There are two things I have not written about in my blog as of yet: Rob Bell’s new book Love Wins and the disaster in Japan. I haven’t written much about Bell because everyone else already is. I have not written about Japan because I am at a loss of words at the devastation. What made me bring these two topic together today was from watching this interview with Martin Bashir and Rob Bell.
The interview is mainly about the book and the theological storm it has brewed among conservative theologians. Martin Bashir even shows passion about how he feels Rob Bell has amended the Gospel. Instead of discussing that (which if you want to see the whole chronology of bloggers discussing this topic, the resurgence has been nice enough to bundle it here) I want to dive into the first topic of the interview.
Bashir basically asks Bell what should we do with the devastation in Japan? Where is God in this? He leads with a question that I believe Christians and non-Christians alike probably have pondered when devastation like this, Katrina, or any other natural disaster. The statement that he asks Bell to comment on is this: “If God allows this type of devastation to happen then God is either all powerful but does not care about the people in Japan or he does care and is not all powerful”. Bell begins by saying, “God does care! “ And I agree with him! He goes on to talk about the Bible being mainly a story of restoration. Though I agree with him, I am not sure where he was going with that. After Bashir restated the question, Bell said, “it is a paradox” which I do and don’t agree with.
I think these types of questions stem from a larger question: “How can a loving God allow suffering?”. To answer this difficult question, we need to know a few things.
God does care
Colossians 1:19 talks about that if the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in Christ, then it is safe to say that Jesus’ feelings and sufferings are an authentic reflection of the feelings and sufferings of God himself. He wept over Jerusalem because of their blatant rejection of the O.T. prophets and his Son (see Luke 19:41-44). The writer to the Hebrews said, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15). God does care and he loves everyone. The Bible says, “For I [God] have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live” (Ezekiel 18:32). God cares about people and his creation. When Jonah was angry at God because he did not pour his wrath out on Nineveh, God responded, “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” (Jonah 4:11). God knows that if he destroyed Nineveh, like he did with Sodom and Gomorrah, everything would be destroyed: people, animals, trees, everything! God grieves for his creation because he loves it and as he said in Genesis, it is “good”. So Bell is right! God does care! He cares a lot about the people in Japan. Every person who has died, been injured, misplaced or just lost their homes, God cares for each and every one of them.
God is all-powerful.
“For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it “ (Isaiah 46:9b-11).
God is saying that he alone is in charge. He sees the end of time from the beginning. He knows more than us because he sees all of time right now. And in that huge, brain-exploding concept of God being outside of time, he still controls even the tiniest things on earth. Matt Chandler says, “So, you’ve got this colossus God who is hard to get our head around, who looks down at earth and sees not a moment, but sees all of the moments, who, in this gigantic spectrum, still governs
to the bird that hunts.” So if a hawk picks up a mouse it is because God made the hawk do it. God governs and controls everything because he is sovereign over everything. He is sovereign over the placement of each star in the sky to where you live and how you got there. You are where you are right now because God put you there. The power and sovereignty of God is shared by no other. He alone is this powerful and this mighty (See Job 38 to see how big he is compared to us).
Natural Disasters
We need to make something clear. When we discuss 9/11 vs. the tsunami in Japan, two very different things happened. On 9/11, sinful and depraved people acted like sinful and depraved people. Asking, “where was God on 9/11?” would be the same as “where was God when Jeffrey Dahmer killed all those people?”. People do sinful things out of a sinful heart. At times, God allows the depraved to be depraved. With the tsunami, or any other natural disaster, we need to remember a few things about God:
He hold’s all things together (Colossians 1:16-17)
Meaning that the same way Christ holds the universe in order and it is not all in chaos, Christ also holds hurricanes, tornadoes and even tsunamis together. He cannot only create this weather but he also controls it.
God uses natural disasters to display his judgment.
John Piper got a lot of heat for saying that the tornadoes that hit the Lutheran church was sent by God as judgment for the Lutheran church because of the possibility of them ordaining homosexual ministers (link). He explained his reasoning for it here. But there is something that John Piper brings to our attention that we have to realize about the character and nature of God. God does use naturals disasters to display his judgment. Deuteronomy 11:17 and Numbers 16:30-34 are just two examples in the Old Testament when God used natural disasters to display his righteous anger towards man. This idea isn’t just an Old Testament idea. We see in Revelation that God will allow and even bring forth many natural disasters to display his righteous judgment. This is a side of God that people don’t like. When God is actually displaying his wrath and justice. However, it would be irresponsible of me as a pastor to deny this very important characteristic of God. Our God is just and holy and must punish sin, and he does.
Natural Disasters exist because of our sin.
What I believe is most often the case with natural disasters is that, since Adam and Eve ate the fruit in the garden, the whole world is under a curse and natural disasters are evidence of the curse. In Genesis 3:17, God tells Adam and Eve that, due to their transgression, all of creation is going to suffer. Later we see in Romans 8:19-22, that creation is groaning for God to save all his people so that creation can be restored to how it was intended to be like. Currently, the effects of our sin on creation is displayed by every hurricane, tornado, earthquake and tsunami that runs through and over creation. Sinful humanity can honestly say that natural disasters exist because of the sin problem that lives inside all of us.
The Larger question.
We have to address this as well. The question isn’t “where is God in the midst of natural disasters?” but rather, “Why does God permit and allow it?” When discussing the tornadoes that ran through Minneapolis, John Piper brought up a passage from Luke 13:1-5. In this passage Jesus uses a terrible disaster to where 18 people died because a tower fell on them to explain that life is short and that men must repent or they too will perish. All disasters, man-made or natural are allowed or caused to have people think more on an eternal perspective and examine their lives. After 9/11, millions of churches were filled because people realized that after something as catastrophic as planes running into buildings, they needed to see what their standing was with God. Granted, after the “spiritual-high” wears off, most people go back to their lives and their sin but some do have life-changing experiences, spiritually speaking, after disasters like this happen.
The reality is, no matter where you are or where you live, you too could have been easily swept away by the waves of a tsunami. If not a tsunami, a hurricane or a tornado could have happened. Life on this cursed planet is unpredictable and things happen quickly. But while we are still being spared, we should be praising God that he has continued to show mercy and grace to both his people and to his enemies because none of us deserve this kind of grace. Where I live, Tampa, has been spared for many years now from any kind of serious damage due to a hurricane. It literally seems like when a hurricane gets near or is projected to go through Tampa, something happens and it goes around. Every summer that goes by I am just amazed by the grace he has showed this city. Tampa could easily have been affected the way Katrina did Louisiana.
Use this disaster in Japan to do a few things:
- Pray for the people who have died, lost loved ones, people who are still missing, the injured, and the people who have lost their homes and other property.
- Pray for the missionaries and pastors who are trying to figure out what they can do to give God the most glory in the midst of this disaster.
- Praise God for the mercy he has shown you.
- Pray and examine your own life. Examine the idea that life can be gone in a blink of an eye and see what are you doing for the glory of God. We all can die tomorrow and what we do for the Lord on this side of eternity is really the only thing that matters.
