Tsunami Talk – Letter from John Peck
“ How can people talk of an almighty loving God who allows thousands of innocent people to suffer like that? It doesn’t make sense; let’s be realistic for goodness’ sake!”
“Hang on a minute; it didn’t have to happen, did it? I mean why wasn’t there an early warning system?”
“Huh! That’s governments for you! Talking about it for years, and doing nothing...”
“Well you can hardly blame God for that, then...”
“Oh come on! For one thing, there’d still be thousands of homes destroyed...”
“You mean, with all our modern technology, we couldn’t find ways of making homes safe?”
“Well yes, but these people were poor. I mean really poor. They couldn’t afford to...”
“But why is that? I mean, if the West weren’t so commercially greedy... and anyway if we could spend over a billion busting up people’s homes in Iraq, surely...?”
“Oh all right, but why doesn’t this God stop all these wars and oppressive governments?”
“Say, have you ever fallen in love?”
“What’re you on about?... Well, yes, of course..”
“Was it nice?”
“Er, well, it was pretty fantastic - I mean, we got married!”
“So did it make you feel happy?”
“I should think so! I was on top of the world!”
“Great, isn’t it? And love of friends and family give such pleasure, too... Gosh, imagine a world like that! Tell you what, why don’t our scientists start making electronic beings we could share love with...”
“But you can’t love a robot; robots can’t love, love has to be given freely doesn’t it?”
“But doesn’t that mean they could choose not to...? So the greatest pleasures in life involve risk...?”
“I guess so.”
“So if God wants universes full of beings who will enjoy life to the full,... Even if a few of them break His heart? This anti-God stuff sounds to me like party poopers blaming the host because they got drunk and hurt themselves trying to take over the kitchen.”
In His love - John Peck