Floods. Cyclones. Earthquakes. Tsuamis.
It seems that we have seen more extreme natural disasters in recent months than we have in a long time. But what does it mean? For many people these events provoke some deep (and difficult) questions - especially questions about God.
I recently heard an interview on American TV (MSNBC) by leading interviewer Martin Bashir. He was interviewing pastor Rob Bell (about a book) and asked him this question at the start of the interview:
Just help us with this tragedy in Japan. Which of these is true. Either God is all powerful but he doesn’t care about the people of Japan and therefore their suffering, or he does care about the people of Japan but he is not all powerful, which one is it?
It's an age-old question . . . Christians claim that the God of the Bible is all powerful and sovereign over everything - yet evil things happen in our world (like the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami).
Rob Bell did give a brief answer, but he eventually said this:
I think that this is a paradox at the heart of the divine, and some paradoxes are best left exactly as they are.
Despite the suggestion that this is a paradox, the Bible does have some important and meaningful things to say.
We will be thinking about this question at CBM in week 5:
TUESDAY 29th March, 1-2 PM Building 23, Room 41 and
THURSDAY 31st March, 1-2 PM Building 23, Room 41
Everyone is welcome and we will spend some time thinking about your questions.
I hope to post some more on this topic in a few days. In the meantime you may want to check out this previous post: http://godtalkatuws.blogspot.com/2010/03/talking-about-whether-god-is-good-video.html
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