“Does God love Haiti?” To most people, certainly most Christians, that is a silly question. Of course God does! “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.” God is love, the author of 1 John writes. How do we reconcile this understanding of a God who is only loving with a world in which so many terrible, tragic things happen—like last month’s earthquake in Haiti, which killed tens of thousands of people?
What can we say about God and God’s good creation in the wake of disasters both natural and human-made? Inevitably, skeptics and atheists use these sorts of events to confirm their skepticism. Meanwhile, some believers, like Pat Robertson for instance, will “explain” these events in ways that contradict much of what Jesus Christ and scripture reveal about this loving God.
We will explore some of these issues in a two-part sermon series, entitled, “Does God Love Haiti?” on February 21 and 28. Brent will preach the first sermon, and Larisa will preach the second. Bring your questions. Everyone is welcome!
February 9, 2010 at 11:14 pm
Here is a very thoughtful presentation from a Vicar in the Church of England in response to the tragic tsunami from a few years back. Ultimately, after presenting some different ways of thinking about God, his answer is “I don’t know.” http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/tom_honey_on_god_and_the_tsunami.html
February 10, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Thanks for the link. I watched it and liked much of it. I’ll put my initial thoughts in a separate entry.