The Church Of The Holy Rood -- Wool, Dorset, U.K.
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The Church Of The Holy Rood -- Wool, Dorset, U.K.
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From the Parish News - September 2005
It almost seems that we cannot turn on our television, radio or open our newspaper without learning of some tragedy somewhere in our world. War, terrorism, famine, natural disasters, and crime seem to dominate our news. It would be easy to wonder where God is in all of this. The question most of us would ask is: if God is all powerful and just, how can he allow suffering, particularly to innocent people? This is a question that has occupied countless people’s thoughts down the centuries. Many great theologians have struggled and strived searching for answers, but have not been able to answer this question to a satisfactory conclusion. There was a lively debate in The Times back in June 2000 regarding this same issue. Paul Nathanson writes ‘of all the dilemmas that torment thoughtful Christians, none is more acute than the problem of reconciling the notion of a compassionate God with the presence of evil in His creation.’ And Michael Buerk made the comment that his experiences as a foreign correspondent, particularly in Ethiopia led him to abandon the Church. The Bishop of Rochester wrote this helpful reply, ‘The imperfection, cruelty waste and sin of the world have to be acknowledged……..Christianity is characterised not by power but by love…….Such love meets negative as well as positive in both the physical and moral universe. In Jesus Christ this love is revealed as including, feeding and healing, but it is also revealed as vulnerable. The Cross is its defeat at the hand of human rebelliousness, but the Resurrection tells of a deeper truth that, in the end, goodness cannot be overcome by evil, compassion by cruelty and justice by oppression.’ So where does that leave us? Being a Christian doesn’t mean we are exempt from suffering, but our faith does give us the tools to deal with bad things when they happen to us. We may still struggle with the notion of suffering in our world, we may feel utterly helpless, but we can be assured God is still present with us in all situations. Judy Hill |
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