THE EDITOR, Sir:I WAS reading an excerpt from a letter by Patrick Gallimore dated January 6, 2005 in which he suggested that the tsunami tragedy in Asia was an act of God done because these people reject Christianity.
He also suggested that the people of these regions (Africa and Asia) that 'reject' Christianity may now be forced to accept it.
Why? Doesn't the very Bible say, 'God can't be tempted by evil and should not be associated with it'. So why pull 'God'into this act of 'natural evil'.
This situation is described in philosophy and theology as 'the problem of evil'.
The arguments are: if God is all-good and all-powerful where does evil come from? Or, is it that the existence of evil implies that there is no God or if He exists then He is either not all-good or all-powerful as he thinks?
The fact is: the tsunami happened because there is a fault line in the ocean in that region that activated an earthquake.
Now, because we cannot 'explain' it otherwise we revert to primitive reasoning and blame God. But 'God is not the author of confusion' and these people will not accept the 'Christian God' because of a disaster He is said to allow, however large it may be!
It can only strengthen the argument that the God of Christians destroys his own creations that He 'loves' because of lack of compliance. To many that seems vindictive and spiteful; the very traits we condemn in humans.
Furthermore, they have their own explanations in their religions and culture. But we will not take the time to research or listen to them.
By the way, the religion of Christianity originated out of Judaism which, in turn, came out of those regions (Africa and Asia) and cultures. Also, many Europeans especially were killed in the tragedy and no doubt some were Christians as were some of the Asians themselves.
I am, etc.,
NICHOLAS ALEXANDER
nic7lex@hotmail.com
