The Weekend Australian ran an article on Saturday called "A Message from God". This title referred to the reflections of a Muslim man in the city of Padang on the island of Sumatra, where many have just died from an earthquake. The man, Hajji, said, "We are being punished for not being devout enough." In his mind, the earthquake that killed so many people was God's will; that God made it happen to punish people for not being committed enough to him. It might sound a bit crazy to our modern, Western minds, but many cultures see deeper meanings in natural disasters and other natural phenomena, and these are often connected to the will of God or the gods.
We also shouldn't forget, that in our own Christian history and stories, there are precedents for God being behind natural disasters like the big flood (Genesis 6 - 9) and behind political disasters like the expansion of the Assyrian empire (Isaiah 7:18-25). We also read of God "hardening the heart of Pharaoh" (Exodus 6:6) so that this people could be freed from Egyptian slavery. The Christian scriptures put God in the place of rightful judge and the bringer of ultimate judgement. As as result of these actions, many people suffered and died.
Now, don't get me wrong. I don't actually think that God sent the earthquake to Sumatra to get the attention of the people there. It is probably my own modern mindset, but I still lean towards the idea that the earthquake was caused by the shifting of tectonic plates in what is well known to be a global earthquake "hotspot", and unfortunately, a whole lot of people live there and got in the way of this natural process. Tragic, but not perhaps, cosmic in scope...
What this article reminded me of though, was the idea of God as judge. It is not a popular idea and not one that I feel totally comfortable about even as I write this post. But the idea is clearly there in the Christian scriptures and if you're into the Christian scene, then it is an idea that is hard to ignore, if not impossible to ignore. Interestingly enough, in all the Biblical cases of judgement that I mentioned before, God gives a long lead-in time of warning, and many opportunites to avoid what might be to come. Noah preaches for decades, the prophets come to the Jewish people to call them to repentance, and even Pharaoh and the Egyptians get Moses and Aaaron warning them on number of occasions of what they could do differently to avoid the coming judgement.
These poor people in Sumatra didn't get these kinds of warnings from God prior to the earthquake. I think we can safely say that, as God's M.O.(police jargon for "mode of operation") was not used, that these people were not being judged by God.
The Bible talks about God as judge, but also as the one who is slow to anger and judge; the one who loves to forgive; the one who warns and shows the way back to right living; and the one who ultimately sacrifices himself and takes the judgement on himself for anyone who wants to commit themselves to him and to the good life he wants for all people. In some ways, I'm glad that there is a judge, and that judgement of the world is in God's hands. As I look around and see some of terrible things that go on, I really want to know that at some stage, justice will really be done, by someone who really knows what they're doing.
Shalom...
We also shouldn't forget, that in our own Christian history and stories, there are precedents for God being behind natural disasters like the big flood (Genesis 6 - 9) and behind political disasters like the expansion of the Assyrian empire (Isaiah 7:18-25). We also read of God "hardening the heart of Pharaoh" (Exodus 6:6) so that this people could be freed from Egyptian slavery. The Christian scriptures put God in the place of rightful judge and the bringer of ultimate judgement. As as result of these actions, many people suffered and died.
Now, don't get me wrong. I don't actually think that God sent the earthquake to Sumatra to get the attention of the people there. It is probably my own modern mindset, but I still lean towards the idea that the earthquake was caused by the shifting of tectonic plates in what is well known to be a global earthquake "hotspot", and unfortunately, a whole lot of people live there and got in the way of this natural process. Tragic, but not perhaps, cosmic in scope...
What this article reminded me of though, was the idea of God as judge. It is not a popular idea and not one that I feel totally comfortable about even as I write this post. But the idea is clearly there in the Christian scriptures and if you're into the Christian scene, then it is an idea that is hard to ignore, if not impossible to ignore. Interestingly enough, in all the Biblical cases of judgement that I mentioned before, God gives a long lead-in time of warning, and many opportunites to avoid what might be to come. Noah preaches for decades, the prophets come to the Jewish people to call them to repentance, and even Pharaoh and the Egyptians get Moses and Aaaron warning them on number of occasions of what they could do differently to avoid the coming judgement. These poor people in Sumatra didn't get these kinds of warnings from God prior to the earthquake. I think we can safely say that, as God's M.O.(police jargon for "mode of operation") was not used, that these people were not being judged by God.
The Bible talks about God as judge, but also as the one who is slow to anger and judge; the one who loves to forgive; the one who warns and shows the way back to right living; and the one who ultimately sacrifices himself and takes the judgement on himself for anyone who wants to commit themselves to him and to the good life he wants for all people. In some ways, I'm glad that there is a judge, and that judgement of the world is in God's hands. As I look around and see some of terrible things that go on, I really want to know that at some stage, justice will really be done, by someone who really knows what they're doing.
Shalom...
No comments:
Post a Comment