Questions from an atheist part 7

June 23, 8:13 PMSt. Louis Presbyterian ExaminerAlicia Donathan

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Job rebukes his wife (mid-18th cy), Traversi

Q:  If there is a loving God, why does He permit--much less create--earthquakes, droughts, floods, tornadoes, and other natural disasters which kill thousands of innocent men, women, and children each year?  

Last time, I elaborated on one reason why no explanation of God's taking of life is available to us:  As creatures, we lack the competence to match wits with the mind of God.  

How do the healthy cells in our bodies know when to stop replicating?  We don't know.  What makes cancer cells forget when to stop?  We don't know.  How do the cells of the newly-fertilized blastocyst differentiate themselves into distinct organs, given that they all contain exactly the same DNA instructions?  We don't know.  How is it that two particles, traveling away from each other at the speed of light, nevertheless appear to communicate with one another, defying the speed of light?  We don't know.   How is it that a bumble bee can stay in flight?  We don't know.  

If we cannot grasp these things (and they are but the tip of the giant iceberg that is God's wisdom), then how can we expect to be competent to judge the motivations of our Maker?  We can't.  That was Job's lesson.  God is the King; He is good.  All He does, He does in accordance with His own goodness and wisdom.  This means when He takes life (as He does), He does so in harmony with His justice and His love.  How this harmonizes with His love is impenetrable to us humans.  But it does.  Of that, He has given us abundant assurances.  

The second reason no explanation of God's actions is forthcoming is simply that He owes no explanation to us.  He is worthy of our trust regardless.  As Job's friends learned, it is the height of hubris to presume that one ought to know God's reasons for His actions.  God appeared to Job and his friends in order to declare, "I am God; you are not.  I do not have to justify My actions to you; you do not have the right to an explanation.  I am good; I am just.  I do all things well.  That,  not your own understanding, is the justification for your trust."  

Just as small children do not always understand the whys of their parents' actions toward them (Why can't I drink the stuff in the pink bottle?  Why can't I grab kitty by the tail? Why can't I play in the street?), we do not know all of God's reasons for what He does.  Yet just as children are morally obligated to trust their parents anyway, so are we creatures to trust God.  A child's obligation to trust in Mommy and Daddy is not conditional upon his/her ability to understand Mommy and Daddy.  Neither is our trust toward God.  

When parents know the reasons for their decisions are too much for the child to handle at this moment, they simply expect the child to trust and obey them.  This is entirely right, for parents do not owe their children an explanation that will meet the child's approval before the child is obligated to trust the parent. A child must trust his/her parents implicitly.   A child's trust and love for his/her parents is not conditional upon his/her ability to understand the parents, but it arises intrinsically from the relationship; if the child does not understand why Daddy instructed him to do something, the obligation to trust Daddy remains.  If Daddy has decided an explanation is not appropriate right now, then when the child objects that he doesn't understand, Daddy ought to respond: "That's okay.  You must trust and obey me anyway."  Ultimately, parents do not always owe their children an explanation; but children do owe their parents trust and love.  

Likewise our relationship to God.  Just as when we were small, we were morally bound to trust our parents' love for us, regardless of our ability to understand all their decisions; so when we do not comprehend God's reasons for an event in our lives (like a natural disaster), we are nevertheless to trust His love and goodness.  As we had ample reason to trust our parents' love (they provided for us, gave us life, read us stories, etc.), so we have ample reason to trust God's goodness and love.  And just as we had no right to distrust and disobey our parents, despite lacking an explanation for their decisions; just so, we have no justification for failing to trust and love God, and believe His loving and good character.  Even when we don't understand some of the things He does.