During our weekend service, I shared some thoughts about the Virginia Tech massacre. Here they are in brief:
- I don't have all the answers
- Tragedy and horror clearly reveal the reality of evil.
- Evil can only be defined in contrast. Just like darkness only makes sense when someone understands light, evil is understood by the contrast with good.
- There is good in this world. Primarily, God is the source of all good.
- Life is fragile, valuable, and sacred.
The pastor who spoke during the funeral offered some incredibly profound points. Among them, he said this (and I'll paraphrase):
"We don't really want there to be no death. Imagine life without death. If there was no death, the lame would never walk. If there was no death, the blind would never see. If we never faced death, the terminally ill would always be ill, but never terminate. Without death, injustice would never be made right, and we would have no hope of a better life."
Wow! We do not mourn as those without hope. We realize that death is simply a doorway into eternal life. May everyone walk through that door as Andrew did, with his feet firmly planted on Rock of Jesus Christ and holding fast to the promise and faith of eternal life.
1 comment:
Suffering, tragedy, evil, death; these are the words that so many like Nitschze and Mill have proclaimed as the "deathblow" to God's existence--at least the God of Christianity. But as you have said so well, it is only in the hope of Christianity that any remotely satisfying answer exists. In fact, the bible gives us some of God's insight. (Jeremiah 12:1-4, Habakkuk 1, Psalm 73, Job 39-41) just for a few. Luis Evely writes,“Undoubtedly suffering sometimes hardens us. It does not necessarily bring us closer to virtue. But it always brings us closer to truth. Suffering and death are the only unavoidable obstacles which compel the most mediocre man to call himself into question, to detach himself from his existence, and to ask himself what would permit him to transcend it?”
But perhaps this whole painful search is not answerable. Kant wrote in his essay “On the Failure of All Philosophical Efforts in Theodicy” that the endeavor of producing a viable theodicy represented a dangerous form of pretension. And Dueteronomy 29:29 says that some mysteries are not revealed but held by God for a later time.
Just as you said, evil exists as a negative (a contrast to good not its own created essence). Likewise, hope bursts forth from dispair; love abounds despite hatred; and joy rises from the ashes of suffering.
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