--- David Opderbeck <dopderbeck@gmail.com> wrote:
> Perhaps a more productive way consider things like hurricanes and
> earthquakes is to separate the happening of such events from their effects
> on human beings. We could conceive of a world in which such events would
> happen in the ordinary course of nature, but human beings would not suffer
> because of their happening. Partly this could result from perfect justice,
> communication and cooperation among humans. For example, hurricane Katrina
> would not have wiped out the impoverished and de facto racially segregated
> neighborhoods in New Orleans because poverty and segregation would not
> exist, there would be no corruption relating to hurricane-safe building
> codes, government officials would respond effectively with evacuation plans,
> and so on. Partly this also could result from perfect fellowship and
> communication between humans and God, such that God could communicate
> directly with a fully responsive community about how to prepare for such
> events. In other words, sin didn't change ordinary natural processes so
> much as it destroyed the perfect community and fellowship among humans, and
> between humans and God, that would have precluded any human suffering
> resulting from those events. For anyone more deeply read on theodicy, is
> there any strand of theodicy that proceeds along similar lines?
>
I grant that if all aspects of society were perfect -- no corruption re
building codes, sound engineering and maintenance of dikes, excellent
communications -- then injury to humans could be prevented. However, there
would still be injury to property -- wind damage if the dikes hold, which would
in turn cause hardship for humans.
If you read either "The Privileged planet" or "Rare earth" you find that all
four authors believe -- and provide strong evidence to support their belief --
that life as we know it would not be possible on a planet without plate
tectonics.
Bill Hamilton
William E. Hamilton, Jr., Ph.D.
248.652.4148 (home) 248.303.8651 (mobile)
"...If God is for us, who is against us?" Rom 8:31
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Received on Thu May 11 20:21:01 2006
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