Posted on 01/05/2005 10:15:50 AM PST by Syco
Personally the second half of the article is what holds the real value for me. As a Christian I must face the fact that my God, whom I believe to be infinately good and the personification and source of Love allows such suffering and evil to take place in the world. Nevertheless, I find that my faith remains in the midst of this. I admit that if I had been more closely affected by the catastrophe I might have a different reaction and I understand if someone else reacts differently. However, it is in these times that I find the most comfort in my faith. When all seems lost, God alone seems to keep me going.
I can see how someone who is not a Jew or Christian might reject the idea of God's existence in these circumstances, but perhaps this article will give some clue as to why those of us who follow Him continue to cling to our faith when the darkness seems so close.
I'll take your word for it. The first half of the article was sounding like blather.
Read the whole book of JOB and get back with me as to who did what to whom in the telling of the the life of JOB.
?
They don't blame the other gods, because they don't believe they exist. How telling!
God is God.
God is our Judge.
We are not His judge.
******************
Beautifully said. Thanks for posting this.
God is God.
God is our Judge.
We are not His judge.
The question is not, "Does God measure up to our (liberal, compassionate, self-deceived) standards?" The question is, "Will we learn — in silence and in awe at the far-beyond-human power of nature — how great, on a far different scale from ours, is God's love?"
Isaiah 55:8-9
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Funny how the liberals never mention Satan. They want us to forget their God exists. He's more powerful that way.
ping for later
Very good article. Thanks for posting it.
Really beautiful. I might disagree with a point here and there, but overall I agree, and WOW!
".. if the extensive, huge dikes did not prevent it"
So THAT'S what Rosie O'Donnell is doing these days!!
The believer can use that against the atheist in the argument for a higher power and against an idea of the supremacy of the human ego. But once the believer goes on to define and describe a specific God, isn't the shoe on the other foot? Can't the skeptic or agnostic tell the believer, "You think you know how it all works?" "You think you can put a name, a date, a face on the Most High?"
I'm not saying that one or the other is right. Just that that way of arguing has real weaknesses: the believer may find the unbeliever arrogant at the beginning of the discussion, but at the end the unbeliever may have similar grounds to make the same reproach of the believer.
You make a valid point but I think that Novak is specifically speaking of their attitude in regards to a natural disaster. It is the smugness of the attitude, the sense of "Look at what your 'god' did" that he is referring to. And in the broader sense, I think it's hard not to argue that in early 21st century America the arrogant attitude of superiority seems to primarily eminate from the atheistic left, especially among it's elites. There are certainly arrogant believers, but on the whole we have respect for the views and beliefs of others, even if we disagree.
We lose 126,000 human beings, children, every day through abortion.
"We lose 126,000 human beings, children, every day through abortion."
A terrible tragedy, but what does that have to do with Novak's article? The abomination of abortion is clearly the result of evil man. It is our sin which leads to the selfish act of taking an innocent human life. The point of the article is that we can reconcile that in our own minds exactly because we understand the evil in the heart of man.
For many people the Tsunami is a bigger problem because, in their mind it is all the "fault" of the Almighty. Even the faithful must grapple with this. The problem with this thinking of course is that it was humanity which brought sin into the world, and it is the broken and sinful state of this world which ultimately results in such tragedies. The faithful understand that we cannot judge God's sovereignty. God is God and we are not.
I understand your point. Why do we mourn over the death of so many in Asia when an equal or greater of innocent children number die every day at our own hands? It's a good question and it sheds a light on the sickness of our own humanistic culture, but with all due respect (really - with all respect), it's also insensitive to those who suffered and died Christmas weekend. Their loss is no less great and the crisis in Asia is no less real.
When we who oppose abortion - and believe me friend, I hate it as much as you do - when we shrug our shoulders at the loss of life in the Tsunami because there is a greater evil perpetrated on our own shores in abortion clinics we damage our own cause. People look at us and say, "How can they be serious about life when they minimize such a horrible tragedy?"
It's a salient fact I threw out so that people understand that evil pervades in society and that the amount of people killed in the tsunami happens "every day" in the womb, IVF clinics and in abortion mills.
That's the problem, many people trivialize abortion and believe that human life in the womb is NOT as equal to those of us outside of the womb. That the life of the mother is more important than the life of the child in her. Once we put equal value of life of those outside the womb to those inside, our world and humanity will be so much the better.
And what the heck was so insensitive (a nice word used by liberals) in pointing out that human life in the womb is just as equal to human life outside?
Their loss is no less great and the crisis in Asia is no less real.>>>
Did I say otherwise or is that what you think?
when we shrug our shoulders at the loss of life in the Tsunami because there is a greater evil perpetrated on our own shores in abortion clinics we damage our own cause.
and who shrugged their shoulders, you think pro lifers did?
Settle down! I wasn't attacking you. I agree with you. I'm a pro-lifer and I'm personally a big supporter of pro-life and pro-adoption causes. I'm just saying that we can't downplay or trivialize the fact that 150,000+ people died in one catastrophe. The genocide that is abortion is abhorrent. I totally agree. But to use the Tsunami to make that point will, I'm afraid, do no good for our cause.
I believe that children in the womb are every bit as valuable as my own. In fact in some ways I actually believe that their life is MORE valuable, which makes abortion an even greater evil. But what some people will hear when we use the Tsunami to call attention to the evil of abortion is that we are INSENSITIVE. (By the way, I thought about the fact that liberals have co-opted that word and decided to use it anyway, because I think that it's appropriate in this case.) Many will also use it as a reason to agree with the MSM that we are a bunch of single issue extremists. I'd rather not give them that opportunity.
So if you're still upset at what I'm trying to say, I'm sorry. I'm not disagreeing with you about the evil of abortion, or even that it's much more evil than what happened two weeks ago. I'm just saying that it's probably not the best thing to stand up at a funeral and say, "I don't know why everybody's so sad that Bob was killed because look at all the babies that die in abortion clinics."
Okay! I know that's not what you're doing, but you get my point. Some people will hear that.
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