tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14410967.post112393957439874474..comments2024-03-25T19:00:40.046-06:00Comments on The Constructive Curmudgeon: Colossal Questions for Tragic Times: Tsunami, Catastrophe, and Christian FaithDouglas Groothuis, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/08766692378954258034noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14410967.post-1124238223980491752005-08-16T18:23:00.000-06:002005-08-16T18:23:00.000-06:00Nothing is random in God's universe. If it were, G...Nothing is random in God's universe. If it were, God would not be Lord and master of everything. Yet he is. Read Colossians 1-2; Matthew 28:18-20; Ephesians 1 and the entire Bible.Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/08766692378954258034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14410967.post-1124083707143361932005-08-14T23:28:00.000-06:002005-08-14T23:28:00.000-06:00To Spencer: I don't have time to respond to your p...To Spencer: I don't have time to respond to your points here, but keep in mind that this was originally written as an editorial for a secular newspaper--although it was rejected. It was not written as a piece of analytical philosophy for a journal. So, a great deal of compression and eliding is required in that format.Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/08766692378954258034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14410967.post-1124049979598525492005-08-14T14:06:00.000-06:002005-08-14T14:06:00.000-06:00Good points weekend fisher. Thanks.Good points weekend fisher. Thanks.Ted M. Gossardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10580691315315271791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14410967.post-1123950644087716622005-08-13T10:30:00.000-06:002005-08-13T10:30:00.000-06:00Hi thereI've studied a lot of theodicies and vario...Hi there<BR/><BR/>I've studied a lot of theodicies and various treatments of the problem of evil. For the Christian approach, I think we too quickly forget that the account of Eden contains more than a rebellion -- it also contains a curse. That we die, and that we are "driven out of Eden", was God's will after we became corrupted. At the same time we were given hope. We will be destroyed and this world will be destroyed -- and recreated. Consigning this world to death was the first, and necessary, step in paving the way for a new creation.Weekend Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10425001168670801073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14410967.post-1123943562539430132005-08-13T08:32:00.000-06:002005-08-13T08:32:00.000-06:00Good words. Thanks.Interesting to see how the arti...Good words. Thanks.<BR/><BR/>Interesting to see how the article in "the New York Times" tried to handle it. <BR/><BR/>Though not able to give a final answer to evil we can point to God and to his promise.<BR/><BR/>We too certainly live in the tension of God's yet to be fulfilled promise. We as God's children are not exempt from trouble. This reality of seeming randomness affects us too.<BR/><BR/>Maybe that is part of God's plan, not too much unlike Job. In some way- beyond us, his good and loving purposes go on- in the midst of the better and the worse in our lives as his children.<BR/><BR/>And as you poignantly say, "We all groan with it; but we may groan with hope and work hopefully for the world’s healing, if we entrust our lives to the one who said he was “the resurrection and the life.”Ted M. Gossardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10580691315315271791noreply@blogger.com