If God is so Great, why can't He just create a world without any pain whatsoever? I don't want people to stop talking to God. I'm not even angry at God for something terrible like cancer. I just want people to think.

From the moment I first turned the television on, I couldn't get comfortable with the heroism narrative. The Boston Marathon bombings didn't speak to me of the goodness of humanity in the face of evil, but the corruption of our species and the ways we try our best to control it.

No, in moments like these, all our differences -- age, background, nationality, ethnicity, gender, and yes, religion and beliefs -- are secondary. First and foremost we are human beings. And we want to help.

It is our civic and moral duty as Americans, and as people of faith, to reach out to our fellow citizens and to call on our Senators to act. Compassion is not a passive virtue. We are called on by God to give voice to all who have lost loved ones to gun violence. We are called to act.

The Batman trilogy is a brainy thriller. It asks us to leave our simplistic notions of good and evil at the door and to recognize that in our new and dangerous world, we cannot ignore evil.

I've always believed that when you pray for God's will, you are praying simply for the strength and wisdom to choose what God would want you to choose. In other words, you aren't praying for God to intervene in this world. You're praying to enable yourself to do what God would have you do.

In the midst of the terror, in the void of his howling absence, in my absolute lack of control, God had been hotly present. Shaken out of myself by the visitation of horror, the world slowed enough for me to really look at it.

As the debate about gun control and regulation escalates this year, the reality of gun life in our cities has not surfaced in the largest media outlets. Fear of guns and fear of gun owners tend to dictate the boundaries and terms of our discussions. What if we stopped living in fear?

The conundrum is how much it matters that someone who has done such real good for real people is now revealed to have built much of his achievement and image on a foundation of deception, cheating and lies.

Any attempts to infuse suffering with rich meaning shows callous indifference to the heartache of fellow humans. Suffering does not leave us ennobled but broken, morose and bitter.

God allowed humans the choice of evil and good. But for parents in Connecticut, Syria or Afghanistan, that won't fill the emptiness of a child gone.

In the wake of this terrible tragedy, may those of us who have watched in horror at the pain of those families and the loss of those children have the strength not to seek comfort but to embrace challenge.

Parents, children and teachers woke up last week in Newtown, Conn., and had no idea that life as they knew it was over. But what I must say this morning is this: Darkness does not win. Jesus was born, lived and died so that darkness does not win.

Having spent this week celebrating light during this Season of Light, we now are called upon to be face to face with a darkness that also runs deep. We are beset with the lingering fears and heartbreak that will be imprinted by this terror. How can we turn once more to the light?

The answer to the Problem of Evil is simple: It is up to us to use whatever influence we can, whether secular or divine, to promote peace, justice and good will in the world.

Everything doesn't happen for a reason, if by this we mean evil is a part of God's plan. But God does ensure that evil will not prevail and that light will always, ultimately, overcome the darkness.

The news about the school shootings in Connecticut reached me just before Shabbat, the seventh day of Hanukkah. Candle-lighting seemed more needed than usual that evening.

Although the murders prompted many questions regarding the existence of God, why God allows such things and the problem of evil, one question stands out sharply from the rest: Where was God on that dreadful morning?

This question was asked via Twitter by the younger sister of 27-year-old Victoria Soto, who is being hailed as a heroine for saving the lives of her students while giving up her own.

What is the answer to this madness? What can be done to stop such senseless violence? Would that the answer was as easy as gun control. How great it would be if that could change such a systemic problem.