wfn.org | Commentary: God is just

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Sept. 27, 2001 News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-71BP{429}

NOTE: A head-and-shoulders photograph of the Rev. Mike Macdonald is
available.

A UMNS Commentary
By the Rev. Mike Macdonald*

Does God exist? This is the stark question that I have read and heard
several times over the past two and a half weeks. How do you reconcile a
loving or just God with the tragedy of the World Trade Center attack?

I take this question seriously. It is not only reasonable to ask this
question, it is almost unreasonable not to ask it. If such an event doesn't
cause you to question your faith, how seriously do you take your faith? But
this is not a new question. Theologians even have a branch of theology
called "theodicy" dedicated to asking if a loving God can be reconciled with
the evil in the world.

As tragic as it was, Sept. 11 was hardly the most extreme case of evil
triumphing. One of the rescue workers mentioned that the destruction was
reminiscent of what he had seen in Turkey several months ago. Nineteen
thousand people died in that calamity, which is, at most, a faint memory in
America. Hundreds of thousands die routinely when cyclones strike
Bangladesh.

If someone complains that these examples are all natural calamities, but
that what happened in New York and Washington were intentional acts of evil
by humans, then the recent attacks still pale in comparison to other human
atrocities. The dishonor roll of evil in which death was a million or
hundreds of thousand times greater than on Sept. 11 include the Holocaust
and the genocide in Rwanda, Cambodia and Uganda. I do not mention these
others to minimize the horror of the terrorist attacks, but to put them into
context.

The reason this causes us to question God's existence is that it happened to
us. It is a part of human egocentricity that we always suffer other people's
hurts more lightly than our own. I have known many people who never
questioned God's love or existence when other people developed cancer. It
was sad, but they accepted it as a part of life. But when it struck them or
their loved one, they suffered a crisis of faith. I say this descriptively,
not judgmentally. I have no doubt I would experience the same kind of crisis
of faith if one of my children or my wife were to be threatened by a
potentially fatal disease.

It is all evil, and not just this one horrific, ostentatious act of
terrorism, that should cause us to wonder about God's existence and
goodness. How can we reconcile a supposedly loving God with the evil we see
in this world?

One answer would be that this was an act of punishment by a righteous God.
This would mean that the attack was a vindication of God's justice. To his
regret (he has apologized), the Rev. Jerry Falwell has suggested the attack
was God's judgment against us. He singled out gays and the American Civil
Liberties Union among other liberal groups that, he claimed, bore
responsibility for the just punishment.

While God may be displeased with some of the actions of American liberals,
there is a good chance he is just as displeased with some of the actions of
American conservatives. How can we claim the terrorists are evil if they and
we both agree that America "deserved" this crime as a judgment against our
sinfulness? 

I heard one rabbi say on the radio that God did not "allow" the jetliners to
crash into the buildings. I disagree. I do not think God caused it or willed
it, but I do think he allowed it. Otherwise, God is not omnipotent, and is
no more than a god. 

God allows us free will, and evil will always exist because people will
always choose to use what is meant for good to be used for evil. It is a
terrible price to pay for freedom. But without such freedom, love is an
impossibility. As a Christian, I believe that in the
crucifixion/resurrection, God has chosen to share in and redeem the sin and
suffering caused by our misuse of this absolutely necessary freedom of
choice.

That is how I reconcile the love of God with the destruction of the World
Trade Center. 
# # #
*Macdonald is pastor of Broad Street United Methodist Church in Mooresville,
N.C.
 
Commentaries provided by United Methodist News Service do not necessarily
represent the opinions or policies of UMNS or the United Methodist Church.

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