I have not posted on the devastation of the tsunamis. It is simply so hard to even comprehend, it fails to completely register. But after reading some posts that question God's existence as a result, I feel a need to ramble a bit. I can only say that I personally have never really questioned God's existence based on the reality of evil. There may be a question as to whether God is good or whether God is loving that is implicit in dealing with such massive suffering. But God's existence is a separate question.
Suffering, tragedy, particularly when those realities seem to make no sense and seem to have no link to fairness or justice, are huge challenges to belief. Human beings tend to pray in such situations, not always to a particular god, but to simply utter prayers to whatever larger force or personality in the universe might be listening. We look for help, answers, some explanation of events that defy explanation. And often the heavens are silent. No explanation is given and we are left with our grief.
I think the logical progression of our desperate thoughts is that we first hope there is a God who can make sense of it all or right all the wrongs. When the wrongs are not righted, we then question what kind of a god might by callous enough to allow this. And in the end, many choose that if God could allow such evil, he is not worth believing in.
I have personally been quite satisfied intellectually with the explanation of evil Scripture offers. That is, that "sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned" (Romans 5:12). This is a world of cause and effect. Christianity teaches we are all infected with a moral disease and the entire created order has been affected, corrupted, and "the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time." Not all suffering can be traced to an immediate cause, but all suffering can be traced to some choice, somewhere, sometime.
The tsunami actually provides a vivid illustration, though a harsh one, of a Christian view of evil. Evil has a point of origin, but the ripples expand in every direction, leaving destruction in its wake. And often times when evil is committed, those affected have no notion of what the cause was, they only get swept away by the waves.
It may intellectually satisfying to believe that evil has a cause, but such answers are hardly comfort to those in the midst of personal suffering. At such times, we don't ask "why", we ask "Why me? Why now?" Still, I cannot help but think that when we ask those questions, we are asking the right questions. Pain forces us to ask the hard questions. Pain strips away the pettiness of living. Pain alerts us to the reality that all is not right with the world. It forces us to seek answers. And for some at least, there is comfort in knowing that the God of Christian faith did not exempt himself from suffering.
I have certainly questioned God in times of grief and pain. But whether God is being fair to me at the moment or whether God is unjust in allowing massive disasters, these are separate questions from the question of whether he exists. It is much harder for me to disbelieve in God than to believe in him. But it is never easy to understand why, if he exists, he allows the ripples of bad choices to wash over innocent bystanders. I am thankful for the faith to believe that all such suffering is temporary and that there will come a day when every tear will be wiped away and all wrongs will be made right.
In the meantime, good choices leave ripples as well. And many, many people are busy at work trying to ease the suffering, to rebuild and restore what was devastated. Evil exists in the world and lashes out from time to time, but good keeps picking up the pieces and presses on. For that reason, despair is not to be trusted. And many choose to continue in faith in spite of great tragedy.
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