I've been having debates with friends in which they said that yes, there is a God, but no, God does not intervene supernaturally in the natural order. I found this point of view interesting, because if you believe that God will provide, you have to account for all the instances in which God does not provide.
To be blunt, I never understood why God would supernaturally find me a job and not intervene supernaturally to help people whose need is far greater. It just doesn't make any sense -unless like C.S. Lewis, you think that what happens to you is for the best, and that dying at 15 is lucky because you get to meet God sooner.
I'm not referring to recent natural disasters: humans have the technology to foresee cyclones and earthquakes and warn the population. And we have enough food to feed everyone.
To be blunt, I never understood why God would supernaturally find me a job and not intervene supernaturally to help people whose need is far greater. It just doesn't make any sense -unless like C.S. Lewis, you think that what happens to you is for the best, and that dying at 15 is lucky because you get to meet God sooner.
I'm not referring to recent natural disasters: humans have the technology to foresee cyclones and earthquakes and warn the population. And we have enough food to feed everyone.
That is why my favourite grace before meals is a century old Jewish one: "Blessed are you, LORD, our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth". (I'm including a transliteration from Hebrew for the extra-keen reader: Baruch atta ADONAI Eloheynu melech ha-olam ha-motzi lechem min ha-aretz. I like to think that these words -a very common Jewish prayer- would have been said by Christ, but maybe I'm just wrong).
So anyway, let me quote from the progressive atheists (i.e. this website) because I find their view a lot more helpful than waiting on God's supernatural intervention, which does not seem to happen very often. Maybe if we believed hard enough mountains would move themselves supernaturally. But I'm not convinced that's what the passage means. Maybe if we believed enough we might actually be transformed and enabled to make the decisions that move the mountains. And in this, I would agree with atheists, humans definitely contribute to changing things.
"Many of our problems on this planet are human fault. Gotta have our big cars, gotta have all our electricity, our garbage piles high. We don't think about it because we won't be here. Let the next generations worry about it. People killing other people. Greed. War. Violence. All caused by humans and only humans can change all this. No god is going to clean up the mess. Nature is at "fault" of [sic] most natural disaster. It's just the way things are. NO god causes these things, no god prevents them. They just happen and no help comes from any god to clean up the mess.
No messes get cleaned up unless humans intervene and take action. No god waves a magic wand and makes things all better. No god cures the cancers and disease in little children and adults, no god feeds those who are starving to death in third world countries and no god prevents the exploitation of the poor and impoverished. No god keeps a president and leaders of nations from starting wars and killing innocent people who have no say in the matter. No god prevents perverts from molesting and murdering children. No god stops the gangs from murdering, stealing and killing each other. No god comes. Humans struggle to find cures for disease. Humans attempt to fix what other humans destroy. Humans strive to sort out the messes other humans make. But no god causes it, no god cleans up the messes".
As an aside, it's one year today since my first post on this blog. On Thursday it will be 20 years since my first communion. H. is threatening to wax lyrical about it to the three students that will turn up to the college mass he's presiding. That's because he assumes that I'll be going. Let's see.
So anyway, let me quote from the progressive atheists (i.e. this website) because I find their view a lot more helpful than waiting on God's supernatural intervention, which does not seem to happen very often. Maybe if we believed hard enough mountains would move themselves supernaturally. But I'm not convinced that's what the passage means. Maybe if we believed enough we might actually be transformed and enabled to make the decisions that move the mountains. And in this, I would agree with atheists, humans definitely contribute to changing things.
"Many of our problems on this planet are human fault. Gotta have our big cars, gotta have all our electricity, our garbage piles high. We don't think about it because we won't be here. Let the next generations worry about it. People killing other people. Greed. War. Violence. All caused by humans and only humans can change all this. No god is going to clean up the mess. Nature is at "fault" of [sic] most natural disaster. It's just the way things are. NO god causes these things, no god prevents them. They just happen and no help comes from any god to clean up the mess.
No messes get cleaned up unless humans intervene and take action. No god waves a magic wand and makes things all better. No god cures the cancers and disease in little children and adults, no god feeds those who are starving to death in third world countries and no god prevents the exploitation of the poor and impoverished. No god keeps a president and leaders of nations from starting wars and killing innocent people who have no say in the matter. No god prevents perverts from molesting and murdering children. No god stops the gangs from murdering, stealing and killing each other. No god comes. Humans struggle to find cures for disease. Humans attempt to fix what other humans destroy. Humans strive to sort out the messes other humans make. But no god causes it, no god cleans up the messes".
As an aside, it's one year today since my first post on this blog. On Thursday it will be 20 years since my first communion. H. is threatening to wax lyrical about it to the three students that will turn up to the college mass he's presiding. That's because he assumes that I'll be going. Let's see.
No comments:
Post a Comment