Where is God in Japan?
Posted on March 17, 2011 by Pastor Tom
A colleague of mine put together these thoughts as we try to put the Japan disaster in perspective.
Where Is God? (By Pastor Torrey Robinson)
First came an almost unthinkable magnitude 10 earthquake. Then we heard news of a tsunami that wiped out whole towns. Now there are very real fears of a nuclear meltdown spreading deadly radiation to tens of millions of people. Just when it seems that things couldn’t get worse for the people of Japan, it does.
How do you believe in a loving, all-powerful God when you watch such calamity unfold before you? This is not only a question that thoughtful Christians ask. It is a question that a frightened world desperately needs us to answer. Let me summarize three helpful responses that Tim Keller details in his excellent book, The Reason for God.
1. Evil and suffering aren’t evidence against God. Just because you can’t see or imagine a good reason why God might allow something to happen doesn’t mean there can’t be one. Keller notes, “With time and perspective most of us can see good reasons for at least some of the tragedy and pain that occurs in life. Why couldn’t it be possible that, from God’s vantage point, there are good reasons for all of them?”
2. Evil and suffering provide a better argument for God’s existence than against it. How do we decide that the existence of pain and suffering is unfair? In his book, Mere Christianity C. S. Lewis, the atheist turned believer, explained the change in his own thinking. “My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of “just” and “unjust”?... What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?... Of course I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too- for the argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my private fancies… Consequently atheism turns out to be too simple.” In other words, these very objections to God assume an ultimate standard for fair play and justice which doesn’t exist if there is no God.
3. The truth is, the God of the Bible offers ultimate hope in tragic situations. The problem of tragedy and suffering is a problem for everyone. It is a mistake to think that if you abandon belief in God it somehow makes pain and calamity easier to handle. Christianity offers true consolation in the midst of our suffering. The philosopher, Peter Kreft, noted that the Christian God came to our world to address the problem of human suffering. In Jesus Christ, God not only experienced the greatest depths of pain, He did something about it. The message of the Bible is that Jesus not only suffered and died, but He also rose again.
People in Japan and people here in the United States need to understand that suffering and death don’t have the last word. God has entered our world, experienced our pain and conquered death. In the person of Jesus, He offers the world Resurrection hope to a new earth where there will be no more bad news, no more suffering and no more tears.