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Americans have shown ourselves to be a moderate people who tolerate extremism in the name of freedom, but do not embrace it over the long haul. Since the majority of Americans claim “Christian” as their religion, it is a safe assumption that most Christians are also moderate in their views and attitudes. So the tragedy in Haiti that unfolded before our eyes has not elicited from most Christians any thoughts of explaining what happened as God’s judgment on Haiti. Instead, we think of it the way other people do – as a natural disaster that has caused unmerited suffering. The earth shook violently and buildings collapsed on thousands. That is what happened. Theologically, we don’t know why there are earthquakes or other quirks of nature that destroy people and property.
Many, but not all, of the biblical writers, on the other hand, assumed they happened because God was punishing or blessing the people. Their frame of reference was the covenant Israel and God shared. Both were to be faithful to their obligations as covenant partners. Since God was always faithful, they believed, the onus was on the people to live up to their obligations. As long as Israel did what God expected, things would go well, very well, in fact. But if Israel decided to ignore God, they would pay a price. Sometimes that price, the writers said, came in the form of natural disasters such as a famine or fire. Sometimes it meant Israel’s army suffered defeat in battle. In all instances Israel’s suffering was because the people were paying the consequences of disobedience.
This is a primitive and Sunday School understanding of the relationship between God and humanity, but it still exists in the minds of some adult Christians. They see everything as evidence of the hand of God at work to bless or punish people. Jesus, of course, rejected this theology.
When the disciples asked Him if the sin of his parents or his own sin caused a man to be blind, Jesus said neither. The Book of Job rejects this way of thinking outright. But it continues to be the way some Christians think about the divine/human relationship. It is one view of God, but certainly not the only one, and the one that is the least helpful. It creates more problems than it solves. What kind of God would be so capricious and arbitrary? Not the God of Israel or Jesus who, according to most biblical writers and scholars today, is a God who loves without conditions and forgives without our deserving it.
I think it is time for Christians to grow up and have done with this punitive picture of God. It serves no useful purpose. Those who insist on it being true are exploiting fear as a way to cajole people into being submissive to what they say. The church has, of course, used fear throughout its history, but in today’s world we need grown up Christians who know better and refuse to be treated like children. Churches need to stop thinking and acting like a “parent” to their members, insisting they know what is best for them and telling them how to think and act. The majority of people who believe in God do so because they think of God as being at least as good as they are, and they would never try to make their children love them out of fear.
We are better off if we say that tragedies are part of the mystery of life and have no theological explanation. Mature faith means trusting in a loving God even though we don’t have all the answers and cannot explain why a good God allows pain and suffering. In truth, if we did have all the answers, we would not need faith.
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