January 18, 2005
Where Was God When the Tsunami Struck?
by Robert Rogers
Special to Huntington News Network Writer
Editor’s Note: When the tsunami hit south Asia December 26, many faiths began asking “where was God?” Reflecting on these media discussions, the writer, a resident of Rolla, Mo., penned the following to Rev. Robert Bondurant, current chaplain of the MU Football squad and former director/founder of the Presbyterian based, P.R.O.W.L, People Reaching Out With Love.
Last night on “Larry King Live,” a group of scholars representing the major World Religions were asked to reflect on the meaning of their faith as it relates to the tsunami that occurred in south Asia on Dec. 26, 2004. Most of the responses were uninspiring and uninteresting to me. I was especially ‘put off’ by the evangelical Protestant whose nearly every sentence was punctuated by the phrase “the Lord Jesus Christ.” Besides the banality of his comments, his whole manner was too glib and self-assured given the gravity of this tragedy.
But I awoke the next morning wondering how I would have addressed these monumental issues of God’s nature, God’s will and/or permissive will, and God’s intervention or non intervention in the lives and events of this world. I am not sure my reflections would have been any better than theirs. But words, not answers, came to mind like ‘unanswerable,’ ‘God’s terrible love,’ and especially ‘cheap.’ Cheap because tsunami did not happen to me, cheap because it did not affect anything I have or take anyone I love or even know. So my theological ‘take’ would be only intellectual. I think these questions are best addressed by the faithful who suffer beyond their ability to comprehend their suffering, by those like Jesus on the Cross.
Perhaps the more proper question for the rest of us is not what did God do or not do, but what can God do through me/us for these and other devastated people who suffer and die because of circumstances beyond their control, or who have to live a 24/7 struggle just to survive. Isaiah 42: 5-6 says: “God created the heavens and stretched them out… I the Lord, have called you and given you power to see that justice is done on earth.”
Justice is usually thought of as law maintenance. But in this passage it has more to do with justice as the mutual sharing of the resources of God’s creation with all of God’s creatures so that all life can be sustained and enjoyed. For me, belief in God does not answer the ‘why’ questions, but it does make the needs of others real and important to me in such a way that I am compelled to respond in prayer and in the giving of aid. I am also compelled to urge our society to so respond collectively.
This world gets shaken up, often in terrible ways. When this happens it interrupts all human life ‘lived as usual’, compels soul searching, stimulates compassion, and reminds us of our forgotten sense of what really matters in life—values learned repeatedly through all the other tragedies since human life came into being.
As a Christian I believe that God cares deeply about the anguish of these devastated peoples. This was demonstrated for me by the death of Christ on the Cross, and in countless ways every day to those who have ‘eyes to see.’ Does God’s care really matter to those so afflicted? Is it relevant? The answer, in faith, is yes! Nothing that has ever happened has destroyed human love and hope. Eclipsed, yes. Extinguished, no. And that love and hope can be made real as God does healing and compassionate work through us as God did through the life and death of his Son.
One question Larry King asked the panelists was “do you ever doubt your faith.” My answer is “yes I do.” I especially doubt my puny attempts to make even spiritual sense of the terrible mysteries of life. I doubt my ability to ‘get things right’ by thinking really hard. But I do not doubt the necessity to keep making puny responses, which are the only responses I have. Nor do I doubt the necessity of keeping the faith despite the doubts that occasionally assail it.