Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Sydney (Fides Service) - Why did the tsunami happen? Why does God allow such devastation? Why is there so much suffering in the world? These are some of the questions to which Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney offered an answer in a debate all over the world with regard to the reasons for the tragedy and the presence of God. Here is the article written by the Cardinal:
“Helping the survivors
When the tectonic plates lifted near Sumatra, we had a major upheaval in every sense. The earth wobbled slightly on its axis and some nearby islands were shifted 20 metres.
News of the deaths came slowly but 150,000 have died and five million are displaced. Years of rebuilding lie ahead.
If God is good, interested in us and all powerful, where does He fit into this suffering and its aftermath?
Certainly Jews and Christians have not continued to believe in the one true God for more than 3000 years by pretending that disasters, human and natural, do not occur. The Jews remembered Noah and the great flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The psalmist proclaimed that the God of Jacob remains our refuge and strength, our stronghold
“though the earth should rock,
though the mountains fall into the depths of the sea,
even though its waters rage and foam,
even though the mountains be shaken by its waves”. (ps.45)
Christians adopted the image of the suffering servant from the Jewish prophet Isaiah and applied it to the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus. Indeed Christians have been accused of focusing too much on suffering, on Christ’s death and the symbol of the cross.
God is omnipotent, but God’s Son was powerless in the crib at Bethlehem and at the end on the cross.
Christians believe that all are saved primarily by the way they respond to suffering. Jesus even taught that those who mourn are blessed, because they will be comforted. (Mt. 5:4)
Thirty years ago I met an apologist for another Christian tradition who had a scroll listing the great disasters in history, which he saw as evidence for God. I have never accepted this as such evils are problems for believers, a difficult part of the picture.
The universe is imperfect, flawed cosmically as it moves towards perfection. God has given his creatures freedom, which can be used for evil purposes and nature evolves and changes according to fixed laws.
It is inaccurate to call the tsunami an act of God, because God did not intervene to provoke the disaster. We might still ask why He did not create a more perfect world, why God permits so much suffering. We don’t know. Evil remains a mystery, but we are called to battle against it, and it is only one part of our story.
Neither has the tsunami anything in common with God’s final judgment, as the tsunami killed and destroyed capriciously, without rhyme or reason.
God’s judgment will be the ultimate in justice and mercy, with only those unrepentantly evil being punished.
Atheists have no explanation. For them life is a fluke, with no purpose. Only a good God requires and gives sense to universal love and is able to balance out human suffering in the next life.
Our task now is to practise this love we profess and help the survivors. + George Cardinal Pell Archbishop of Sydney PS/PA (Agenzia Fides, 13/01/2005 - 56 righe, 609 parole).
