> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On > Behalf Of The Fool
... > Yet while his comments were unusual in their grotesqueness, they bore one > similarity to comments being heard from others: many people believe the > tragedy happened for a reason. Everything happens for a reason... and usually it's one that we make up right afterwards. I guess people say the above as a joke, but I think there are two insights related to it. At worst, making up reasons reflects our desire to believe that someone or something good is actually in control, which is actually to deny the existence of evil. At best, it is a recognition that no matter how terrible something is, it can work to good. Often, it seems that the price is too high, which can be so troubling. For example, many good things happened around one of the most difficult experiences in my life -- the long illness and death of my best friend's son. But whatever we might have gained, the price seems too high, far too high. I'd say the same for the Columbia crew. Good surely will come from the crash, we will undoubtedly learn a lot -- but it won't have been worth those lives. And I think it would be silly to even try to compare them. > The interpretations of "the message" could not vary more widely. Some say > God intervened to prevent more loss of life; others that it was a sign > that America's posture toward the world is too arrogant, and still others > are chilled by what they feel are suggestive coincidences but cannot > fathom the meaning. As usual, the God-in-my-back-pocket pronouncements disturb me. They tend to reflect the worst Christianity has to offer. > On Internet message boards, in man-on-the-street interviews and among > some spiritual teachers, certain facts or assertions are being strung > together as evidence that something special happened: Some decent understanding of probability and statistics might go a long way here toward helping people realize some of these things just aren't surprising. On the other hand, I don't especially believe in coincidence, so I'm not reluctant to draw meaning from little things... but when people are *sure* they know the meaning, we're back to God-in-my-back-pocket. > France's "Liberation" newspaper discussed the tragedy in an editorial > titled "Humility": "Some think they see a bad omen in this latest drama. > The disaster should be a lesson in humility and show the United States > that whatever its financial might, its scientific know-how, its > technological prowess, its training of men, it cannot control all, > dominate all, foresee all, parry all." And we can't keep E. coli, shigella, etc., out of our food supply! Or solve homelessness! Empty our prisons! Which is to say that there is no shortage of evidence that we ain't perfect. > At Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church in Spokane, Wash., hometown > church of astronaut Michael Anderson, the Rev. Freeman Simmons speculated > that God "permitted" the shuttle accident to get America's attention. > "God works strange," Simmons said. The word "permitted" shouldn't be in quotes. Any believer in an omnipotent God logically *has* to believe that God permitted this, just as God permitted some nasty bugs to make me go through a lot of pain. If things happened without God's permission, that would be a poor sort of omnipotence. But good for this pastor that he "speculated," rather than announced! If it's not clear, I'm having some of these thoughts on a personal level, as I go through this illness that had such a thoroughly scary and painful start. I don't believe that God gave me the illness, any more than I believe God killed my friend's son or crashed Columbia. But, yeah, God permitted these things. Faith tells me there are lessons to be learned and good things to come from them. For me, personally, one of the important lessons is the reminder that we can't control things; the more I accept that reality, the more peace I have. I enjoy these sorts of postings, I'll add, for those who might imagine that because I tend to criticize the heck out of them, I want them to go away. Our friend The Fool has a knack for selecting good discussion fodder, in my opinion. Nick _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
