Natural disasters and human suffering.

By Donald Phillipps in Sermons

Why do innocent people suffer?

'"Do you suppose that these Galileans who suffered like that were greater sinners than any other Galileans?" - Luke 13: 2

That's a verse from our Gospel reading - it's a reference to some otherwise unrecorded incident that had taken place under the rule of Pontius Pilate, the Governor of Judea.

For whatever reason Pilate had ordered the slaughter of people gathered for worship - there's no independent verification, but Pilate was just as harsh an autocrat as others in his position.

Why did it happen to these people? - What had they done wrong? - that was the question which some group of people raised with Jesus - and Jesus denied there was any connection.

His response ruled out any possibility that somehow a particular act of sinfulness must lead to a particular disaster - Jesus simply affirms that all humans are sinners, though some less than others.

It couldn't be a more appropriate, more relevant bit of scripture - given the series of natural disasters of the past month or so.
How many of you have wondered why it is that innocent people suffer as the result of natural upheavals which can't be predicted - or, if they are, cannot be prevented?

So let me offer an alternative text - one that seems to control the thinking of some, maybe many, Christians today - it comes from Isaiah 45: 7:
"I am Yahweh, unrivalled, I form the light and create the dark. I make good fortune and create calamity, it is I, Yahweh, who do all this."

On January 12th an earthquake struck Haiti - the country was shattered - the death toll estimate stands at something like 230,000.

In some ways what I now want to share with you is as offensive a thing as I have ever talked about from a pulpit.
There's a tele-evangelist named Pat Robertson - here's a summary of his comment on the appalling disaster - based on his actual words, during one of his television rants:
"A long time ago the Haitians swore a pact to the devil. They said 'We will serve you if you will get us free from (France)'. So the devil said, 'OK. It's a deal.' The Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since they've been cursed by one thing after another."

On February 28th a larger earthquake struck Chile - Pat Robertson said: "God is even angrier with Chile than he is with the people of Haiti."
He prayed that "the people of Chile will heed this warning, and never again blaspheme against God and international free-market commerce by nationalising their most precious natural resources."

I don't think we should dismiss Pat Robertson as being out of his mind - if you found those reported remarks offensive, as I do, there are many, many, ordinary folk who think of God in just that way - poople who believe that God creates calamity.

Mr Robertson was the founder of the American Centre for Law and Justice - and it's about justice that I want to speak this morning - God's justice.

There's a specific word for this - it's called theodicy - I won't use it again, but it's a shorthand way of putting the question: Why does an all-powerful God allow bad things to happen to good people?

It has tested the faith, and the logic, of humans ever since they started to think about the human predicament - every since they experienced suffering in all its forms and its senselessness.

Here's a poem from the Buddhistic world which asks the question:

If the creator of the world entire
They call God, of every being be the Lord
Why does he order such misfortune
And not create concord?

If the creator of the world entire
They call God, of every being be the Lord
Why prevail deceit, lies and ignorance
And he such inequity and injustice create?

If the creator of the world entire
They call God, of every being be the Lord
Then an evil master is he,
Knowing what's right did let wrong prevail!

There are a hundred hymns, in the old books, that speak of an all-benevolent and omnipotent deity - "Immortal, invisible, God only wise..." is a fairly typical example.

How do you square this belief with the existence of evil? In the old days we would have talked of demons or the fall of man - with the increase in knowledge about the world, are these notions plausible?

I wonder why I attempted to try to answer this eternal question - I think I was angry that someone simply wanted to blame God.
There's no comfort, no dignity - just despair, or animal indifference when one resignedly accepts that God is the creator of calamity.

There's a saying, originating in the Book of Job: "The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away, blessed be the Name of the Lord." - I cannot accept that that summarizes the relationship between the creator and God's creatures.

But I'll begin with scripture, and with that extraordinary attempt to understand the nature of human suffering in Job - where evil is seen as a test or trial for humans.

From the earliest years of the Christian Church until the present time there have been those who have argued that evil and suffering are necessary for spiritual growth.

Sometimes this claim is combined with the argument that such spiritual growth requires free will decisions -- our suffering is not imposed on us - we can, ourselves, choose to suffer.

A problem with this is that many evils do not seem to cause any kind of spiritual growth, or even permit it - what about the child abused from birth who becomes, seemingly inevitably, a brutal adult.

The answer given consistently in the New Testament is that life is a training ground for spiritual development -- people are told to shun possessions in order to better understand God's will.

Suffering is put into perspective when it is measured against the rewards that come from faith - at the heart of Paul's teaching is the belief that the greater one's faith in God's ability to provide for those who trust him on Earth, the greater will be the reward.

But does it have to follow that those who God judges to have best demonstrated and practised the essence of Jesus' teachings will rule in the hereafter as God's lieutenants?

If one holds these beliefs then it could be argued that disregarding the suffering of one's present life, it is as nothing compared to the potential everlasting reward one may get as a result.

Is this the correct way to interpret Biblical teaching?

Jesus was always a realist - he accepted the reality of suffering - he once suggested: "...if you would like someone to help you in your suffering, then you should also help others in their suffering".

Jesus knew suffering - he saw it all around him, and he saw how different people reacted differently to their experience of it - that's why he could regard it as a "test" or "trial" for humans.

And it's a test of love - if you see another's suffering and do nothing about it, how can the love of God be in you?

So it becomes test and opportunity - for the one who is suffering who may be able to discover in themselves reserves of strength and resilience and patience and even good humour.

And for the one who chooses to experience's another's suffering it becomes a test and opportunity to offer compassion and identification and the energy to bring about a new creation.

That is, in shorthand form, a summary of what the New Testament, in particular, says about the way humans encounter and deal with their own or someone else's suffering - but it doesn't explain the 'why'.

That is mystery - this morning I don't want to go down the path of leaving it there with a shrug of the shoulders - the common human response to mystery is always to lay the responsibility on God.
It really is an extraordinary thing that in this day and age our insurance policies still refer to hurricanes and floods and earthquakes as acts of God.

We turn God into the supremely powerful know-all - a God, being God, who must control both the cosmos and of the microcosm.
But when the mysteries of the cosmos, and of the structures of our own world from its beginnings and down to its minutest component parts are increasingly becoming known - that knowledge becomes ours, and is no longer a mystery known only to God.

This is a layman speaking - but in reference to Haiti and Chile, I wonder how soon it will be that we will be able to predict earthquakes of whatever magnitude, and prepare for them.

When, by knowing their causes and their effects, we will build wisely and safely and in the correct places - when we will be able to effectively anticipate what is inevitable, and prevent suffering.
We don't become gods by doing that sort of thing - suffering is something to prevent, to thwart, to overcome - we are not taking God's place when we seek to make our world a safer place.

If calamity strikes it is simply irresponsible to blame God, and do nothing about understanding the real causes, or what contribution we might make to making the world a safer and better place.

It's the processes of nature we don't comprehend - we live in a creation that can unleash forces that are beyond our control - the challenge is always to be better informed.

Millions suffer - that's a fact of life - in every sense of the word suffering is our responsibility - may God give us both the passion and the compassion to face up to our responsibility.

-- by Donald Phillipps.

A sermon preached on Sunday, March 7, at Mornington and Glenaven Churches.