God has been in the news the last couple weeks. Maybe that’s the point of natural disasters: He wants us to keep Him on the front burner. As someone who has lived on both sides of the spiritual fence, it seems like so much silliness.
Why must we reconcile the ways of God to man? (Who said that anyway?)
Even before I lost my faith I wouldn’t have felt the need to square my conception of God with the fact of a nation-crushing tsunami. Why expect God to behave as I would if I had His job?
Posted by Bobby Farouk at January 7, 2005 11:02 AMIt's sort of oblivious to suggest that the tsunami proves anything not previously proved by other horrors. If there's a Man Upstairs either he's not watching or he's got a very strange sense of humor.
That said, I kind of can't help viscerally believing in the Big Book Upstairs. Nor placing a completely foolish faith in the Marines' Hymn during air turbulence -- "...Who bidd'st th'almighty ocean deep/its own appointed compass keep/oh hear us when we cry to thee/for those in peril on the sea..."
BTW we've heard from the neighbor who was in South India. She's OK, as are her friends there.
/M
Posted by: Martha Bridegam at January 7, 2005 01:27 PMThanks to A&L, found this Stalin quote "A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic."
The community directs us to God, but the personal experience drives us away. I don't seek explanations when thousands die; when a friend or relative goes I shake my fist at the sky. When the earth opens up and swallows a nation, God the literary figure will do; when He cruelly murders a loved one, it's the dustbin for Him.
Posted by: Bobby Farouk at January 8, 2005 07:38 AMSlate has a nice piece on how to get back at God.
Posted by: Bobby Farouk at January 11, 2005 07:57 AM