Filed under: Discussions
“This food is gross!” Most parents have experienced the horror of those four words. Horror because it is spoken by their child while eating at someone else’s house. For us, it was a friend, neighbor, and member of the church I pastor and the culprit . . . brussels sprouts. Don’t get me wrong I’m no fan of the sprouts but I have the wisdom NOT to speak what everyone else is already thinking. Today I’m going to lay that wisdom aside for a moment and ask a question that I believe is nagging most inhabitants of this planet in the back of their minds but have yet the courage to verbalize.
Let’s shine a little light on the Giant Elephant in the theological room regarding the recent events in Japan.
Over the last few weeks I have gotten caught up in the turbulent release of Rob Bell’s new book “Love Wins”. In my perusing I came across an interview by Martin Bashir from MSNBC where he grills Bell regarding his new book. I’m tempted to log some thoughts on the issue but that is not the aim of this post. Before he mentions the book the host asks Rob Bell’s opinion regarding the recent events in Japan and says . . .
“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’s not all powerful, which one is it?”
In that one question the MSNBC host may have summed up the one thing that humans want to know concerning this disaster and the God who calls himself ”the God of creation”. Rob Bell never really answered the question but simply called it a “paradox at the heart of the divine”.
So the question remains. How could a God who, on one hand is in control of nature and therefore this Japanese devastation and on the other hand labeled a God of love & compassion, allow 10,000 people to die in a day. How can these two truths exist in one perfect person? I have several thoughts on this but would really like to hear from you. Chime in . . .
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I don’t see them as “two truths.” I see them as two facets of truth (which is probably just a matter of semantics).
I believe that the all-powerful AND loving God allows things to happen that are beyond our temporal, human understanding. But they are not beyond our eternal, glorified understanding. One day we will see clearly. Until then, we trust, because He loves. “Not one sparrow falls….”
Comment by Faith Bogdan March 21, 2011 @ 2:46 pmseriously…i am reading a book by perry stone where he recalls a recent prophetic vision of visiting heaven and meeting a woman who died in the 9/11 attacks. she states that on that day a rush of people came through the entry gates to heaven. i thought that same thing must have happened on the japanese earthquake day. our God is great…everything is Father filtered.
be blessed!
Comment by itsmwah April 2, 2011 @ 1:16 amtami richardson