Cory Heidelberger's Madville Times critiques Pat Robertson's moral judgment explanation of the tragedy - and a fascinating theological thread develops in the comments.
Cory hosts a liberal, political blog - yet substantive thoughts about God go on there. Very often, I fear that the church is the place that many go to avoid serious engagement with God. (And from time to time God says just that. ) We need to wander around outside of our "religious Reservations" to get at the real questions, cares, idols, surprises of the Holy Spirit and other things of eternal consequence going on in people's lives.
Cory quotes from Shel Boese, a friend and creative CMA church planter here in Sioux Falls. Click on Shel's name above to read his serious, Biblical Christian treatment of disasters and tragedies (to Robertson, he says "Epic Fail, bro...")
For my part, the words of Jesus that come to mind are
But I tell you: Love your enemies[a] and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:44-45)
We are all subject to blessings and disasters in a created order that God called "good" but which has been corrupted from its life-sustaining purpose by human rebellion against the Creator. Like ourselves, the natural world bears the imprint of God's loving, creative work but is also full of deadly and tragic forces.
So, I don't think God "targeted" Haiti with a punitive strike.
Where I think Robertson might be on to something is in the social impact of Haitian spirituality. Haiti is a place where many people really, honestly believe that life is out of their control and run by "the spirits." (Sound familiar, South Dakota? Some of that is present in Native American spirituality as well). When that thinking sets in, there is very little incentive for human effort.
The direct consequence of this in the earthquake is the high loss of life. Building and infrastructure are haphazard, and that is a reality that flows from Haitian spirituality.
Eureka, California suffered a 6.5 earthquake last week. Didn't hear about it? That's because some stuff fell off of shelves but little else happened. I am not claiming that California is somehow a more "Christian" environment - far from it! But the Western thinking there had Christianity's hopeful influence at one time, and there are whiffs of it in the secular humanism that values reason, which is God's gift to help us order and tend our environment.
As I said about SD's divorce rate a few blogs ago, what we believe has a direct impact on how we behave and the attendant circumstances. Haiti's spiritual orientation is a strong part of its endemic social problems. It didn't cause the earthquake, but it makes the impact more costly, the misery more grinding, and the recovery more difficult if not impossible.
On another note, where are the advocates of "Gaia/Mother Earth" theology today? Mommy had a bad day so she had to kill a few hundred thousand of her children?
5 comments:
"On another note, where are the advocates of "Gaia/Mother Earth" theology today? Mommy had a bad day so she had to kill a few hundred thousand of her children?"
Point well taken. I like that.
Hey, now, don't be knocking Gaia theory. Mother Nature loves us all... as snacks. ;-)
Seriously, I'm willing to roll with a discussion of the possibility that systems of belief, while not triggering earthquakes, have social impacts.
You said: "Haiti is a place where many people really, honestly believe that life is out of their control and run by "the spirits." (Sound familiar, South Dakota? Some of that is present in Native American spirituality as well). When that thinking sets in, there is very little incentive for human effort."
That does sound familiar. I sometimes hear strains of that thinking in the "God has a plan" talk of my neighbors. I get the impression there can be a thin line between acknowledging that God has a plan (and I'd probably be disappointed in a Supreme Being that didn't) and slipping into thinking that everything will just fall into place without some human effort. It's not enough to pray for God to open the door; we've still got to get up and walk through it, right?
Makes me think of the serenity prayer. There are things that are in God's hands. There are things that are in our hands. Seems to me we need to clearly define those two areas, and then get in gear and do something about the latter.
I welcome further licensed theological persepctives!
Cory - I can't remember if I renewed my license. Might be going around with an expired version.
But Shel did a great job and I appreciated that link.
I think you are onto a key point in your comment. For Christians, there is always a messy (and mine strewn) borderland between our concept of God's grace and sovereignty and our response. It is impossible to avoid stepping on the landmine of passivity ("all God's plan/judgment/wrath/miracle") on one side or the booby trap of legalistic self righteousness ("God blessed me 'cuz I was more righteous than you") on the other.
Christians who play down the need for constant self-examination and confession deny that reality. We are step on those spiritual mines often and we need God's mercy (met with our sincere effort to change!) to mend the damage.
BTW I just posted without giving props to Fr. Ryan Hall (Archer of the Forest) up in Brookings - I KNOW his license is up to date and good to go!
Ryan - check out Cory's site from time to time. Some pretty deep discussions get going and he welcomes theological perspectives if they are on target to the thread.
Cory - Ryan did a nice job trashing the "2012 Mayan Calendar/end of the world" silliness a few months back. Might be archived at his blog, Costly Grace . Also good football commentary there.
Thank you -- keep up the good work!
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