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Haiti:
Hated or Loved?
Bertrand
Russell, a 20th Century atheistic
philosopher, claimed that no one could sit by the
bedside of a child with a terminal disease and believe
in a loving God. 1
A
question that is surely being asked now: “Can a
world created by a loving, omnipotent God experience
devastating earthquakes as the magnitude 7.0 in
Haiti
?” Before
this quake perhaps 80% of the people lived in abject
poverty, with children composing about half the
population.
A
song entitled, “Tell Me the Story of Jesus,”
contains the following lyrics:
“Tell of the years of His labor,
Tell of the sorrow He bore;
He was despised and afflicted,
Homeless, rejected and poor...
Tell of the cross where they nailed Him,
Writhing in anguish and pain.”
During
the course of His brief earthly life, Jesus, God’s
one and only Son, bore excruciating (this word derives
from “crucifixion”) sorrow and suffering (cf.
Hebrews 12:2). In
spite of all this, can there be any doubt of God the
Father’s constant love for His Son?
At Jesus’ baptism, God’s voice from heaven
said, “This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am
well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).
Fanny
J. Crosby, who wrote the lyrics of “Tell Me the
Story of Jesus,” lost her eyesight when about
six weeks old (due evidently to a medical mistake).
Instead of blaming God or saying there is no
God or no loving God, her long life of 95 years was
filled with writing over 8,000 hymns of praise.
She came to view her blindness as a special
gift from God that stimulated other gifts and talents.
2
The
Bible teaches that whatever one’s lot on earth,
whatever mixture of happiness and tears, life after
death for people of God can be described as eternal
joy and complete absence of “mourning or crying or
pain, for the old order of things has passed away”
(Revelation 21:3-4).
Bertrand
Russell felt unable to reconcile the situation of a
terminally ill child with belief in a loving God...
A minister who had experience with dying
children challenged this unbeliever to explain what he
himself could offer such a child.
An atheist could only say something like,
“Sorry, that’s how it goes.
This is the end of everything for you.”
Contrast
this hopeless declaration with such promises as in
John 3:16 --
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life.”
God
loves Haitians and all others in the world.
He provides and offers to ALL hope in this life
and eternal life through His Son.
“Whosoever will” may accept His offer by believing
and trusting Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turning from sin
in repentance
(Acts 17:30-31), confessing
Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and being baptized
into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38;
Galatians 3:27).
Will
YOU accept His offer?
--
Allen Dixon &
David
A. Sargent, Minister
Church
of Christ at Creekwood
1901
Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
For
information on ministries collecting funds to help in Haiti, click this
link: http://www.christianchronicle.org/article2158985
1
“Where There is Death and Suffering,” booklet
edited by Ken Ham and Mark Looy,
p. 22. 2001
2
Then Sings My Soul by Robert J. Morgan, 2006.
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