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We are just a week into the tragedy of Haiti and questions have come my way. For some, I may be too late in answering these but as the events continue to unfold, I hope this may help.

The following is an attempt to give some spiritual direction. My hope is to empower parents who are looking for answers based upon the spiritual questions received from their kids. I also hope to help adults who may be asking the same.

Parents will have either two responses from their kids: 1) Kids who are inquisitive by asking some tough questions; Or, 2) Kids who show no sign of interest simply moving on with life.

I do encourage every parent to talk to your child. If you do not, they will form their own opinions. Perhaps the greatest tragedy is the life that looks upon others suffering and says, “All is well.” You have a wonderful opportunity. Let us not be desensitized to the needs of the world. This generation needs to be aware and be empowered so that they can affect the world for the greater good and ultimately, to honor God.

Some questions for your kids depending on their age:

1. What are your thoughts regarding the tragedy in Haiti? Use Google Earth (or a map will do). Show them some photos too. Be advised to filter them. Many photos coming to the States are pictures of corpses.
2. What do you think God is doing?
3. What do you think the church should do? (What do you think we should do as a family?) I think it is good for the parent to move the child from conversation to action. Think how you can tangibly help these people.

Finally, I must admit. I am not very good at writing when my audience are kids. I struggle speaking to them when they are present at communion. You will mostly likely need to translate my thoughts.

Question #1: Did God cause this earthquake?

By far, I have been asked this question Two options: 1) Either God directly caused the earthquake or, 2) He allowed the earth in its sickness (in its fallenness), to act naturally.

Judgment means that God intervened with the natural world and used it as a a means of punishment –a consequence, to reveal a grave injustice toward him and his law. This is a possible explanation.

Some examples of judgment in the Bible by way of nature: Genesis 6 – The flood. (Noah’s ark is not a cute animal story. God does wipe out the entire planet). Genesis 19:24 –God wipes out Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and hail; Exodus 7:4 –God uses nature (Red Sea) and the angel of death to judge Egypt; 2 Samuel 24:13 –Notice how God gives David options of judgment. Two are of nature. I can list many more here, but a quick look at the book of Revelation tells us the worst is yet to come (Revelation chapter eight).

• I know judgment is a tough subject to talk about with kids. Today’s Christian parent does not want God to come across as “unloving, nor fearsome and certainly not on the ‘freaky’ side”. We do not want to scare our kids about God (so we tell ourselves). As a result, we take stories like Noah’s ark and make them cute. By telling different stories, we reinterpret God. We thus fail as parents to teach the truth about God. Use wisdom as some details can be left out.
• Judgment always reveals that God is king and that he is re-establishing his order. The Bible does not hide God’s anger toward sin. What we also see in the Bible is that God is gracious when executing judgment. He forbears at length before acting. Why judgment? Without God’s intervention, mankind would continue with greater injustices (thus more people get hurt) and then they would never know that there is a God to whom the whole world is accountable. If you take away the judgment passages, you take away the love of God. The best thing for our kids is to know that God is not “cute and cuddly” who sits on our lap. He is king and should be feared.

I will answer the second option after this . . .

Question # 2 Is this earthquake a judgment from God? (Is Pat Robertson right?) We simply do not know. Pat Robertson is playing God when he speaks for him. When we have the Word of God to define a natural disaster and it calls it judgment, this is authoritative. We do not have that authoritative, declared Word of God today. Perhaps in Heaven we will receive a divine interpretation or the whole international Christian community, guided by the Spirit of God, declares it as such. For now, Pat is out of line. (But he also could be right. We just cannot say with authority).

There is an attitude when one develops the Pat Robertson stance. When one says, “God judges them”, they are then left to fill out the reason. Finding sin is not difficult but finding the reason for judgement is arrogant. How can one possibly know? Jesus was asked the same question:

Luke 13:1-5

About this time Jesus was informed that Pilate had murdered some people from Galilee as they were offering sacrifices at the Temple. “Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” Jesus asked. “Is that why they suffered?Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God. And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.”

The best response when we hear of an international tragedy is to fear God and look upon ourselves with repentance. If Haiti is the judgment of God, this can happen to us too.  Jesus’ answer was to protect us from our own self righteousness.

Question #3 If this is not a judgment, then what is it?

God is sovereign which means that he stands over all creation and not one event, not one person, nor any experience is outside his control. If God did not cause this, he at the very least allowed it.

The difference is illustrated: Suppose there is a ball in the backyard. A person can cause it to move simply by kicking it. The other option is that he can allow the wind to move it during a storm. Like this, God is in control of all things, even allowing the earth to move.

If God simply allowed this, then the earthquake is a reminder that we live in a cursed earth. The earth is cursed based upon man’s actions in the third chapter of Genesis. Theologians call this the “Fall.” Paul talks about the Fall in his letter to the church in Rome.

Romans 8:20-22

Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

This “groaning” may include earthquakes. The earth is not right with the creator. We are not right with the Creator. All of these disasters point to the fact that Jesus has not come back to set up his kingdom. While the culture concludes a scientific reason for Haiti, you who know the Biblical story, must give spiritual direction: there is a relationship between the Creator and creation, and all is not well. God is calling man back to him through Jesus.

Why did God allow his church to suffer in Haiti? By far the toughest question for me.   What makes this even tougher are the promises of Scripture concerning God’s protection and provision. Just the same, this tragedy hit the unrighteous as well as the righteous.

Because tragedy hits God’s beloved, we may be tempted to think that God is not all good and/or is not all powerful. What about the story of Pharaoh who killed all of Israel’s firstborn?  Or Herod who killed the sons born at the time of Jesus’ birth? Even though the sovereign God allows this evil, there is no hint that he is any less powerful and/or good.

One thing is for certain. God looks at life differently. We look at it as something to possess and keep for ourselves. God looks at it to give away. The greatest well-lived life is a sacrifice given to God. I do not say this to somehow lessen the suffering of his kids killed by an earthquake. We as the church do grieve. However, I do know this. In his eternal plan, no life in Jesus dies in vain. All is redeemed. The catastrophe may appear as an accident or as a “tragedy,” but to God he takes his own in his wisdom. Those in Christ suffer in glory. They never die or live in vain.

Question #4: What should our response be? Okay, no kid asked me this. This question came from me. I want to conclude that it is during such crises that the church needs to respond with compassion. This should always be our first step forward even it is God’s judgment is upon a nation. Remember, God judged the surrounding nations for their arrogant reply when Israel was judged. We need to help others and we need to help the local church in Haiti.

One of my all time favorite quotes is from Frederick Buechner. “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

Blue Sky is currently supporting a local church in Haiti through the EFCA. The good news is that the pastor is alive but he has suffered many hardships. You can give and follow this story on the EFCA web site. =

Galatians 6:10

Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 at 9:00 pm and is filed under Cup of Joe –Thoughts from the pastor.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.