RE: [asa] Asteroid Apophis

Few like any of my answers to questions, but why should that stop me.

Reality 1. we all die. I say this not from the safe armchair of a theoretician who never gets out of his library. Having had cancer now for 3 years and this month and next undergoing radiation for it, I have had lots of time to think about this issue of death--since the odds are my death will be earlier than most.

The first reaction is, Why me? Why does God do it? (I don't know). But these questions seem to assume a previous question--that God promised us a long, safe life. But for the life of me I can't find where God promised me that I wouldn't get prostate cancer at age 53 and that it wouldn't return at age 56. God didn't promise that my very popular, atheletic, political animal brother wouldn't get brain cancer at age 29 and leave behind two children who don't know him. I do know that I have no basis upon which to complain compared with what happened to my brother. Death will steal few of my hopes and dreams, it stole almost all of his. So, God didn't promise me anything. Nor did He promise that a meteor wouldn't strike the earth. Therefore, no promises are broken.

Reality 2. the mode of our death is not of our choosing. Before my surgery in 2003, I had to have a cardiac guy check out my heart--some small irregularities in the heart beat. After he said I could handle the surgery, he told me my cholesterol was too high and that I was overweight and if I didn't change, I would die of a heart attack. I told him that everyone in my family dies of cancer and it was an awful way to go. Therefore, I wanted to die of a heart attack so I EAT CHEESE. Needless to say, the doctor didn't quite know how to respond. It seems, in all likelihood that I will go the awfully painful path of prostrate cancer (it gets into your spine and then hurts like hell) But then, even today, that is not assured. They may cure it with the radiation, in which case, I might get my wish. There are some incredible treatment possibilities in the pipeline--if radiation fails, maybe one of them will work, and I will get my wish. Even if they don't, I might die in a ca!
 r wreck (why don't we blame God for car wrecks?) In 2003, right after I had my surgery, if you had lined up me and a guy named Fred (who worked at my company), and told people that they had to change lives with either me or Fred, no one would have chosen me, the guy with cancer. Two weeks later, Fred was killed in a car wreck. He was a very well known personage in the oil industry and the funeral was massive. Unfortunately, all the stories were about Fred's drinking, which is the rumored cause of his death (why don't we blame God for creating alcohol?)

Reality 3. People want to believe in a Santa God who gives only good presents. When God doesn't behave as a Santa God, we decide He isn't real and reject him, when in fact, all we have rejected is our own idol. God isn't a Santa-God. Look at Job. Read Isaiah 45:7 "I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil. I am Jehovah, that doeth all these things." Most Christians read only the first half of the verse.---and to head people off at the pass, the word translated evil is defined in Browns, Driver Briggs as:

ra' / râ'âh
BDB Definition:
1) bad, evil (adjective)
1a) bad, disagreeable, malignant
1b) bad, unpleasant, evil (giving pain, unhappiness, misery)
1c) evil, displeasing
1d) bad (of its kind—land, water, etc)
1e) bad (of value)
1f) worse than, worst (comparison)
1g) sad, unhappy
1h) evil (hurtful)
1i) bad, unkind (vicious in disposition)
1j) bad, evil, wicked (ethically)
1j1) in general, of persons, of thoughts
1j2) deeds, actions
2) evil, distress, misery, injury, calamity (noun masculine)
2a) evil, distress, adversity
2b) evil, injury, wrong
2c) evil (ethical)
3) evil, misery, distress, injury (noun feminine)
3a) evil, misery, distress
3b) evil, injury, wrong
3c) evil (ethical)

Now, Reality 3 clashes with the real God, and with the reality of Nature. Everyone ridicules Leibniz's claim that this is the best of all possible worlds. Voltaire wrote a wonderfully humorous book called Candide mocking such a view. But what if Leibniz is right, it is the best of all possible worlds and it is still a miserable place to live on occasion. Being the best of all possible worlds doesn't mean that there is no evil. On the other hand, I find the world utterly fascinating, having lived on 3 different continents, been in 27 countries, and been privileged to study science, search for oil and do all the things I have been privileged to do, even with its misery, it is a great place to be.

If there is to be a disaster like you suggest, the fact that we know about it now, means that when the time comes, all countries will have manatory evacuations and few will lose their lives. Property can be replaced.

glenn
They're Here: The Pathway Papers
Foundation, Fall, and Flood
Adam, Apes and Anthropology

http://home.entouch.net/dmd/dmd.htm
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu
> [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On Behalf Of Johan Jammart
> Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2007 11:26 AM
> To: asa@calvin.edu
> Subject: [asa] Asteroid Apophis
>
>
> Did you heard about this story?
>
> http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn11207-asteroid-threat-
> demands-response-experts-warn.html
>
>
> > If the asteroid Apophis hits Earth in 2036, it could slam into the
> > Pacific Ocean, generating a tsunami that could devastate the west
> > coast of North America
>
> Since I heard this story, I cannot find a satisfying
> theological answer
> to this eventual disaster. I think that many people will throw this
> catastrophe against the belief in God. How to deal with
> those people? I
> still asking to myself this question...
>
> Blessings,
>
> Johan
>
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Received on Sat Feb 24 13:04:37 2007