn. The child did not like that feeling so the child won’t touch or go near it again. That child has just learned what happens when you touch something really hot. That’s what God wants from us; God wants us to learn from experiences through temptations, suffering, pain, and free will. Free will is the key to all pain and suffering, and God values our freedom so much that he risk us doing something extremely evil in hope that we learn and change.

References

Rowe, William L. “The Idea of God.” Philosophy of Religion: An Introduction. 4th ed. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth/Thomson, 2007. Print.
Rowe, William L. “The Problem of Evil.” Philosophy of Religion: An Introduction. 4th ed. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth/Thomson, 2007. Print.
B.C. Johnson: Why Doesn’t God Intervene to Prevent Evil?

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INVINCIBLE

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Beautifully written

tHE tERRY tREE

Invincible

When everyone else has left
When every expectation is not met
When emptiness sets in
And heartache finds a way to begin
You are there
Again and again

My eternal light
Love of my life
Under every rock
Every leaf I overturn
Every note I sing
Every tear that I cry
Every ripple
That I swim
You carry me
You are my
Eternity
My sacred
Home

With you I am
Never alone
Never alone
Even in the darkest alley ways
We find light
A light so bright
Even in the darkest of
All nights
Midnight black
Pitch packed
The cards are stacked
Against the atmosphere
Manipulated by
The world
If but to
Curl up
And fade
Away

No
Not another day…

The Universe is so big
Filled with
Friends I thought were friends
Yes even when all friendships end
You do not leave my side
You do not run…

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Foster Care

How It Feels To Emancipate

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Girl holding a sign that reads
myskyisfalling.com

Knowing that in a couple of days you will no longer have the same support from the Child Welfare Agency is scary. Children or young adults who have been in the foster care system and emancipated out at 18 or 21 experience financial problems and or homelessness. This fact can bring feelings of frustration, fear, anxiety, depression, and loneliness. Many foster youth don;t have the support of their families; so once they emancipate, all of the responsibilities are on them. This is not to say that youth who’ve emancipated shouldn’t get responsibilities, but let’s be honest.

How many 18 and 21 year olds can fully support themselves? After care services are provided, sometimes, but is that really enough? Sure, a $1,000 gift card to target can help furnish your home; that is, if you can afford a home at 18 and 21. Sure, Rapid Housing is available for one year to help you pay rent, but what happens when that year is over? And sure you can get a job, but what happens if you’re in college full-time and grades start to slip because you’re working to try to survive “adulthood?” Welfare is available,– well, kind of– but with how screwed up the “Land of Freedom and Opportunity” is, can we really say this is enough? Can we truly tell someone on the verge of emancipation, while considering the cost of living, that this is enough? Think about it.