You can expect this type of comment from the Guardian. Religious people? What religion? How about Christians? If they did their homework Jesus told us what to expect in the End times! "Look up for your deliverance is at hand!"
Now I suppose the 'purists' and the politically correct will be upset by my intolerant comments. Tough luck!
opening verses of Luke 13...
Plus, Christianity does promise to spare it's practitioners from the pains of the real world...
it just promises to give them extra resources to cope when "stuff happens".
Oh for crying out loud. When people live on fault lines there will be earthquakes and there will be death and destruction. It is no more complicated than that. If you don't want the risk of natural disasters then move to Kansas but build a storm cellar.
Yes, bad stuff happens. But if nothing else - let this be a blessing and a warning. A blessing to help and pray for those who have had such great losses, and a warning that our lives are like vapor - here one moment, and gone the next. And knowing today might be our last day that Salvation is offered - the message for all of us is: 'What think ye of Christ?' When the end comes where will your heart be?
Here is how I look at it. I may be wrong but it is the only way I can really comprehend what has happened.
The Lord God used to make and destroy cities and nations depending on their moral fibre. He destroyed Sodom and Gomorah and the cities of the plain. Then he delt only with the nations surrounding Israel and gave the others up to a "reprobate mind."
He chose not to destroy Nineveh after they repented at the preaching of Jonah and later brought about the captivity of Israel and Judah due to their sins.
Then things changed. Christ came into the world to die for the sins of the world.
The Apostle PAUL said "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them...llChor 5:19
He is not destroying nations now but he does allow the natural physics of the world to continue. That is why we still have typhoons, tornados and tidal waves.
If man builds a city in harm's way or on the edge of the tectonic plates it is not God's fault that the city is destroyed when the plates shift or a tidal wave or if terrorists fly a plane into the city's buildings.
We don't know when or how our life will end and this is why it is important to accept Christ NOW. Redeem the time because the days are evil.
Some may not agree but that's ok. I can handle it. God cannot be blamed for this.
There are hundreds of Tsunamis a year in Japan... and on average NOBODY dies. What's the difference between Japan and Indonesia? Yep, you guessed it. Japan is a fully civilized, prosperous Capitalist society.
Water, pressure from hot lava, pressure relived, waves...
Okay, I'll cut her a little slack because of her situation. And those are the kinds of words that people say without thinking much about them. But the implications of those words are still disturbing. Do we really want to think of ourselves as inhabitants of a universe created and ruled by a deity which operates in the way this young woman seems to think, a deity which, seemingly on a whim, allows over 100,000 people to perish in truly horrible ways, but protects others from harm because of prayer interventions and the like?
If I thought our universe worked this way, I'd be disappointed in its design.
And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
Matthew 7:24-27
It is a mystery. That's the best explanation so far. God isn't in the habit of explaining these sorts of tragedies, and really, why should he be expected to? What was it that God told Job when Job (at the prodding of his colleagues) questioned God? He got sort of sarcastic, and turned the question around on him:
Job 38
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said:
2 "Who is this that darkens my counsel
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
4 "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone-
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?
8 "Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt'?....
Now if I were a Muslim, I would believe in predestination, and I would not need to explain any of this, as it is the will of Allah. Which begs the question, why execute heretics when we have no freewill, and all is the will of Allah, seems to me to be an affront to Allah to kill someone who is predestined to do something.
Aw c'mon! Does anyone really believe this? Aren't you at least a little skeptical, incredulous, or enraged at a being who acts in such a preposterous fashion? What does eating an apple 5,000 years ago have to do with children drowning in 2004? (Isn't someone who listens to snakes a good candidate for the insanity defense?)
These events demonstrate the arrant foolishness of all supernatural explanations. The powers that be are as concerned with our plight as much as they're concerned with the plight of oysters.
The UK writer is being intellectually dishonest. He merely wants to cast aspersions at those who believe in a loving, merciful God. Let's assume he got what he wanted: a world where this tsunami never happened; in fact, nothing bad ever happened. Now, to prevent the tsunami, I guess God would have had to stop the plate movements that generated the tear in the earth's crust. I'm no geologist but I suspect that to stop all plate movement would have profound implications for the entire world. To stop monsoon and hurricane devastation, He could stop all air movement. But again, the natural consequences would cause us all some serious problems such as drought, floods, etc. etc. So, to prevent all bad things from happening, God would have to put us all in suspended animation--earth and all. Is that what a loving God would do?
The fact is, this life is a time of trial for us, to prove that we love the Lord regardless of our physical conditions. The tsunami was a natural reaction to the processes of running this planet as a life-sustaining globe. It wasn't a judgment on those who died so much as it's a judgment of those of us who have survived. We will have to answer as to how we react on this.
As to my own church, well, my church has monthly fasts where members are asked to contribute the cost of the two meals they skipped to care for the poor. We now are being asked to increase our contributions this month so it can be used for the tsunami victims. That is how god-loving people deal with natural disasters.
Why should "religion" be held to task? Why is it up to us to "explain" anything?
Natural disasters are just that, NATURAL. The Bible says that nothing shall befall you but that which is common to man. Earthquakes and destruction fit that bill. The difference is that our Lord gives us the strength, the grace and help thru these tragedies. We have peace in knowing that His hand will bring us thru any ordeal.
Could it be that it's not all about this world we live in today?
The world fears the rise of "Christian influence", blaming them for the election results, so the hit pieces increase. Predictable. The natural consequence of the faith block remaining silent no longer is that these people are threatened. Matters not. Persecution isn't new to Christians and I refuse to play this little game.
If they are truly desirous in seeking answers to these questions than I welcome them to Church, though reading their Bible would be a start. If all they seek are ways to mock and belittle my God and believers they can seek their amusement with another.
I will only state I have no doubt in God's existence, nor that He is just but merciful. This belief survives the arrogance or insult of one that denies Him. I will offer no Defence for acknowledging my Creator, I feel none necessary.
For cripes sake, the Bible is completely clear on this. Women are to blame for all bad things that happen.
Logical consistency cannot accomodate all three qualities. So when forced to choose, religious people tend to lurch from one of the dilemma's horns to the other. All the while insisting that the activity only makes God all the more powerful & belief in Him more compelling!
Bad things happen to good people because of the Fall. So it's our fault. Or not our fault, but instead our 5000-year ago ancestors' fault. Normally we'd say it's very wrong for the distant descendants of a criminal to be punished for their ancestors' crimes, but God doesn't have to play by the rules. Or maybe it's not because of the Fall, but instead it's just bad luck. In which case God lets people die horrible deaths because without the bad we wouldn't be able to recognize the good. But that makes him an all-indifferent god. Or maybe he does help those who pray to him. Except that devout believers can also die horrible deaths, and atheists can survive disasters as well. But regardless of these seeming problems, we can rest assured that it's all for the best, and it's all part of God's perfect plan. So we really should be thanking him for this tsunami, because in the long run the alternative would be much worse - whatever it was. In fact, we should celebrate the tsunami. You just gotta have faith. Oh, and pity the poor atheists who are going to spend eternity in the lake of fire because they aren't trying hard enough to understand our clear reasoning.
If this kind of logical squirming wasn't being done in the name of God & religious belief, we'd all be shaking our heads at how the person in question is deluding themselves. But since we're talking about God, only some of us are shaking our heads.
FWIW, this went up just in the past few hours:
http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110006097
Tremors of Doubt
What kind of God would allow a deadly tsunami?
BY DAVID B. HART
Friday, December 31, 2004 12:01 a.m. EST