Tsunami – The challenge posed to faith

This is a subject I am inadequate to address, and yet it must be addressed.

Year 2004 is one that many would like to forget. More so, now. Amid the unimaginable awfulness of the tragedy of the Indian Ocean tsunamis, which as I write are reported to have claimed more than 200,000 lives (a total that is sure to grow much larger), an arresting story came from Reuters. It began this way:
“It is one of the oldest, most profound questions, posed by some of the most learned minds of every faith throughout the course of human history…It was put eloquently . . . by an old woman in a devastated village in southern India's Tamil Nadu state. 'Why did you do this to us, God?' she wailed. 'What did we do to upset you?' “

Indeed, having recovered from the initial shock, thousands of Christians and people of other religious faith, with the feeling of great helplessness and trepidation descending upon them, are now beginning to vent their frustration and anger elsewhere, on someone they believe who could have prevented this: God.

As the story went on, quoting clergy from a variety of faiths, some citing judgment and punishment, and others the impracticability of nature in the overall scheme of divine Providence, I kept waiting for an answer I could find satisfying.

It never came and I realized that unfortunately, no religion has a simple answer to the question of evil and suffering.

Indeed, in the face of such devastation, victims are likely to be asking this big question: Why did this happen? Why does God, whom many believe to be all–powerful and benevolent, allow so much pain and suffering?

In fact, it is one of the first questions a child asks, and one that recurs throughout our lives: Why?
Theologians refer to this as the problem of theodicy and many acknowledge it's the best argument atheists or agnostics have for denying God's existence.

Scholars outline it this way: If God is all–powerful and all–loving then how can He allow evil and suffering to exist? So should we conclude that God is weak, not loving or simply nonexistent?

This question has rattled the faith of the staunchest of believers and is an intellectual question theologians, philosophers and others who represent many religions have wrestled with for centuries.

In churches, temples, mosques and synagogues across the globe, clerics are being called upon to explain: How could a benevolent god visit such horror on ordinary people?

I myself believe that God is all–powerful and all–loving. But when tragedies of this dimension strike, I am also tempted to think how can a God with those traits allow evil to beset His creatures?

Those who face personal struggles with suffering or affliction, often has the problem of understanding why, God, though all–powerful and good, cannot prevent it. Indeed, why God cannot prevent man–made horrors such as the Holocaust of WWII or 9/11? For this, Christianity has an answer – God has given us the dignity of free will to pursue good or evil. But one has a harder time understanding a volcano or earthquake or tornado or hurricane or a tsunami like the present one. Even if nature operates according to its own rules, can God not intervene? Does His failure to do so intimate divine malevolence, or merely nonexistence?

In the present context, I have attempted to reflect on some common questions that one often asks in times of tragedy and hope that just as it has helped me stand strong in my faith in times of sufferings, it too will help others find an explanation for their sufferings and overcome the personal crises of faith that evil precipitates.