Where
is God in Natural Disasters
-
a personal view by Mary Newsom
In the light of the Asian tsunami we know that many are questioning their faith or challenging ours. How can you believe in a God that allows it to happen? Having heard the radio comments following Archbishop Rowan' article in the Sunday Telegraph (2nd January 2005) and even reading the front page of that paper I was reminded again of how people hear what they want to hear and make a judgement on that. So is it possible to say anything helpful? Perhaps it is a good thing for our faith to be challenged for it could be that it will be refined and bring forth actions that will show that we are indeed in Christ and He in us.
My certainty of the presence and protection of God stems from a natural disaster – the Lynmouth flood of August 1952. I was at the youth camp at Lee Abbey, with a party from our church in Farnborough, Hampshire. It was the first time I had been to a Christian gathering, it was a mixture of holiday and teaching. We went for walks on Exmoor and along the coast – Lorna Doone country. We went into Lynton and Lynmouth shopping for souvenirs and enjoyed a beautiful countryside, both sea and moorland. Then came that Saturday night storm. We had been sleeping in eight-person ridge-tents, each had an adult leader and I remember the straw-stuffed palliasses we slept on. But on that night the storm was threatening and alternative sleeping arrangements were made, the boys moved into the main marquee which we had used for meals and meetings and the girls into the beach café which was built high up on the rocks overlooking the bay. So for us, I was almost 15 years old, it was an adventure. What we didn’t realise until the morning was that the leaders had spent the night in prayer. The sea came up to within three inches of the door of that beach café before it retreated. This was when I first realised the importance of prayer and how we could expect an answer.
At breakfast we were told that there had been three narrow escapes for people in our camp, in one a car was washed away. We were told that in Lynmouth a bridge had been destroyed and the river had changed course having burst its banks. I can’t remember the morning programme but I expect we had some form of camp service and praised God that we were safe. I do know that we were not really aware of the total devastation that was being reported on the radio news and newspapers. (In 1952 few families had television) Fortunately one of our church members was going home by motorbike and on arrival visited all our families to tell them that we were safe, for it had not occurred to us teenagers to try and ‘phone anyone, in any case we had no ‘phone in our house. Later I realised just how worried my parents had been as they tried to find out find out if we were alright.
Later that morning we walked the mile or two into Lynmouth and encountered the chaos. Footpaths and railings near the river were gone and water was rushing through the village to reach the sea. It was a solid stone bridge crossing the road that had been washed away as well as some roads. Shopkeepers were sweeping deep mud from the souvenir shops that we had so eagerly patronised in the previous week. I remember seeing their faces and hardly dared look on their distress. Then there were the dead, I believe that over thirty people lost their lives in that swirling river, every one a tragedy for the family concerned. There was actually a commemorative T.V. programme in 2002 which told a new generation of how a disaster had struck such a beautiful seaside village and the surrounding countryside.
At that camp I realised just how real God was, all my years in Sunday school and going to church were a foundation but now I knew that He had looked after me and my fellow campers. It formed the basis of a testimony of faith for me for years.
But that faith has had to be built on and allowed to grow even to be threatened by science and logic. I digress somewhat now to show how the Lord never forsook me when I questioned what I really needed to believe.
My favourite subjects at school were physics, mathematics and chemistry. I needed to consider God’s creation in the light of subjects that I chose to study. Not only did I find beauty in the countryside, flowers, birds and animals but there was a magnificence in the starlight skies, so much easier to see in the days before light pollution, and in the fantastic structure of atoms and molecules. Was there a conflict? If so it had to be resolved for me. Our Scripture teacher, who was a part-time Baptist minister, was the one who first introduced me to the theory of evolution. I was vulnerable and it blew a hole in the Book of Genesis; logic and history also had me worried about Noah and his flood. How much of the world was affected? This had to be resolved for I had not seen any miracles or experienced the continuing presence of God in a way that I now enjoy.
My mother had cancer and we prayed for her healing. She had various operations and radiotherapy, we hoped that she would get better. So I remember at the age of eighteen saying, “Lord, I really do believe in Jesus but I can’t cope with Genesis.” It was as if He spoke, telling me not to worry but to see it as a parable, written at a time when people needed a story to explain creation and sin, and written long before men had any real understanding of the natural world. For me that was enough for I could continue with my scientific training rejoicing in the wonders of the periodic table of elements and how the chemical formulae of molecules worked. How the various physical constants had particular values and how a powerful Creator God was behind the structure of all things, mathematics was a beautiful language and although man could not solve everything it was a means of understanding much of the universe.
We didn’t learn about tectonic plates in our geography lessons at school but I later came to see how the continents and sea-bed have changed. Earthquakes and volcanoes have to happen to release the pressures built up in the earth’s core, it will go on happening as the earth is still in a state of creation. The universe though is so vast and stars are still being formed out of the remnants of earlier stars that have exploded. I no longer worry about Genesis but see it as a remarkable parallel to the way science sees creation. Those who take it literally are using a different route to come to the point when God needed to send His son Jesus to deal with our sins. I just wish that some Christians didn’t have to make a big issue of this for my God is bigger than it all, bigger than the universe. He is not a God of the gaps brought out to explain the points at which science gets stuck. I acknowledge that there are atheists in the scientific community but I have met many scientists who are Christians and their faith is strong simply because they have found God in science. Once upon a time the Church believed that the sun went around the earth and no-one would suggest that now.
But this is the real point of my speaking of science, I feel that today our children are growing up in an age where most people in the western world are uncertain of what they believe. The Christian churches that are growing in the world are charismatic and frequently fundamentalist. The countries with the most converts have not yet caught up with our education but one day may, like our children, be less certain. We must somehow be able to evangelise amongst the sceptics who need proof in this scientifically based world, to show them that God is real and allow the Holy Spirit to work in us. So we should be honest and tell them that you can have Jesus without the first eleven chapters of Genesis being taken literally. I found the answer to the creation story in the first chapter of St. John’s gospel:
In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He
was in the beginning with God. All
things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into
being. What has come into
being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The
light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it
(NRSV)
Jesus is that word spoken into the darkness. It does not conflict with science and allows for natural disasters as inevitable. Jesus is there too for he does not desert us, and if we are ever called to witness a disaster we must be Jesus in that place, allowing Him our space to comfort and heal the bereaved and suffering.
So we must now pray for the latest disaster victims and have compassion on them, providing from our affluence what is required. Our faith must show in our actions, we must become the loving caring Church that Jesus left on earth, and that means caring too for others in other parts of the world who are homeless, sick and hungry. I pray that this recent disaster will wake the churches up to our responsibilities and that the Church will become God’s answer to the needs of the world.
I end with another quote from St.John’s gospel Chapter 14:15-17, 25-27
“If
you love me, you will keep my commandments.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be
with you forever. This is the
Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor
knows him. You know him,
because he abides with you, and he will be in you.……
.…………………………………………………………………….………..“I
have said these things to you while I am still with you.
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid."