I can't say I agree with Heather. I don't think God is so simplistic to care whether large masses of people run around prostating themselves.

I think that in our limited, human, individual-focused forms we can't always understand these things. It is important to look inside to the spirit that truly makes us all interconnected and related beings even the terrorists and victims of terrorism. Once outside these bodies I believe things will be clearer.

Finally to quote When Bad Things Happen to Good People:

"An engine bolt breaks on flight 205 instead of on flight 209, inflicting tragedy on one random group of families rather than another. There is no message in all of that. There is no reason for those particular people to be afflicted rather than others. These events do not reflect God's choices. They happen at random, and randomness is another name for chaos, in those corners of the universe where God's creative light has not yet penetrated. And chaos is evil; not wrong, not malevolent, but evil nonetheless, because by causing tragedies at random, it prevents people from believing in God's goodness."
Lana | Email | Homepage | 01.11.05 - 12:32 pm | #

I'm sure she wrote that with her tounge firmly planted in her cheek, but the "God must have some plan"-spouting-folks who turn up on TV after big disasters just turn my stomach. God doesn't kill people...he doesn't cause tsunamis, he doesn't make cars crash, and he doesn't make me slip on the ice. My opinion is that it doesn't have anything to do with omipotence...he created us to live in a world that has certain physical laws and behaviors....things break, techtonic plates move, etc. Someone once said that God is short on protection, but long on support....
Alan | Email | Homepage | 01.11.05 - 4:16 pm | #

My humble 2cents worth...To believe that God "allows" tsunamis or other disasters to happen means that God must be sitting around pushing buttons and pulling levers, controlling everything that happens. And if that's the case, then when bad things happen, they have to be considered to be some form of retribution or punishment, because God controls everything.

If, on the other hand, God allows the world to follow a natural path without manipulation, then bad things like tsunamis are just a natural occurrence and they don't signal some kind of wrath or payback against the victims.

Then again, I don't have a clue. But I like the 2nd option better.
Another Todd | Email | Homepage | 01.11.05 - 6:14 pm | #

Thanks for the comments, everyone. Even with only 3 comments, this topic went further than I thought it would. I see Lana's point she makes when quoting from the book, but I just don't quite get the "it's God's will"-type comments Alan refers to. I think that's some people's way of making sense of that which doesn't make sense.

I have other ways of making sense of those things, thank you very much!

Thanks again for the thought-provoking posts!
Todd | Email | Homepage | 01.13.05 - 9:53 am | #

Or, could it be that we all "choose" our own destiny and that we choose all things that happen to us and for us in our lives. Perhaps this "choosing" doesn't occur at a conscious level, but many believe that ultimately our destiny is manifested by our own choices.

Shirley Maclaine turned me on to this concept...past lives, present lives, choices, working through ourselves and through others to "become" with each subsequent lifetime.
Kevin | Email | Homepage | 01.14.05 - 11:55 am | #