Earthquake shakes Faith

No-one could fail to have been moved by the horrific events in China recently. For many people the initial reaction to such an event is one of compassion. Once a few days have past and the shock subsides the next reaction is one of outrage - "if God exists then how could something like this be allowed to happen!?"

This is a perfectly reasonable question for the theist or agnostic to ask: the atheist might not raise it as a question they ask themselves but rather a question they ask of theists. In religious terms it is the perennial fly in the ointment that constantly threatens to derail the God train.

To be short and too the point this has been a question that has always caused my problems. The problem is with the materials the classical theist has to work with:

• God is love
• God is omniscient
• God is omnipotent

All of the above cannot seem to exits together at the same time. At least one part must give way in the light of evil. Consequently, 

1. God is not loving
2. God is unaware of certain things
3. God doesn't act either because he can't or won't

Certain corners of Christendom would bite the bullet and declare that God is Sovereign and therefore controls all events. This is a difficult one for many people, Christians included, to accept and it does paint God as being rather capricious and nasty in character. As I said, for some people this just something that has to be accepted because to reject it would cause the instability in Faith.

I can't buy into this and it has led to many awkward moments in my own faith life. There's no easy way round it, but there is a way round it!

But it is a journey that is both painful and costly and requires real faith. The 'answer' as far as I can see it, requires a shift in perspective. It's like a mountaineer who climbs the same peak time after time. At the top he looks down on his town - a town he thinks he knows very well. One day he decides to try a different mountain. The one he wants to ascend is higher than his usual one. There are steeper inclines and dangerous rocky outcrops that look too tricky to overcome. Nevertheless, he takes a deep breath and begins his climb. It is as difficult as he first thought, but once he finds his stride the climb becomes steadily easier and even enjoyable near the end. He reaches the peak and looks down. It's the same town, without a doubt, but he's seeing it in a completely new way. There are certain parts that he recognises from his past climbs, but there are also some new and exciting things he didn't realise were part of his town. He stands and stares, completely awestruck.

That new mountain top is Process Theology.

From what I'm learning about Process Theism, the classical view of God (as outlined in the above bullet points) is woefully inadequate for 21st Century life. Rather than being an external, supreme Being that exists apart from the natural world, Process Theism (or PT) sees God as being involved in each and every moment of life. Is is akin to Panentheism (God in all things) as opposed to Pantheism (God is all things), and sees God as essentially persuasive rather than coercive - God never forces us to do anything and instead calls us to the best possible outcome in any given situation. 

This is why it's a difficult climb to make at the start. Initially you have to ditch notions of omniscience and omnipotence and as they've been part and parcel of theistic thinking since the birth of religion this is a demanding thing to achieve. It's a bit like putting Granny into a Home - probably for the best but emotionally draining none the less.

With regards to the earthquake in China, PT contends that bad things, like earthquakes, just happen: it's part of life. God did not cause it, and neither did God fail to prevent it from happening, because God is persuasive rather than coercive. God works within every situation trying to get the best possible outcome (and the important word here is possible). There are no miracles in PT that fall into the 'normal' understanding of miracle - i.e. a divine intervention that alters natural laws. God is in every situation, no matter how bleak it is, and God suffers when we suffer.

It's an answer, but it's not an easy answer, because it removes from us the security of 'knowing' that "someone up there is looking out for us".

For more on Process and Faith or you can Wikipedia it