There are days when it seems trivial to look at the Bible rather than face the reality of the world.
The God who permitted this....
At least 100,000 men, women and children are reported dead in the Haitian earthquake. Probably the death toll will rise to 250,000 once the deaths of missing persons are confirmed and the subsequent deaths of many injured people are counted.
Desperate messages urge us to get down on our knees and pray for the people of Haiti.
To whom?
To the God who permitted this disaster in the first place.
The Christian response to suffering is often dishonest. What sort of God would allow the suffering to happen and then intervene in response to prayer?
There are worse questions. For example, what sort of God would allow an earthquake in Haiti, but intervene to get the pious Scottish Christian a space in a crowded car-park? (As a pious Scottish Christian tells me He does)
Believers need to find a way of expressing faith that doesn’t insult the intelligence and the pain of suffering people. Here are some starting points:
- God never interrupts the natural processes of the universe. Any story that says he did so, is fiction.
- If God interrupted natural processes to prevent suffering, we would never learn that fire burns flesh, or carbon monoxide kills, or building cities on geological faults is dangerous.
- People who claim that God interrupted natural processes to save them, are prioritising their own safety over the suffering of the rest of humanity.
- To say that God never interrupts the processes of the universe is not to say that God has no influence upon them. We believe that God’s love influences human beings towards justice and love. Through them God influences natural processes whose energies are, for example, used for the welfare of people. It is certainly possible to conceive of God’s love influencing all living things in beneficial ways.
- We can also say that God’s permission for the universe to exist in uninterrupted freedom, over against his own being, is in itself a fundamental act of love.
- If we are Christian believers, we will say that the history of Jesus Christ encourages us to think, that God suffers with all who suffer in His universe, and that in the end (what do we mean by that?) all tears will be wiped away.
- Until then we could do with getting off our knees and making sure that the relief agencies have enough money to do God’s work of rescue. If they are not able to help, we cannot send God on to the field as a substitute.
Emmock's Blog 
Good article. I believe that prayer in this case is important for us to do, but in conjunction with helping relief agencies have enough money to help the people there.
One good place to help is “Food for the Poor” – http://www.foodforthepoor.org/
They do alot of work with the poor in the Caribbean. They have a good rating with the United States Better Business Bureau and 97% of the money they raise goes to the programs for the poor.
They have a link on their website to help the Earthquake victims.
Yes, prayer is an intimate part of opening ourselves to God’s influence. I see no evidence that Jesus advocated communal prayer,other than the “our father”, but rather regarded it as the inward aspect of his relationship with the Father. He never had a prayer breakfast. Much organised prayer has become the kind of religious display of which Jesus said, “They have their reward.” But yes, of course we should pray while we are doing God’s will. Thanks for the charity recommendation. I ‘ve looked at their website which is genuinely impressive. I didn’t know of it, and am happy for its name to be on the blog.