My life, my dominion

I haven't blogged in a LONG time.
I've had plenty of ideas but never really thought hard about it. Anyway first up a short poll, i'm thinking of going public with this blog as of now it's private. I'm doing it purely for the sake of hearing more views IF anyone reads this that is. Yeah so there.

Anyhow on to the HOT topic now. TSUNAMI.

Why?

That is the question that i have been posed by many a non-christian. They have all asked me the question, ' If your God is benevolent, why does he let such tragedy happen?'

Indeed it often baffles the mind of even the staunchest Christian when tragedy befalls us or those around. It is easy to ask, 'God, Why?' And there are those who try to look beyond the tragedy to 'see' the 'purpose' but often the end question is still 'God, why?'

Why indeed do we always draw a blank everytime something unpleasant happens? Is it because God does not exist there fore there is not reason, or does God have some meaning that He wishes us mortals to seek out first?
The answer is of course not the former and even in the latter the answer does not lie.

Let me turn your attention to the book of Ecclesiastes. This is found in the old testament. After Proverbs and before Songs of Solomon.

This was a book written by King Solomon when he looked back at this life concluded that all strife and toil was meaningless when compared to the pursuit of the Lord.

The key of the message i wish to bring to you today can be found in the chapter 8, verses 6 to 8.
" (6) For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a man's misery weighs heavily upon him. (7) Since no man knows the future, who can tell him what is to come? No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no on has power over the day of his death. As no one is discharge in time of war so wicedness will not release those who parctise it."

Let us first look at verse 7:
Could anyone have fore that such devastation would take place? Could anything have really been done even if there were early warnings? Most of the affected areas are poor rural beach settlements. Early warning might not have done much.

Much of our frustration and sadness stems from the fact that we are helpless when it comes to the future. We want control of what lies ahead. We want to have early warning; not just that we also want to be able to have the time and space to react. In short we want to be able to plan and execute the future.

But only God knows the future. And as such we cannot possibly do anything concrete. If death is to come, is tragedy is to strike, it will. For since we are not God, we cannot know when such things will strike and therefore do anything about it. As it says in the first half of verse 8, no man has any power to take is future into his own hand.

So instead of pondering over why such things happen, perhaps our energy and our efforts should be transferred to the aftermath and doing what we can. Verses 7 and 8 establish that such things will happen whether we pray for it or not, there is no stopping them, and we shouldn't waste our time questioning the timing or even the occurance of such things.

Yet we humans are never going to accept the reasoning that things just happen full-stop. In fact many of you are going to jump on this statement and say, ' AH HA! so how is Christianity different from other religions or even fatalism? If things just happen then aren't you saying that God does not exist?'

Well verse 6 deals with the WHY of such events.
The crux of all Christian beliefs is that we are all sinners, and that we are doomed to eternal damnation in hell if not for Christ coming down to earth sacrificing himself as a ransom for our sins and thus redeeming us. So even though we still pay the ultimate price of death for our sin, thouse who believe in God and His gift of eternal salvation shall be able to spend eternity with Him in heaven.

And the most obvious answer to 'WHY Tsunami?' is that it is divine judgement. Those who perished, were affected directly or indirectly are being punished for their sins.

I won't go into why use something as horrific as a Tsunami to punish sins, but let me briefly say that every sin is a direct rejection of God and his grace, and is punishable by death.

And no, divine punishment is not the ONLY reason for the Tsunami. As written in verse 6 there is a time and place for everything. A proper procedure for everything. Upon reading this, many would say, 'What is so proper in massacaring thousands? What kind of procedure is that?'
It is then that i put forth, if we could understand God's procedure, and God's purpose for timing events as they do, would he still be God? If we could possibly understand why he does what he does, wouldn't we be God as well?

A common phrase is that ' Can God make a rock that he cannot lift?' Which makes sense, if He can do everything then why can't he do that?
But look at it from another angle, the statement in itself is illogical. If the recognition is that God can do EVERYTHING, then should he create something that he cannot lift, then he can NO longer be God; for he cannot surpass simple physical limitations. What does this show? That when we apply our human logic to God, when we try to deny him or to figure him out in OUR terms, it just ends up being thrown back at us. Imagine that if God lost track of the stars, or the hairs on our heads or the worlds that he creates, then is he God? No? Can we accept a God with limitations? No!

God has a plan, a plan so elaborate and detailed and perfect that we cannot possibly see it. And ultimately this plan is in line with his intended greater good of man kind. From the aftermath of the tsunami, good has come about.

1. The world became more aware about regional warning systems for tsunamis.
2. Indonesia opened up it's gates to missionaries bringing aid (previously missionaries were not allowed in as missionaries they had to enter on a work permit as teachers or social workers)
3. many have turned back to God because they have seen how much they need him in their time of need. And many more have found him through the Good News that is brought to them together with the aid that comes from Christian organisations.
4. And perhaps there has been a brief respite in the region from all the terrorism and all
5. Flood control measures in certain areas are being shored up
6. There are those who now cherish their families more after escaping death or losing some members

And those are just the immediate effects. What lies ahead no one will know.

Of course, you might say, well that's just being optimistic and of course since most of them are just the fulfillment of God's 'agenda' therefore we Christians can count them as good. But bear with me and open your mind. God's greatest gift is not riches or a successful life, neither is it happiness or a smooth life, it is eternal life. Eternal communion with him in heaven. Life on earth is just a short infentesimal span in eternity, what is a suffering in life compared to eternal happiness?

Furthermore, with the sacrifice of a few, many more will come to see that God is present and that they can depend on his grace for the future. Parallel this to noah and the great flood. God wiped the earth clean of humans save Noah's family, in the hope that future generations would not fall into the same trap that the ancients had. Had he not done that most of the earth as we know it would have been corrupted and living in great sin.

So as you can see, God's actions lead to the greater long term good. And even then He does not forget the daily needs of his creation. FOr those he survived, he provided the donor nations that are now pouring forth aid and other forms of help. He has not forgotten them and nor has he forgotten anyone, even you.

And finally back to the mercy argument. In the same book , chapter 7 verse 13 and 14 it says,
" (13) Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he ahs made crooked? (14) When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider:
God has made the one as well as the other.
THerefore, a man cannot discover anythign about hsi future."

God makes things happen so that man may learn. In His own time he will reveal to man His plan, that Man may know that God has grace for him today tomorrow and everyday.

To end off, I leave you with Ecclesiates chapter 3 verse 1-8:
"(1) There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven,
(2) a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
(3) a time to killl and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build
(4) a time to tweep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
(5) a time to scatter stones and time to gather time,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
(6) a time to search and atime to give up,
a time to keep and atime to throw away,
(7) a time to tear and time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
(8) a time to love and time to hate,
a time for war and time for peace."

And in verse 14
" I know that everything God does wil endure for ever; nothing can be asdded to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him."