How could an all-powerful, good God allow natural disasters to take lives and bring devastation to millions of people around the world? In Terence Fretheim’s book, Creation Untamed: The Bible, God, and Natural Disasters, the author attempts to answer that exact question. He does this by examining Old Testament passages, drawing conclusions on the nature of God, and His intentions and actions through that. Fretheim does a great job at backing up his claims with empirical evidence from passages from the Bible. Before I jump into this reflection I want to set the stage for how devastating natural disasters can be. These disasters can take the form of hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes, and tornadoes to name a few. They form from seemingly natural
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This is a very controversial topic that Fretheim attempts to touch on with this chapter. He states that “the [biblical] texts do not claim all suffering to be the will of God or no suffering to be the will of God. Or that all suffering is due to sin, or that no suffering is due to sin. Or that all suffering is bad and to be avoided at all costs, or that no suffering is bad” (p. 98). This approach allows the reader to explore this real problem of suffering for themselves. The fact that the Bible does not directly state the ultimate source of suffering suggests that God intended for a sense of self exploration around this topic as well. This argument highlights the fact that God has chosen to work within the bounds that he has created for himself. These limitations force God to use messy, imperfect ways to accomplish His will. These ways manifest themselves in many different ways of suffering. Sometimes it is for the good; other times it is random. The greatest example of suffering we are given is expressed most powerfully with Jesus on the cross. This gives believers the ability to rationalize and navigate their worldly suffering in the context of Jesus’
This is a very controversial topic that Fretheim attempts to touch on with this chapter. He states that “the [biblical] texts do not claim all suffering to be the will of God or no suffering to be the will of God. Or that all suffering is due to sin, or that no suffering is due to sin. Or that all suffering is bad and to be avoided at all costs, or that no suffering is bad” (p. 98). This approach allows the reader to explore this real problem of suffering for themselves. The fact that the Bible does not directly state the ultimate source of suffering suggests that God intended for a sense of self exploration around this topic as well. This argument highlights the fact that God has chosen to work within the bounds that he has created for himself. These limitations force God to use messy, imperfect ways to accomplish His will. These ways manifest themselves in many different ways of suffering. Sometimes it is for the good; other times it is random. The greatest example of suffering we are given is expressed most powerfully with Jesus on the cross. This gives believers the ability to rationalize and navigate their worldly suffering in the context of Jesus’