The “big one” has hit Christchurch. Few in the entire country will be untouched or unaffected, since we in New Zealand are a little village. To a man each will have relatives, friends, colleagues and mates in Christchurch. In that sense it is a national disaster.
The meaning and significance of such disasters are always multi-dimensional and multi-faceted. The effects similarly. Some people will find new meaning, purpose and direction in life though this adversity. Others will discover afresh that the “good things” of life are mere trinkets and will become profoundly thankful again for the basics of food and clothing and shelter. With these they will be content. Others will appreciate family, loved ones, neighbours and friends in deeper ways.
Still others will find courage that they never knew they had. Some will mourn deeply the passing of loved ones. Some will mend their lives and begin again. Others never will. Many will live in fear of further calamity until the day they die. One of the things that earthquakes do–more than any other calamity, it would seem–is shake the fundaments of life to the very core. Nothing is sure. Nothing is certain. Everything is tenuous. There is no security. If the very earth cannot bear us up and support us, nothing can.
At such times, our thoughts always turn particularly to the saints. “When one suffers, all suffer,” is the motto of the Church. It is the spiritual foundation of the secularised “all for one, and one for all”. The saints will congregate. They will once again review their lives in the light of eternity. They will remind one another that time is short and man’s days upon the earth are like grass. They will extend hospitality to the needy. They will mourn with those who mourn. They will rejoice with those who have been delivered. Their shepherds will minister the Word of God to them. They will realise afresh that though heaven and earth pass away, the Word of the Lord will abide forever. This tragedy will re-orientate and re-focus their lives in ways that few other things ever would.
It is probable that many will become Christians; they will come to belief and a saving faith in Christ. They thought they were atheists or they lived in casual, who-cares agnosticism. But spontaneously, from the depths of their heart, they called out to God, as the very earth shook and the buildings fell. Faced with eternity, they became believers in an instant, crying out, “Remember me, Lord.” Whilst many will have cried out to God and have already since forgotten, pushing out the warnings from their mind, others will have been converted, born again by the Spirit. He moves as the wind. Who can tell whence He came, and where He goes.
Just like the great storm and the roaring flood, earthquakes are the voice of God. He speaks in them and through them, to all who have ears to hear.
Cross posted at Contra Celsum
A common objection to belief in the God of the Bible is that a good, kind, and loving deity would never command the wholesale slaughter of nations. In the tradition of his popular Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan teams up with Matthew Flannagan to tackle some of the most confusing and uncomfortable passages of Scripture. Together they help the Christian and nonbeliever alike understand the biblical, theological, philosophical, and ethical implications of Old Testament warfare passages.
Can I recommend the following post by Steve Graham, Dean of Laidlaw College in Christchurch. It touched me right where I was at in dealing with everything.
http://stevegrahamchch.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-god-is-saying-to-christchurch.html
It is probable that many will become Christians; they will come to belief and a saving faith in Christ
Au contraire. I submit it is just as probable that many will abandon Christianity or, at the very least, the archaic notion of a deity that actively and benevolently intervenes in human affairs.
This is a pretty crass bit of opportunistic evangelism J.T.
Nasty in many ways – you could have waited.
M, the opportunists are those who seize on tragedies to propagate their faiths.
T.A.M. … I thought I just said that?
Crisis : opportunity riding a dnagerous wind
Max, interesting you say that, I was reluctant to publish this post at all because I thought it might be interpreted the way you suggest. We delayed publishing it almost a week because of this, perhaps we should have published it latter.
I would be interested though, do you think Jesus was crassly opportunitistic in Luke chapter 13 verses 1 to 5?
TAM, I am not sure i understand you, in the first comment you use the Christchurch earthquake to make a claim about how theism is absurd and so forth and how it should lead people to embracing atheism. In the next you criticise people who use earth quakes as an opportunity to propogate their beliefs
Which position do you hold so I know which one to respond to?
“I would be interested though, do you think Jesus was crassly opportunistic in Luke chapter 13 verses 1 to 5?”
Well given Luke was published decades after the event rather than days it is a slightly different situation.
Sure, though Luke was recording or at least recording the gist of a conversation that had occurred decades earlier.
Matt, as a resident of Christchurch currently in the middle of all this I just want to say that I do appreciate your post.
At the moment the trauma and emotions are all so raw and deep that I’ve heard a lot of Christians tell me they just can’t pray – all they can do is cry. Faith will be part of what gets us through this, and it’s deep real faith, not arguments about theism or atheism.
The Dean of the Cathedral Peter Beck said: This was not an act of God, it was the earth doing what the earth does. The act of God is how we love each other and support each other through this.
My experience so far is that God is in the tears, in the healing, in the love, support, hugs and prayers.
Matt, my point remains: I submit it is just as probable that many [in light of the Christchurch disaster] will abandon Christianity or, at the very least, the archaic notion of a deity that actively and benevolently intervenes in human affairs.
Did Christians abandon their faith in the face of the lions and gladiators?
Some did, most didn’t.
Where do we find in the Bible God consistently intervening to maximise human happiness and minimise human unhappiness?
Nowhere.
This might be a problem to those raised with a “Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” theology, but to those with an adult theology it’s not troubling in the least.
@ Jason
“Did Christians abandon their faith in the face of the lions and gladiators?
Some did, most didn’t.”
do we have a statistical analysis for that ?
No, we have the testimony of Pliny.
And the existence of the Christian church today
With many of the city’s churches in ruins, others had bigger congregations than usual, enlarged by those who do not ordinarily attend church.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/149656/citys-spirit-unbroken
See also this story: http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/149522/quake-dead-remembered-church-services
Well written JT. This is the best article I have read on this topic.
I understand what this post is trying to convey but, with respect, I disagree. My position is closer to that of the Very Reverend Dean Peter Beck of ChristChurch Cathedral (may it rise again).
To me, I do see the ‘face of God’ in disasters such as the devestating Canterbury earthquake… I see it in the responses of all those that God tells us are made in the “image and likeness of God”.
The brother who died protecting his sister, the thousands of students volunteering to do ‘grunt work’ so the professionals can do theirs. The Aussies, Brits, Americans, Irish Japanese, Thai, Chinese (both Communist and Nationalist), Germans, Israelis, etc. who dropped everything and are risking their lives for total strangers thousands of miles from home. The neighbours living Leviticus 19:18. The multi-National CEOs quietly foregoing profits in favour of humanity. The Sallies and the Red Cross an the Rangiora Airlift and all the rest.
In these “still, small voices” is God.
I was born in Lyttelton in a building destroyed a week ago, as was my first home. I grew up in Christchurch and love the city. I am Jewish, resolutely so. However I wept when I saw the shattered Cathedral (the beating heart of my city now broken), the crumbled remains of the Roman Catholic Basilica of the Blessed Sacrament, Knox Church gutted, Oxford Terrace Baptist collapsed, Durham Street Methodist destroyed, St Pauls Pacific Island Church lying in rubble, not to mention St Lukes and St Johns.
I thank God that the synagogue is safe (due to some timely engineering work to earthquake-proof it finished on the eve of the first quake).
New Zealand is an earthquake zone, to a certain extent these things mus be expected (it is how the world works) but I am in awe of the presence of God made manifest in these “image[s] and likeness[es].
My childhood places may be gone but I still retain the memories and now I know more clearly that I, and everyone else, am a part of God’s creation and plan, an important part.
So, because of this I can exult with Job: “I know that my redeemer lives!”
bethyada, John Lennox on Monday gave the best sermon I have ever heard on this topic. The audio should soon be on compass.org.nz
Given what those in Christchurch have been through, the following describes exactly what is happening:
“Post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, is one such mental health complication that may show signs of significant improvement when a religious or spiritual connection is created. With over 20 percent of the adult population believed to experience PTSD at some point in their lives, the need for spiritual awakening or religious affiliation has become more progressive in recent years.
Because religion and religious activities are often deemed a place in which to receive comfort and apply meaning to life events, it is not uncommon for PTSD patients to seek religion and spirituality as part of the healing process. In many ways, the traumatic event which led to PTSD may actually serve to make an individual’s spirituality or religious beliefs even stronger.”
Amen, David Bisman, and thank you.
Thank you David Bisman.
In a few short days we will remember the first anniversary of the earthquake. And Christchurch has not been able to forget – if not reminded by the visual and social impact of broken streets, homes and lives, then shaken out of complacency by the latest series of aftershocks.
“This tragedy will re-orientate and re-focus their lives in ways that few other things ever would”. We cry out to God to restore and redeem our city that is known by His Name. We call on Him to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion…
@ Patrick
Feel free to “Cry out to God to restore and redeem our city that is known by His Name”, but the reality is that all the real reconstruction of the city of Christchurch has, is and will continue to be done by ordinary human beings, working together using the best available science based technological applications, such as civil engineering.