Fair

I once thought about natural disasters. The problem of suffering when a human agent causes it can pretty much be explained away by the application of free will. That type of evil is not that big a thinker. But what about large scale disasters? How can God be good while earthquakes kill thousands and maim thousands more? I couldn’t get a handle on it. Then I was looking around the internet for ideas on the matter, and I found something applicable. I was approaching the problem incorrectly, which we might do if we base it on things like newscasts. I was thinking of people en masse, as a big lump of humanity, when we should be thinking of them one by one, as we are. Each victim has his or her own story. He might be taken, she might be wounded, another has no more home. If no more, it was his time; otherwise, one is tested in that particular way that transpires.

One might be tempted to say that God is not fair in the way he deals with some people, as opposed to those who have somewhat fabulous lives. If we think that this world is all there is, then we can only conclude that the world is unjust. But we must think of it that this world, this life will be as a dream is when we wake up in the morning. Like the story of the twins in the womb, where one thinks the womb is all there is, and when one is born out of it, thinks something horrible has happened. That is the picture we work with: that we upon death transcend the view that we must adhere to in this world. Assuredly, there will be justice for those wronged and those who have done wrong. But I cannot think that judgement will be anything like we are used to on earth. Nor the rewards to the faithful, those of constant heart.


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