Problem of Pain in Haiti Part 2

“I do not think that we ever pray with such fervor of supplication in our prosperity as we do in our adversity. And then how precious the promises become! As we only see the stars when the shadows gather at night, so the promises shine out like newly kindled stars when we get into the night of affliction. I am sure that there are passages of scripture, which are full of consolation, the depths of which we do not even imagine yet, and we never shall know all that is in them till we get into the depths of soul trouble, which correspond with them.” – Charles H. Spurgeon from Spurgeon Gold by Ray Comfort.
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.” (Psalm 46:1-5)
Last week I began what I referred to as a two week evaluation of causation of the horrific tragedy in Haiti. As I have looked into the depths of passages and writings about Theodicy (why bad things happen to good people), I felt overwhelmed with the daunting task of binding myself to concluding this topic this week. (I realize the three regular readers of my column may be disappointed, but all I can do is ask for forgiveness for adding some time.) Additionally I encourage you to reread that post often as we spend some time looking over these potential causes.
As an uplifting update, since last Wednesday God’s Name has been glorified in the rescue of some 133 people from certain death under rubble even as recently as hours before the submission of this post. God’s Faithfulness has been clearly evident to many as they struggle to recover. God’s Grace has been displayed in the countless stories of those trapped in rubble with an air pocket and food within reach. God’s Power has offered many reminders as aftershocks have reverberated throughout the cities several times since the knockout punch of last week. God’s Patience/Longsuffering has also been apparent as pundits and talking heads have offered their wisdom as to the cause of the earthquake (Pat Robertson blames it on Haiti’s sin while Hugo Chavez blames it on Obama’s ACME earthquake machine that, perhaps, he purchased from Wil E. Coyote). In short, the tragedy has highlighted some good things despite the horror and immense sadness.
In my last post I posited four potential causes of the earthquake. I have asked many more learned than I to no avail and see these four as exhaustive. They are:
1. God caused/somehow ordained it.
2. God let the event happen.
3. God was surprised/not in control.
4. Random chance.
In a manner made famous by NASA, I am going to drag this difficult topic kicking and screaming into a four week countdown. It is important for all of us to delve into these and other challenging topics if we are to ever be intellectually honest in our faith in God or lack thereof.
So, could random chance have played a part in this earthquake? Three thoughts:
1. Random chance requires a lack of God’s Omnipotence and Omniscience. A truly unacceptable presupposition, but, in the interest of debate, one that I will exclude since it reveals my personal presuppositions.
2. A naturalistic person might point to fault lines (apparently not normally an issue in Haiti since the last earthquake was in 1770) and say that an evolved, Big Bang created Earth with its geological “issues” can and does produce such events in a somewhat predictable way. This somewhat hollow answer is tied to the fact that many scientists think that some day we will know with absolute accuracy every natural disaster’s time and date. The problems here are many. First are the presuppositions involved in predicting events such as this. The primary presupposition problem points plainly to origins. Where did the material to “bang” come from and what caused it to bang in the first place? And once it banged, why did everything fall into order into the amazing reality that we live in now. My 2nd grader knows when you blow something up violently, it doesn’t form something bigger and more ordered...it ends up worse. Random chance arguments for this type of event require an unordered random creation that simply doesn’t make rational sense. This requires too much faith for me to accept.
3. Lastly, even in an area such as Southern California with relative frequency in quantity of earthquakes, scientists have yet to scratch the surface of being able to predict an earthquake within a few minutes it happening. Trends and probabilities have been employed to guess likely time frames, but to no useful success. To say that there is a “good chance” of an earthquake is not particularly helpful unless you can point as to when. It seems the events are random and often flow against our best guesses. If we presuppose that disasters are predictable and, once we achieve some higher learning or have invented a specific technology we will understand them, we need a clearly defined path. For scientific method to theoretically save the day, creating a working set of hypotheses to begin with is essential. Basing hypotheses on immensely flawed assumptions does not provide the foundation needed for the scientific method to “work”. We have immense trouble predicting tomorrow’s weather with any real accuracy. Based on your experience, does it appear we are moving toward a naturalistic understanding or just spinning our scientific wheels? Global Warming...uhh ...err. .. Climate Change anyone? (Or is it Global cooling now? I lose track!). This process reminds me of medicine. Every time we come up with a wonder cure, another disastrous ailment appears. It is as though some supernatural force is hindering our ability to achieve a healthy, wealthy, and wise society.
In conclusion, due to the challenged/biased presuppositions being used and the lack of reasonable expectation to ever have the ability to accurately predict natural causes and random chance, this option leaves me cold. By definition, random chance could be the cause, but, due to lack of evidence, it seems extremely unlikely. Since I am not a keeper of all knowledge (surprise), call me an agnostic in the random chance realm in the same way I am with the tooth fairy. There simply must be better options! I will be continuing to offer you these options as we begin to circle the truth next week. Direct any questions (and verbal gunfire) to my email at markapplegate@windstream.net. Until then, may God Bless and Keep you.