A Buddhist, a Muslim, and a Christian walk out of a Tsunami...
A couple of days ago, there was a really good documentary on TV about last December's Tsunami that hit SE Asia. It was the first time that I had seen a lot of the footage that they had compiled from people's home videos of the disaster. At times it was too graphic to watch, when they were showing all of the bodies in the aftermath. It was unedited and brutally honest, the kind of thing that you wouldn't really see on US television.
One of the interesting parts of the documentary was when they were interviewing survivors of different religions. They talked to a Buddhist, a Muslim, and a Christian (Catholic). The Buddhist felt that he must have committed some really bad Karma to be punished by having his whole family taken away. The Muslim felt like it was all in God's hands (he lost eight family members). He said God gives and God takes away, it is up to us to take care of the ones we have while we have them. The Christian said that it was God's judgment on the evil world. He likened it to the flood in the bible. He said that Noah was not the only good man in the world, just the one that God chose to spare, but many other good people would have died in the great flood, just as many good people died in the Tsunami. Interestingly, the church that the Christian attended was left untouched by the Tsunami, while areas all around it were destroyed.
I was trying to decide which person I agree with most. I think I can rule the Buddhist out because I believe that God forgives and forgets our wrong doings if we confess them to him. But what if I had lost my whole family in the Tsunami? Would I say that it was because of God's judgment, or would I say that God just does these things (or allows them to happen) and we don't know why? It all boils down to the often debated topic of how can a good God allow horrible things to happen, or even worse cause horrible things to happen.
How do we know if a terrible disaster is God's judgment or just another occurrence in our darkened world? It is a part of God's nature that I don't like to think about. The bible is filled with examples of God's judgment: the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, the plagues in Egypt, the Israelites conquering the promised land. I trust that God is good and that his judgments are just, but I don't always understand...
4 Comments:
Good post... great topic. I think I might align more with the Muslim responder...I mean... if God threw down with tsunami's because of evil in the world, the world would be destroyed.... oh wait... He did throw down on the world, it was called the flood, and he promised not to do it again... not that God doesn't bring judgement... but I think calling these things judgemental acts of God is sort of plank in your own eye type thing... it's just an excuse to make ourselves feel more righteous because we weren't destroyed or whatever....
P.S. I can't believe Manchester just crashed out of the champions league....
P.P.S. I rejoice greatly that Liverpool continues to have great success against Chelsea....
P.P.P.S. I wish I had Mutu's e-mail address
As far as what the Muslim said and what the Christian said, I don't think you can have one without the other. Both responses are half way there.
As Jake said, God brings judgement, but does it for a reason. The Muslim is right as it is all in God's hands, and if this was a way God saw fit to punish an area of the world, who are we to judge Him, right?
Random thought... Jake, John and myself were playing on the same indoor soccer team in Salt Lake 18 months ago. Now, none of us even live in Salt Lake.
I agree with both you guys. I definitely agreed most with the Muslim's response, however, as Chris said it is possible that it was an act of God. But it is not for us to know, and it is certainly not for us to point our finger and say they got what they deserved.
Response to random thought: It is amazing to see how much has changed over the last year and a half. I do miss the indoor soccer and many of the good things about SLC.
JE
Sorry that I'm late to the party.
Someone in ABS said something that was a very keen insight:
"We're all sinners, so anything good that happens is basically gravy."
Could God have been punishing someone? Yes, because God is God and can do as He pleases. However, I agree with Jake that the finger pointing is a "plank" symptom, and that we all justly deserve to perish in nasty ways.
My take on this is that we live in a fallen world, and God allows that to be evidenced in natural disasters that are fickle and terrifying. For the Believer, whose inheritance is eternal and safe, they are a (relatively speaking) minor annoyance. For the Unbeliever, they might just be the ultimate "God's on the phone, and you're going to answer" experience - which ends up being an immeasurable kindness, because God is giving them everything.
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