THE CREATION STORY AND TSUNAMIS
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The Bible isn't big on full disclosure.
Like, for instance, Genesis didn't warn us about tsunamis.
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It's big on crediting God with everything,
like creating the heavens and the earth. It talks about the Spirit of God
moving over the face of the waters. No hint of a tsunami.
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God issued an executive order
for land to be placed in the middle of the waters, and for waters to be separated
from waters by the land. What we don't quite catch is how it all is supposed
to happen.
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Many folks think it was all done
“in the beginning.” There is a tendency to think that the mountains and canyons
and seas have been in place for all time. We know better. At least we should.
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We don't pay too much attention
to far away volcanoes, but when a local mountain like Mount Saint Helen's
blows its top, that's something else. What is going on here? Of course what's
going on is ongoing creation. Things like that have gone on for over four
billion years in one way or another. Land rose out of the seas. Continents
appeared, divided, and joined other continents.
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Beneath the firmament and the
seas all is not firm. In fact everything is moving. Geologists talk about
“plates” that keep moving. We don't mind a gentle movement earthquake, but
the occasional big time movements make us nervous. We can't put them on our
schedule.
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God's creative activity sometimes
scares the hell out of us. In fact, it totally humbles us as we recognize
our vulnerability. Paradise is not safe when the Creator is still creating.
In fact, there is no safe place in a world under construction.
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If we take in faith the notion
that God is the Creator, we must assume that God gives priority to keeping
on with earth's creation process over protecting the creatures that inhabit
the earth. The earth creation project beneath the Indian Ocean did not halt
for the Christmas holidays. Unfortunate as it is, tsunamis happen. Yes, there's
a reason. It's called the Creation. God didn't finish it in the beginning.
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Psalm 46 was written by someone
with experience in earth's creative process. The writer seems to be trying
to assure us that God is a very present help in trouble. I don't know how
you could sell that idea to 150,000 victims of the most recent tsunami, or
to their families. The psalmist insists that “God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble... therefore we will not fear, though the earth
should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though
its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.”
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The psalmist goes on to declare,
“Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has wrought desolations in the
earth. He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth...”
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I just have to stop. The psalmist
is trying to make a case for God when there is no evidence to support his
case. God has a proven record for wroughting desolations in the earth, but
a poor record of making wars to cease.
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What the writer does is acknowledge
that the earth does change, mountains do shake, and waters roar and foam.
Genesis doesn't warn us of all that that, but the psalmist declares it a
fact.
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So what do we do? Well, sometimes
we humans become downright honorable. We turn our battleships and aircraft
carriers and military people into agents of mercy. We take money from the
waging of war to aid and comfort the helpless and destitute. A tsunami gets
our attention and helps us with priorities.
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It makes you wonder what good
we might do for the troubled places of the world if we looked upon them as
victims of a tsunami. What if we gave as much attention to Haiti after the
last hurricane? What if we treated all oppressed people as tsunami victims
rather than trying to solve their problems by sending armaments or choosing
sides or plotting regime changes? Wouldn't it make more sense to spend money
helping impoverished people rather than squeezing them into a revolutionary
and terrorist mood?
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Let's say it like it is. There is no religion
with an answer to the “why” of such an event. It takes a strange faith to
blame or credit a god for such action. We need to greatly improve our idea
of God. Religion doesn't have answers, even though an occasional preacher
claims so. What religion has to offer is what It has always offered when
at its best. It offers presence with suffering, compassion and care. All
religions unite when a tsunami strikes. Even better is the fact that those
who claim no religion respond as well. Too bad that it takes a tsunami.
— Art Morgan, January 3, 2005
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