quote:

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God does not have a divine purpose for allowing, or ordaining, atrocities like the attack on September 11th, any more than God as a purpose for allowing Pilot to murder Galileans or allowing people to be killed in falling towers. In a cosmos populated with free agents, human and angelic, many of which have turned against God, things are going to happen that God does not will. When they do, the “why” is located in them, not God.

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(Emphasis mine)


Believe it or not, this is a very bold statement. Now, I've heard many ministers since the attack say CATEGORICALLY that God doesn't have ANY divine purpose for allowing or ordaining the September 11th attack...or any horrible things like it. I recall one preacher saying this...and I quote...

"God had nothing to do with this tragedy. You know why? Because God is NOT a monster!"

This is the one question I have:

HOW DO THESE PEOPLE KNOW?

How are all these people so darned SURE that God wasn't integrally in it? Are THEY wise enough to know? Did God reveal it to them? Or are they just going from THEIR limited perspectives and what THEY deem to be "good" and making a judgement? I raised this point in another post. Given the premises of open view theism, we could NEVER really know what things were orchestrated directly by God and what things were not (and the continuum in between) UNLESS God somehow revealed it to us. Assuming one thing or another without divine revelation of some type of quite presumptuous. Just like Falwell was in error to say that this was DEFINITIVELY judgement on America, so the namby pamby people seem JUST AS WRONG in saying that God DEFINITIVELY had nothing to do with the attack in any way. It could VERY WELL be that God did this...and no one can say otherwise for certain!

(For an more in-depth look at the problem I see, please check out my "Thoughts About Providence" post in the Anonymous Tip for Mephi thread in the "Raging Debate" section)

With so many factors abounding, how could anyone make the claim that God had NOTHING to do with Sept. 11th? Just because we can say that God doesn't take pleasure in suffering and evil DOES NOT mean that God didn't have anything (whether allowance or ordaining) to do with it. (I think Semeia made this point earlier) So, my question remains:

How do people who claim that God isn't directly involved in PARTICULAR tragedies KNOW without DOUBT that God isn't?

Thanks.



PS: Please note. I'm not trying to say that one cannot reasonably give more ear to the possibility that God has nothing to do with any particular tragedy than the other alternative. I'm trying to say one could NEVER know any of these cases with certainty...and how we interpret things in "providence" is largely a matter of the circumstance. (ie 'good things=bless God...bad things=blame humans or the devil") Oy vay.



Edited by - mephi2K on 10/23/2001 12:27:24 PM