Dear Editor,
Regarding the Haiti crisis:
Contrary to some, Jesus warns us not to see the events taking place in Haiti as somehow the wrath of an angry God. Evil came into the world not by God’s willing it; but through the devil and human sin.
Natural disasters suggest that our planet itself is in “rebellion” against the original order of a loving God. That rebellion seen in nature can be said to mirror the rebellion of the human heart. We experience nature’s rebellion because Adam and Eve’s original sin made all creation subject to futility.
Ultimately, God does not cause but rather permits such disasters in order to shake the consciences of insensitive people who see so many in need but do nothing. Jesus’ death on the cross shows us that God stands with us in all our suffering. His death demonstrates that despair, destruction, death will not have the last word: rather the transformative power of his resurrection will define the human project as one anchored in hope.
The present humanitarian crisis in Haiti is an opportunity for us to open our hearts and show our solidarity not only to the people of Haiti but to all peoples.
With respectful and cordial best wishes, I remain,
Sincerely Yours,
Paul Kokoski
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of the management and staff of Dominica News Online and its parent companies.
This is not the first time that Haiti has had a major earth quake, if God is trying to teach them a lesson as so many people say then i guess they aren’t learning a thing. But i personally dont believe in all this non sense.
For all those who think that GOD is responsible for the terrible disaster in Haiti, should read this very interesting article by Mark Wignall, a Jamaican journalist.
IN THE BEGINNING MAN CREATED GOD
By Mark Wignall
And then man created God in his own image to represent him.
Not too long after man created God to represent all of the whims and fancies of mankind, man created God to be the creator of all of the convenient bits and pieces of what he, as mankind desired God to be.
First of all, said mortal man, God must be our creator so, let us endow God with the power to create us even though, in the first instance, we were the ones who created Him.
Who are we, mere mortals, affected by many twisted illnesses of the body, and the ultimate expression of our existence, that thing known as death, to dare question the charted course that we know nothing of? If we are good and love our neighbour, we die. If we steal from our neighbour who loves us, we die. If we kill our enemies who hate us, we still die. But, in the mix we create versions of God who will redeem us. But, it is only after we end the only existence we know.
The picture is clear but at the edges it is somewhat blurred. This planet called Earth (who gave it that name?) is not yet finished with its building programme. Because of that, there are many natural disasters which are a fact of what Earth and its existence in the unknown entity called the universe must endure.
Over many years there have been these so-called acts of God, like hurricanes, earthquakes, excessive rainfall leading to floods and massive loss of lives, famine due to absolutely no rain, and of course, man’s ability to tell the gullible the reason for all of it.
In 1976 an earthquake in Tangshan, China (8.3 on the Richter scale) caused the death of over 600,000 people. Where was God?
Before that happened, God, fashioned by man, created a hurricane in a poor country, Bangladesh in 1970 and after the country was flooded as a result, the death toll was about 500,000. Was God sleeping?
In 2004 when most of us in Jamaica were enjoying Christmas, said to be the celebration of the birth of the son of God, a terrible tsunami swept over the South Asian coastlines and took the lives of earth’s brothers and sisters. Close to 300,000 died. Where was God?
Close to home, the deprived nation of Haiti has been over many years economically savaged by the might of France and the USA, and it has never gained acceptance in the league of black nations. Black, as in skin colour.
Haiti has been devastated by an earthquake, and maybe close to 250,000 may be dead. Where was God? This God that we so revere.
Have we not seen this before? Devastation. Hundreds of thousands of lives lost. Then, after many days, one little child is pulled from the rubble and people say, “Oh my God, it’s a miracle. It’s God’s work.”
Well, if God could save one person, why did He arrange the killing and the suffering of over 200,000 people in Haiti?
Why has God allowed gunmen to run wild in Jamaica and kill innocent people? The answer is simple but it is, at the same time, unpalatable for many.
God does not exist.
Of course, the religious, especially those fervently into their convenient re-creations of God have said, like the preacher man Pat Robertson, that God is vexed with Haiti. In that lies the ultimate creation of God by mankind.
The ability to tell us where the mind of this God is and what He will be doing next week.
We exist on this earth and no man, no woman knows why we are here. We do what we need to be because we are here.
Think of it for a while. What is man’s main objective? To put food in his mouth. It is not to worship an unknown entity. But, if a man is hungry, there is a need in him to blame something for it. So, he creates the alter ego of God. Satan!
I am hungry and Satan is the cause. He gets a bellyful and he says to himself, “God has given me this to eat.”
Devastation in the form of earthquakes and hurricanes attract the ignorant and the gullible. And I entirely understand them. They need a reason to explain what lies beyond their understanding.
In Haiti, if it was God who caused a child to be rescued after suffering, terrible suffering buried under a dark pile of near-death, the same religious people will tell you that it was God that caused the earthquake in the first place.
Why?
Because, it was man who created God. Therefore it is man who created God’s job description and who decides which side God falls on. Like a good politician, man ensures that God is right on all sides. So, it was evil in poor Haiti that brought about God’s wrath.
God loves you if you are good. And even if he puts you under the pressure of Job to prove your love for Him, people like me have no right to question why such a powerful God would have need for so much evil “fun”, watching from His heaven.
If you are evil, all you have to do is say that you believe in Him. It has absolutely nothing to do with how you live. If you beat your wife on Mondays, starve the children on days in between Tuesday and Friday, kick the dog on Saturday and go to church on Sundays, it is OK in the eyes of God.
So, it was God who caused the Haitian earthquake. But it will be man who will help them recover, no matter the political intentions. Man will, after all, have his version of God constantly renewed. Why? It was man who created God in the first place.
Sincere
You’re suggesting that this is a message to Haiti that the rest of the world should learn from, what do you suppose that message is then? Can you ever be sure of God’s reason for a disaster? You can spend a lifetime of speculation but you won’t ever know because your mind is limited to human, yet you try to understand the reasoning of an all knowing God.
The underlying message of a disaster killing thousands, is the same underlying message for a single person dying suddenly from an accident or someone succumbing to death from natural causes: “physical life is fleeting, we come to this earth to evolve spiritually, then return the body to the dust,” if each individual can learn to live by the golden rule “do unto ya brotha as you would have them do unto ya”, the reasons for things that are beyond our control would be irrelevant.
As you can read from these message boards many of us are proposing different reasons for this disaster, who’s right and wrong if any? I’ve struggled through many of reasons I’ve read since and they all seem to have some flaw and I can’t come up with one, but then again I’m mentally disturbed or so I’ve been told.
Nice response,,, however I think you are making an error in understanding the context of the verses you quoted. It is a common mistake to highlight one line in Scripture and not understand why it is used.
Furthermore,,,, you may not find the word “original sin” but we all know how sin came into this World. It is the same ‘sin’ we commit everyday. We were born with the nature of Adam, Eve etc. That is why Jesus himelf blessed the waters of Baptism. Even after Baptism.. we still sin. Remember also the disciples of Jesus were not ‘Sola Scriptura’
I enjoyed reading your contribution though. Different opinions make the World interesting.
PEACE.
Mentally Disturbed,
God is not a God of confusion and everything he does is for a reason and that we learn something from it.
so i disagree when you say that we should not try to figure out but just accept. There’s a message in there and you should know what it is….but i should also support that the planet itself cannot rebel..period. it does not have a heart nor a concience to do so. it is the people who rebel, therefore it is the people who should receive the message.
God said in his word that he will try us with fire…and do we really understand what he means by that statement? Why are we being tried? and what is fire?
He also said that when we forsake him he too will forsake us.
How do we forsake him? and how does He forsake us too?
Food for thought.
Paul, i love this statement of yours:
“Ultimately, God does not cause but rather permits such disasters in order to shake the consciences of insensitive people who see so many in need but do nothing.”
but bear in mind that God also permits such disasters in order to shake the conciences of insensitive people who he wants to turn away from their wicked ways. he does it through natural disasters, sickness, death, unhappiness etc. We are not pointing fingers but we also cannot live ignorantly of the fact that man has to pay for his own sins. you stated that this disaster is somehow to make the world realise how much they have forgotten haiti..but i have a question….
How much does this incident affect the rest of the world?
Dont you think that the vast effect is on the Haitians themselves? If so, lets say God is trying to teach the rest of the world a lesson for turning their backs on Haiti, why is Haiti the one in suffering? Makes sense?
So u see, i think that the message is to Haiti itself and the rest of the world should learn from this lesson and not seem to think that they have lived up to the Standards of God therefore they have escaped such misfortune.
To all,
i dont think any of our letters are helping those in Haiti and it doesnt bring any sort of comfort to them. i think what we need to do is top looking for a reason why this happened and accept the natural cause. Nigel is right we all studied Geography in high school, lets act like it .
What happened in Haiti is not the wrath of God and it is not Nature rebelling. if so many nations would suffer the same and much more. Be real about it. Dominica itself is not following a very promising path morally.
As a god fearing person i would really would like to share with us that it is better to pray too him for guidance and strength for our brothers in Haiti than question him.
Maybe its a warning to Haiti, Maybe its a warning to Dominica as well, Maybe its a warning to the Caribbean, But it definitely should be a warning to us personally. None of us are beyond Nature and what will be allowed to happen. So lets make ourselves right and not point fingers at Haiti and say they called this on themselves.
Paul,
I hardly comment on this site but I can hold my peace any longer.
Paul, as far as theology is concerned based on your letter you were just sharing with us your opinion. There was no scripture refrences to the points you were trying to make.
You made mention of “original sin” is that biblical? Base on God’s Word…the teaching of original sin, that’s a doctrine that came from man and not from God. If you look at the book of (Romans 5: 12-14). The ONLY thing that Adam brought to ALL men due to his sin is death….Death was passed on to every man and not Adam’s sin….. Further more in the book of (Ezekiel 18:19-24) God says that no man will pay for another man’s sin……So please when you feel the need to use the the Bible to bring out your opinion you should not yield to that temptation because you are not handling the Word of truth correctly (2Tim 2:15).
I would love to suggest to everyone who visit this site, that you do all you can to help the people of Haiti in their time of need rather than trying to point blame.
If you feel the need to chat about what I have written you can email me on this email address: [email protected]
shalom
Neriah LeBlanc
And your point is?
well my view is that we all studied geography in high school and learned about volcanoes and plates and the earths crust and how plates move every so often and fault lines that run through the earth.
earthquakes are as natural as hurricanes and other natural disasters. we only take notice now because something major has happened but there are earthquakes all over the world everyday. some are not as significant as Haiti but yet still they occur
Mr Kokoski this is quite a murky picture you’re painting here. First, I should say that I support your argument that Haiti’s earthquake is not from the wrath of god. However, your defense of your argument seems to indirectly contradict what you’re trying to say.
You’re saying that the planet can rebel against the order of a loving god so god permits the disasters. Well a planet by itself does not rebel against any god, it’s the people who inhabit the planet who causes “the planet to rebel against god”, and if god permits disasters to the planet these disasters ultimately passes onto man thereby saying god permit these disasters onto man. If that’s the case why then the ones who appear to be suffering the most get these disasters?
Man created a picture of a god in his head that is in his image, a god that knows everything and does everything, yet man in his limited mind is trying to figure out what god has in his/her mind when he does things or things happen.
The truth is we just don’t know, it is speculative, sometimes mind boggling but ultimately hopeless to try to figure what god does, or why these things happen to certain ppl, you just accept it, do what you can out of it and try to learn as individuals to luv your fellow man even though he is mental.
Nice letter though.