Natural Disasters and Theodicy...
I initially posted this as a response to some comments in my previous post, but decided to put this in the main journal in case people who have already read the former post don't go back. For what it's worth:
Questions about the existence of a god and whether the nature of this god is good or bad are usually raised in times of great tragedy like this. I think there are answers, but giving these answers in word instead of deed can be more destructive than the actual disaster itself.
I will submit that for one who calls him/herself a Christian, it is a dangerous, unproductive, and often terrible thing to broach the subject of god's purpose behind natural disasters. For one thing, we stand on arrogant ground to think that we have access to the thoughts and reasons of our god. For another thing, we again stand on arrogant ground to attribute things of tragedy and pain to him when the devastating effects of sin continue to echo through the cosmos in contradiction to the love and healing and justice that he proclaims to be the foundations of his character.
I've heard a fair number of people in the Christian community mention of late how there is certainly a connection between Katrina hitting New Orleans, and the famed debauchery of that city. I heard a pastor this past Sunday in Seattle mention that we should think about how the name Katrina (derived from Katherine) comes from a root that means "purity" or cleansing.
Shame on us if we think this way, and may our tongues be cut out before we are allowed to call ourselves Christians and make such proclamations.
There was/is no more sin in New Orleans than there is in any other city in the world. Be it Little Rock, Portland, St. Louis, Colorado Springs, Karachi, Bangalore, Cairo, Baghdad, Amsterdam, Shanghai, Bangkok, Rio de Janeiro, Kigali, Rome, or Jerusalem there is just as much sin in each city now as there has been in all of human history. When we get into the comparison game of which city is more sinful than this, that, or the other, and what their respective recompense has been, we are missing the point in a most destructive way.
Job's friends were wonderful at interpreting how Job's misfortunes were due to his sin; they were all rebuked in the end for their presumption to know the mind of god. Jesus in Luke 13:4-5 commented on this comparison of righteousness based on unnatural death: "Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." He then goes on to tell a parable that focuses on the fact that all of us who are not producing the fruit of righteousness in our lives are in need of repentance. It is our own selfishness and pride and hatred as humans that destroys us just as surely as hurricanes and falling towers.
I hope that when we read about huge typhoons and flooding wiping out whole villages in Bangladesh, and earthquakes ravaging mountainsides in Iran that we are not inclined to ponder their sinfulness and how god was issuing a warning for them to get it together.
I hope that our response, as I think Jesus' response is, is to cry at how terrible it is to live in a world terrorized by the effects of sin; the very same sin that is manifested in us when we curse someone or step over the beggar in the street as if he were a crack in the sidewalk instead of a fellow human being who needs to be loved both with soup AND friendship.
I believe following Jesus means responding to tragedies with love. Love is an intangible that is only complete when expressed in tangible ways. And when it is complete, there is nothing in this world that can shake our confidence in true love. It keeps record of no wrong. It casts out fear. It is the foundation of the new creation that god initiated with the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
Loving is much harder than pointing fingers and assigning blame, but heaven help us if we take the broad road with wide gates. Heaven help us.
Questions about the existence of a god and whether the nature of this god is good or bad are usually raised in times of great tragedy like this. I think there are answers, but giving these answers in word instead of deed can be more destructive than the actual disaster itself.
I will submit that for one who calls him/herself a Christian, it is a dangerous, unproductive, and often terrible thing to broach the subject of god's purpose behind natural disasters. For one thing, we stand on arrogant ground to think that we have access to the thoughts and reasons of our god. For another thing, we again stand on arrogant ground to attribute things of tragedy and pain to him when the devastating effects of sin continue to echo through the cosmos in contradiction to the love and healing and justice that he proclaims to be the foundations of his character.
I've heard a fair number of people in the Christian community mention of late how there is certainly a connection between Katrina hitting New Orleans, and the famed debauchery of that city. I heard a pastor this past Sunday in Seattle mention that we should think about how the name Katrina (derived from Katherine) comes from a root that means "purity" or cleansing.
Shame on us if we think this way, and may our tongues be cut out before we are allowed to call ourselves Christians and make such proclamations.
There was/is no more sin in New Orleans than there is in any other city in the world. Be it Little Rock, Portland, St. Louis, Colorado Springs, Karachi, Bangalore, Cairo, Baghdad, Amsterdam, Shanghai, Bangkok, Rio de Janeiro, Kigali, Rome, or Jerusalem there is just as much sin in each city now as there has been in all of human history. When we get into the comparison game of which city is more sinful than this, that, or the other, and what their respective recompense has been, we are missing the point in a most destructive way.
Job's friends were wonderful at interpreting how Job's misfortunes were due to his sin; they were all rebuked in the end for their presumption to know the mind of god. Jesus in Luke 13:4-5 commented on this comparison of righteousness based on unnatural death: "Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." He then goes on to tell a parable that focuses on the fact that all of us who are not producing the fruit of righteousness in our lives are in need of repentance. It is our own selfishness and pride and hatred as humans that destroys us just as surely as hurricanes and falling towers.
I hope that when we read about huge typhoons and flooding wiping out whole villages in Bangladesh, and earthquakes ravaging mountainsides in Iran that we are not inclined to ponder their sinfulness and how god was issuing a warning for them to get it together.
I hope that our response, as I think Jesus' response is, is to cry at how terrible it is to live in a world terrorized by the effects of sin; the very same sin that is manifested in us when we curse someone or step over the beggar in the street as if he were a crack in the sidewalk instead of a fellow human being who needs to be loved both with soup AND friendship.
I believe following Jesus means responding to tragedies with love. Love is an intangible that is only complete when expressed in tangible ways. And when it is complete, there is nothing in this world that can shake our confidence in true love. It keeps record of no wrong. It casts out fear. It is the foundation of the new creation that god initiated with the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
Loving is much harder than pointing fingers and assigning blame, but heaven help us if we take the broad road with wide gates. Heaven help us.