How come they are not the ones asking the question?
January 26, 2010
It has got to be the third person in the last two weeks that has asked me about the existence of God in light of the tragedy in Haiti. The last words I heard before I walked out of that Starbucks were “How can a good god exist and allow these things to happen, a god like that has no place in this world”. As I reflected upon what I judge to be an honest angry statement I was reminded of another episode just last week. It happened here at my own church during a presbytery meeting.
At that meeting a Haitian movement leader updated us of the situation in Port Au Prince in the aftermath of the 7.2 earthquake. At the occasion he said that the situation was much worse than what has been reported by the American TV networks. Out of his own suffering he shared the fact that he had lost 10 of his pastors, all of their church buildings and many of their church members. He said that there was no food, scarcity of gas to transport whatever supplies they could gather from the DR or other immediate towns, tons of orphans roaming the streets and a lot of violence. But in the midst of all the destruction around them the church remained strong. He said that every single night sounds of prayers and songs are heard through out the desolated streets of the city. That in the midst of immense suffering people are turning to God more than they are turning to nations and to other human beings.
Interesting. Here we have one of the greatest catastrophes of history and then we have two kinds of people. Those who are mere spectators and those who are living in it. On one side you have those, like myself that can drive into a Stbx and pay $4 for a cup of coffee and then go home and watch what’s going on on TV and then you have those who are actually there. A fool like the one I encountered today who can afford to have a comfortable life asks the question that the homeless, orphan, hungry, mutilated is not asking on the other side. They usually never do. On this side of the tragedy people are using what happened to run away from God while victims are desperately running to God. To me if someone had the right to ask the question; it would be the Haitian people. Except, they are not.
I’ve heard it say that “atheism ends at the grave” and I guess that’s true for both types of people.
I sympathize with your point and am in awe of Haitians’ own faith in God in the midst of their tragedy. I recognize my privileged stance at the latte sipper in this, and also that I’ve never been through anything close to this this type of tragedy.
However, just because desperate and hurting people turn to God does not prove God’s existence or goodness. It is well know that people in poverty, tragedy, with grave illness, etc. turn to deity in larger numbers than us privileged folk. People with lower IQs and/or educational backgrounds (I am not addressing Haitians here, just making a point) also tend to have higher belief in deity. Thank God these are not prerequisites for faith. But because of this ideology, we have in the conservative modern Christian church often a push towards God over education (as if they are somehow mutually exclusive) just as the ancient church had a push for astheticism over a comfortable life. Scripture tells us that it’s harder for the rich/privileged to enter the Kingdom, true. But turning to God in the face of adversity does not negate the question of why God allows adversity.
Therefore, I don’t think it’s foolish to ask the question this guy asked in the same vein that I don’t think it’s foolish to go from unbelief to belief as a result of tragedy. I think both are honest.
Then again, I only believe in God’s sovereignty about 80% of the time. The rest of the time, I have no friggin idea.
Thanks for the thoughts
J,
Good response.
Just to clarify;
1. The guy at stbx was not a “latte sipper”. he was having a frap (maybe that was the prob).
2. In this post I’m not trying to prove the existence of God because people are turning to God in Haiti. I’m asking the question: why are they not doubting God’s existence? Moreover, why are they in the breach of revival? Is that because they are less educated? I don’t think so. Is it because they are suffering? Probably yes. Which makes us ask even a deeper question. Is atheism a luxury of the comforted? Would he respond differently if he was faced with the same horrors? I tend to doubt it and that’s why I called him a “fool”. And by the way, I only did so because that’s what the Bible says about people like that (“the fool says in his heart ‘there is no God’” – Ps 14:1). Most Social Scientist agree that belief or no belief in God is mostly a byproduct of life experiences rather than rational formulation. Which might indicate that Atheism is quite superficial when life and suffering are in question — It lacks deep experience.
1. I concur.
2. I agree that asking “why are they not doubting” is an intriguing question. Some in crisis do, though seemingly a minority.
The question of atheism being a luxury is an interesting one. Certainly not all atheists are smart; but it does seem to be vastly found in “educated” societies. And at least some atheists have been through quite difficult situations. But perhaps just so few that they’ve had enough non-suffering time to reflect upon their suffering, unlike those who seem to suffer daily? I don’t know. Or, perhaps there is a Theology of Suffering taking place, making the sufferer more God-enlightened. I do think that’s at least a possibility.
Also, while I agree that atheism has it’s superficiality (and arrogance), the fact that most social scientists say that belief (or not) is a byproduct of life experience and not rational formulation doesn’t bode well for God not then being a human creation. There must be more, for me at least.