[Diamond]

What ultimately must be faced, and what Dr Rowan apparently has trouble accepting, is that God has the sovereign ability to deliver men from either...and yet sometimes chooses not to.

....

³¹ For men are not cast off

    by the Lord forever.

    ³² Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,

    so great is his unfailing love.

    ³³ For he does not willingly bring affliction

    or grief to the children of men.

   

    ³⁴ To crush underfoot

    all prisoners in the land,

    ³⁵ to deny a man his rights

    before the Most High,

    ³⁶ to deprive a man of justice-

    would not the Lord see such things?

   

    ³⁷ Who can speak and have it happen

    if the Lord has not decreed it?

    ³⁸ Is it not from the mouth of the Most High

    that both calamities and good things come?

    ³⁹ Why should any living man complain

    when punished for his sins?

   

    ⁴⁰ Let us examine our ways and test them,

    and let us return to the LORD .

    ⁴¹ Let us lift up our hearts and our hands

    to God in heaven, and say:

    ⁴² "We have sinned and rebelled

    and you have not forgiven.

   

    ⁴³ "You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us;

    you have slain without pity.

    ⁴⁴ You have covered yourself with a cloud

    so that no prayer can get through.

    ⁴⁵ You have made us scum and refuse

    among the nations.

   

    ⁴⁶ "All our enemies have opened their mouths

    wide against us.

    ⁴⁷ We have suffered terror and pitfalls,

    ruin and destruction."

    ⁴⁸ Streams of tears flow from my eyes

    because my people are destroyed.

   

    ⁴⁹ My eyes will flow unceasingly,

    without relief,

    ⁵⁰ until the LORD looks down

    from heaven and sees.

    ⁵¹ What I see brings grief to my soul

    because of all the women of my city.

   

    ⁵² Those who were my enemies without cause

    hunted me like a bird.

    ⁵³ They tried to end my life in a pit

    and threw stones at me;

    ⁵⁴ the waters closed over my head,

    and I thought I was about to be cut off.

   

    ⁵⁵ I called on your name, O LORD ,

    from the depths of the pit.

    ⁵⁶ You heard my plea: "Do not close your ears

    to my cry for relief."

    ⁵⁷ You came near when I called you,

    and you said, "Do not fear."

   

Lamentations 3

Cordially,

[Dr. Eckleburg]

...Do not fear.

Thank you, Diamond. That passage is beautiful and gives all who love Him comfort.

Human beings are much more of a threat to one another than natural disasters are. People deliberately kill other human beings in far greater numbers than this tidal wave did.

While the images of lost victims and decimated villages are horrific and heartbreaking, it's worth wondering where all the photos and news coverage and lamenting theologian/poseurs were 10 years ago when over 800,000 men, women and children were hacked to death in Rwanda in 90 days. Did anyone ask where God was then? I don't recall this Druid (or the Druid who preceded him) offering any solace to the world after this genocide.

I remember reading on some FR thread a few years ago that "people just didn't know what was happening to Jews in Europe during WW-2." Or else had people known the extent of the slaughter, certainly someone somewhere would have acted sooner.

I accepted that until one night when I was watching "Casablanca" for the 20th time and I heard lines I'd apparently missed before. A young Jewish couple from Bulgaria are desperate to leave Morocco and begs Rick for the Letters of Transit to allow them safe passage to avoid "death in the concentration camps."

Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid) has recently escaped from "a German concentration camp."

And even Bogart makes reference to the reality in Europe: "Now you've got to listen to me. Do you have any idea what you'd have to look forward to if you stayed here? Nine chances out of ten we'd both wind up in a concentration camp."

"Casablanca" was written as a successful NY play in 1940, "Everybody Comes to Rick's." The movie was filmed in 1942 and released November, 1942. Anyone who saw the play or film knew the words "concentration camp" and just what went on there.

Human beings have a very selective memory, conditioned by eons of our baser instincts. For the fallen creature to deny God because His actions appear "heartless" is nonsensical. We out-kill God any time we want.

And apparently we want to all the time.

The only solace in the temporal world is Jesus Christ.

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." -- John 16:33