“We are fallen creatures, inclined to do wrong, and wrong thoughts and acts have bad consequences – sometimes for us – sometimes for others.”
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Just to spitball apologetic-wise, not to argue: what about natural disasters that cause suffering to a great many people? Where is the blame for such to fall?
Just to spitball apologetic-wise, not to argue: what about natural disasters that cause suffering to a great many people? Where is the blame for such to fall?
Blame really is beside the point - the fact is we (Christians) share in the worlds suffering in a fallen world, and the world - and we - benefit by our participation in that suffering. It really is that simple - but that does not make it any easier to live through.
[[what about natural disasters that cause suffering to a great many people? Where is the blame for such to fall?]]
IF you are interested in a fascinating take on your question- read the followign article- Here’s an excerpt :
“Second, we must focus on clarity of terms. ‘Natural evil’ is, strictly speaking, a misnomer. What is actually under discussion is the problem of ‘agent-less pain’ or ‘agent-less untimely death’ or the such like.
This distinction is important. “Evil” implies some kind of moral agent—local or remote. But in the two cases we will examine here—children being killed in a natural disaster earthquake, or the excessive pain felt in certain types of terminal illnesses (such as the ‘hot virus’ referred to)—there is no ‘agent’ to do the ‘evil-ing’ as it were. The issue is NOT ‘evil’ per se, but something else. We will need to isolate those ‘something elses’ for analysis.
[We must also point out the complexities of the problem of suffering in general. ‘Agent-less’ pain is NOT RANDOM in the lives of those in personal relationship with God. When one enters into this special relationship of honesty, trust, and ‘adoption’ into the family of God, he or she ‘switches status’ from mere creature (with only the barest of relationship to God), to both citizen (with its corresponding privileges and responsibilities) and child of God (with its corresponding privileges and responsibilities). In this new relationship, God ‘filters out’ SOME pain (but allow much of it to pass through, of course), but His commitment is to make sure the experience is not ultimately destructive of our character—which we get to ‘keep’ for all eternity. He has to ‘approve’ all of the painful events that might be ‘scheduled’ according to natural law, and those events perhaps initiated by malignant intelligence’s in the universe (cf. the book of Job). So what we must exclude from consideration here are cases of ‘suffering’ in the lives of those in commitment-acceptance relationships with God.]”
http://christianthinktank.com/natevl.html
When Adam sinned he gave God a choice: destroy Adam at that moment, or distance Himself from Adam and work on a plan to save him.
God’s presence in this world is limited to those who are justified through the means God provides. Otherwise, the just and good God would need to deal with evil by destroying the evildoer rather than give him the opportunity to repent and find life.
This limited presence of God allows some evil in such forms as natural disasters to avoid condemning men before they can repent.