A few thoughts

Well, I havnt been in the mood to blog, especially after the Christchurch earthquake. I mean, what could I say? Nothing really, especially not my usually poor-me whine.
I've been listening to it through the ears of christian radio, and universally, on the radio and 2 church services, was the idea that our circumstances and our relationship to God are separate. Did God make it happen? The best answer I heard was from an Oxford lecture at GCC last Sunday, who said "I won't insult your intellence by giving a trite answer" ! "It's a complex question," (it sure is) " and as we sit here comfortably in our chairs it's easy to give flippant answers, but for the mother who has just lost a child it's a whole other story" (not an exact quote, he was more eloquent that that... but you get the idea). He also gave the scientific answer, basically, if you build a city on a fault line... well... it's only a matter of time...
And back to the question... apparently people have argued, these three cannot co-exist. 1. God is all powerful 2. God is all good. 3. Evil exists.
(and to think I thought I was the only one struggling with these questions! No! It's an age old question asked by multitudes!) Apparently a famous aethiest (Dawkins maybe?) has said: if the world was created purely by random chance and with no justice... this universe is the way it would have ended up. Well, the Oxford lecturer said (sorry, forgetting names here), "good, you've answered the question! but where is your answer to pain? Where is hope? you have none!".

I still can't grasp how a good God lets evil happen, but I've come to believe the bible when it says He will make good come out of it. I've seen that in my own life anyway. "Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning".