Haiti and God

I've written nothing about Haiti but have read many responses to the awful experience they have been through. I have read three categories of responses, and these are responses from Christians. You see, a natural disaster like this makes us immediately look at our picture of God, or reflects it in our response. It is, after all, even called an act of God by many, and most definitely by those in insurance who uses these so-called God-acts to get out of paying.

The three responses I've tracked down have been:

1. It's apocalyptic. It's a sign we're nearing end-times and God is reminding us of that. Some go further to say that God has punished Haiti for it's witchcraft, much like he did those awful homosexuals in Sodom and the horrible people who were nasty to Noah.
2. Why God? Why have you allowed this to happen? You confuse us, but we trust that you have a bigger picture in mind. That seems to be the main response amongst the blogs I read who have responded in writing to the tragedy.
   
3. The third says let's not ask God why, but let's ask God what we can do. How can we show his love in this devastation.

I'm more of a number two kinda guy. Number one is puerile. And people have been screaming end-times since hu-person-ity learnt to scream. It's not a sign of the end-times. The world may end, but I think an earthquake in Haiti is not a sign of the end-times. Just like the Thai Tsunami wasn't. I could go on and on. And the punishment thing, well that's just laughable. And presents your picture of God in a way that reflects my picture of the devil.

The third response is a plausible one. People springing into action to help other people is never to be scoffed at and I have huge respect to all those who have dropped what they are doing to help the people affected in this. God in action, I'm all for.

But I want to spend time on the second. It's a question we can't answer for certain. No one knows why this happened. And why God allowed it, and why he has allowed it since creating the planet. I know some may say it's because of Adam and Eve and the fall of person-kind, but I seriously don't see God as the kind of God who is still punishing us for Eve and Adam's apple-eating session. He created us with the possibility to sin after all. He gave us choice and cursed us when we used it? Not really my picture of God.

The answer I get when I look at the tragedy... perhaps this God who we think is so active in the world isn't actually so concerned with us. Perhaps He just created a system and left it to its evolutionary devices. It's an imperfect creation, and perhaps He went onto something bigger and better. Perhaps He doesn't even exist at all.

Perhaps.

Why else would He let this happen?

I don't know. I don't know if there is a God but I choose to live my life as if there is. I'll never know the answer while I'm alive. But I what I do know, is that all that counts is what I do during my time on this earth.