tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post5400271790638805406..comments2024-03-23T12:05:23.537-05:00Comments on The Wild Reed: Questioning God's Benevolence in the Face of TragedyMichael J. Baylyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03087458490602152648noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-18509853720254253282007-08-03T13:19:00.001-05:002007-08-03T13:19:00.001-05:00This kind of situation is the hardest for me to un...This kind of situation is the hardest for me to understand from a faith pov. As Jef siad, prayers for those affected. When the tsunami struck, another article that I found helpful was one by David Bently Hart - Tsunami and Theodicy at First Things. I can't find it now, but I have some excerpts in an old post <A HREF="http://povcrystal.blogspot.com/2006/09/harts-theodicy.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>.crystalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05681674503952991492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-90946494415137249722007-08-03T13:19:00.000-05:002007-08-03T13:19:00.000-05:00Jeff,Thank you for your condolences. My prayers t...Jeff,<BR/><BR/>Thank you for your condolences. My prayers too are with all who were caught up in this tragedy and have been personally impacted by it.<BR/><BR/>Thank you also for sharing Rolheiser’s thoughts on Divine Providence. I must admit I have a hard time agreeing with the idea that “God speaks through” every type of event. I’m more inclined to say that God is capable of speaking through the ways in which I choose to respond to any and every type of event – good or bad.<BR/><BR/>I guess my problem with this particular understanding of Divine Providence stems, in part, from an experience of a friend of mine. She and her partner were residents of a small Midwestern town destroyed by a tornado. They were in their home when the tornado struck. She says that the worst part of this experience was the <EM>sound</EM> of the tornado. It was absolutely terrifying because, she insists, “there was nothing of God in that sound.”<BR/><BR/>Where she <EM>did</EM> experience God in this event, however, was in the many and varied ways the townspeople (and others) helped one another in the aftermath of this disaster.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, Jeff, thanks again for visiting and for leaving such an informed and thought-provoking comment.<BR/><BR/>Peace,<BR/><BR/>MichaelMichael J. Baylyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03087458490602152648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27612445.post-73779076743601580072007-08-02T17:36:00.000-05:002007-08-02T17:36:00.000-05:00Michael,Please let me offer my condolences to your...Michael,<BR/><BR/>Please let me offer my condolences to your whole community. What a tragedy, and such a cruel and fickle way in which it struck! This must be a road that you yourself have travelled many times, as well as your friends, and perhaps loved ones. My prayers go out to all those who perished and to those who are anxiously awaiting word on the missing.<BR/><BR/><I>I’ve come to the conclusion that I’d rather believe in and hold on to an all-loving God than an all-powerful God.</I><BR/><BR/>Yes, that's right. I tend to believe that too, at least as far as power is applied to events like these. I've never been one much for calvinistic views of predestination that would crush people under earthquakes as as a form of "chastisement". Augustine rejected Manicheanism because he didn't think that a weak God powerless to defeat Satan was worth worshipping? What about a cruel and indifferent God? Is that God worth worshipping in order to make a point about his supreme and ultimate sovereignty? No, I think that for similar reasons as to why he remains visually and audibly hidden from us by his own choice and counsel, our response to events are what matter, as you say.<BR/><BR/>I think there is a difference between Determinism and Divine Providence. I've always liked this reflection on Divine Providence from Fr. Ron Rolheiser in his article <A HREF="http://www.ronrolheiser.com/columnarchive/archive_display.php?rec_id=213" REL="nofollow">Reading the Signs of the Times.</A><BR/><BR/><I>We see [in the Jewish Scriptures] that, for Israel, there were no pure accidents, no purely secular events. God's finger was everywhere, in every event, in every blessing, in every defeat, in every victory, in every drought, in every rainfall, in every death, in every birth. If Israel was defeated in battle, it wasn't the Assyrians who defeated her. God defeated her. If she reaped a bountiful harvest, it wasn't simple luck, God was blessing her. Nothing was ever purely secular or simply accidental. <BR/><BR/>Israel wasn't so naive or fundamentalistic, of course, as to believe that God was actually the efficient cause of these events or that, in the case of death and disaster, God even intended those events. But, nonetheless, in her view of things, God still spoke through those events. The finger of God and the voice of God were seen in the conspiracy of accidents that made up the outer events of her life. To discern the finger of God in the everyday events of life was, for Israel, a very important form of prayer. <BR/><BR/>My parents and my many of their generation understood this well. Reading the signs of the times was a spontaneous practice for them. They believed in something they called "divine providence" and, for them, like Israel, the finger of God was everywhere, in every event, good and bad. There was no such thing as pure accident or simple good luck. God was in charge, somehow behind everything. Sometimes they took this too far, believing that God actually started wars, burned-down houses, caused someone to get sick, or broke somebody's leg to teach a lesson. But, generally, they weren't that naive. Despite the language ("God did this to us!") they believed only that God spoke through the event, not that God caused the event.</I>Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10754406706300818849noreply@blogger.com