Re: What kind of God would allow a deadly tsunami?

George,
Interesting perspective. When I first read the quote, I saw it as an
indictment of the sort of 'Where was God?' pablum that was mass forwarded
by email after the horrors of 9/11. I found much of that to be
theologically offensive.

I couldn't agree with you more with respect to the numbers and the
theodicy problem. The only difference is that large disasters tend focus
everyone's mind on the issue at the same time. Thus we get editorials in
the Washington Post as opposed to a single letter-to-the-editor in the
local weekly (or a private conference with a pastor.)

What interests me most in your reply is the statement about "problems of
moral evil that in some ways are more serious" than (by implication)
natural evil. Probably showing my theological naïveté, I had assumed that
moral evil was somewhat explained by the sum of bad choices made by a
fallen humanity estranged from God (i.e. We [mankind] have no one to
blame but ourselves) whereas natural evil in the Creation must be
attributable directly to God the Creator (since I reject the hypothesis
that man's sin 'broke' the entire creation). As a geologist, I think we
have a good hypothesis for the proximal cause - an earthquake generated by
a sudden release of stress and the subsequent movement of a subducting
oceanic plate creates a force that is transmitted into the overlying water
column. But at a deeper level, that causal explanation seems inadequate
for the tragedy.

There is a corollary issue with disasters that concerns me. Some friends
of a friend of mine (hearsay if I ever heard say!) were vacationing in
Thailand on that morning. Hearing screams and the roar of approaching
waves, they ran from their bungalow, climbed separate trees, and were both
spared. In their accounts of the event, they credit God's special
providence for the miraculous intervention that preserved their lives.
While I can rejoice in their survival, I struggle with the idea that God
chooses to intervene sporadically in disasters to miraculously save a
select few while so many were seemingly abandoned. Miracles of this sort
seem to be inherently unfair!

Per your offer, I would appreciate a 'preprint' of your sermon.

Thanks,
Steve
[Standard Disclaimer: Opinions expressed herein are my own and are not to
be attributed to my employer.]
_____________
 Steven M. Smith, Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey
 Box 25046, M.S. 973, DFC, Denver, CO 80225
 Office: (303)236-1192, Fax: (303)236-3200
 Email: smsmith@usgs.gov
 -USGS Nat'l Geochem. Database NURE HSSR Web Site-
  http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1997/ofr-97-0492/

"George Murphy" <gmurphy@raex.com> wrote:
I am not in favor of banalities, odious or otherwise, but the type of
language used in this quote seems to be a pre-emptive strike against
anyone who disagrees with the author on the theodicy problem. The
tsunamis introduce noting new to the problem: The Lisbon earthquake of
1755 raised exactly the same challenges to religious belief, & the
Holocaust presents problems of moral evil that in some ways are more serious. & in fact there's no threshold
number of sufferers or deaths beyond which the theodicy question takes on
a qualitatively different character: The same issues would be raised if
only 10 people had been killed by the tsunamis.
 
None of which is to say that there aren't serious theological issues that
have to be wrestled with here. The sermon I preached yesterday addressing
this matter should be up on the St. Paul's website, http://stpaul-akron.org/Sermons.htm , by Wednesday. If anyone would like to see it earlier, let me know &
I'll send a copy as an attachment.
 
Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
----- Original Message -----
From: Steven M Smith
To: asa@calvin.edu
Sent: Monday, January 03, 2005 10:13 AM
Subject: What kind of God would allow a deadly tsunami?

Here is an interesting article from the Opinion Journal in the WashPost
On-line:
Link: http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110006097
Tremors of Doubt
What kind of God would allow a deadly tsunami?
Quote from article ...
"When confronted by the sheer savage immensity of worldly suffering--when
we see the entire littoral rim of the Indian Ocean strewn with tens of
thousands of corpses, a third of them children's--no Christian is licensed
to utter odious banalities about God's inscrutable counsels or blasphemous
suggestions that all this mysteriously serves God's good ends. We are
permitted only to hate death and waste and the imbecile forces of chance
that shatter living souls, to believe that creation is in agony in its
bonds, to see this world as divided between two kingdoms--knowing all the
while that it is only charity that can sustain us against "fate," and that
must do so until the end of days."
Received on Mon Jan 3 12:39:43 2005