Who is to Blame?

White FRS Robert

Description

How can an omnipotent God of love allow disasters? Bob White, a leading geophysicist, tackles one of the biggest conundrums in Christian thinking. He combines a profound knowledge of the science behind dramatic natural events with thorough research into their impact, and underpins it with a carefully reasoned theological response. Examining each type in turn, he illuminates the way in which human factors turn natural processes, without which the earth would be sterile and uninhabitable, into disasters: how population growth, widespread inequality, foolish farming and building practices, and climate change all contribute, exacerbating heat waves, famines, and droughts.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Theology
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Lion Hudson
• Date de parution: 18 juin 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780857214744
• Langue: English

Extrait

Robert (Bob) White is Professor of Geophysics in the Department of Earth Sciences at Cambridge University, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1994. He is also a Fellow of the Geological Society, and a member of the American Geophysical Union. He is Director of The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, and his scientific work is published in over 350 papers and articles.

“Bob White digs below the unsettling ‘acts of God’ which we variously attribute to bad luck, a malicious deity, or the Fall. He combines scripture and science to show how the God of the Bible can be seen to be sovereign in all circumstances. A fresh and thought-provoking slant, and a volume to challenge superficial thinking and possibly slay some sacred cows.”
– Professor R.J. Berry, former President, Christians in Science
 
“Professor White offers a solidly Christian perspective on some of the most important events in our world: ‘natural disasters’. Since ‘nature’ is no more than the way God’s own creation works, these disasters raise questions about God and his providence. Professor White responds to these questions in a theologically informed way and reminds Christians that we have the ability and the responsibility to mitigate the effects of such disasters.”
– Douglas J. Moo, Wessner Chair of Biblical Studies, Wheaton College, Illinois, and Chair of the Committee on Bible Translation
 
“I am so grateful that Bob White has taken the time to write this book. His scientific expertise as a geophysicist gives his analysis of disasters depth and reliability. But more than that, he integrates his science with sociological and political insights, and then opens them up to careful biblical and theological exploration. The result is an amazing and significant volume, beautifully crafted, easy to read, and a wonderful resource for anyone who has ever thought about these issues.”
– Elaine Storkey, theologian, social scientist, and Emeritus President of Tearfund
 
“This is one of the most helpful books I have read on the question that troubles all sensitive Christian minds – why is there evil and suffering in the world and why does God allow disasters? What will you get in this book? Good science and good theology. Robert White has a thorough understanding of both and roots all his thinking and writing in careful interpretation of key biblical teaching. What will you not get? Simplistic answers and solutions that either insult your intelligence or dismiss the pain of your suffering – or the suffering of those caught up in terrifying disasters or personal tragedy. This is not ‘the answer we’ve all been waiting for’. But it goes a long way in helping us to respond wisely to realities we cannot ultimately explain, by giving us resources that are rich in biblical truth, scientific fact, and pastoral wisdom.”
– Christopher J. H. Wright, International Ministries Director, Langham Partnership

 
 
Text copyright © 2014 Robert S. White
This edition copyright © 2014 Lion Hudson
 
The right of Robert S. White to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
 
Published by Monarch Books an imprint of Lion Hudson plc Wilkinson House, Jordan Hill Road, Oxford OX2 8DR, England Email: [e-mail] www.lionhudson.com/monarch
 
ISBN 978 0 85721 4737 e-ISBN 978 0 85721 4744
 
First edition 2014
 
Acknowledgments
Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton, a member of the Hodder Headline Group. All rights reserved. ‘NIV’ is a trademark of International Bible Society. UK trademark number 1448790.
 
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
 
Cover image: Getty/Yoav Lemmer AFP
 
 
 
 
 
 
F or granddaughter Kesia, born while this book was being written. She will grow up and live in a world shaped by the consequences of our decisions. Coincidentally, her name was inspired by that of the second daughter with whom Job was blessed by God after he had suffered such comprehensive and horrific disasters: and there were no women in all the land as beautiful as Job’s daughters.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Foreword
Preface
 
I Setting the Scene
1 The Problem of “Natural” Disasters
2 This Fertile World
3 Global Population Increase
 
II Natural Disasters
4 Earthquakes
5 Volcanic Eruptions
6 Floods
7 Famines
8 Other Disasters
9 Disasters Recorded in the Bible
 
III Biblical Reflections on Disasters
10 Paradise Lost: What Went Wrong?
11 Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?
12 Joseph, Famine, and Family Reunion
13 Job, Family Disaster, and Wisdom from the Whirlwind
14 Jesus, a Collapsed Tower, and the Kingdom of God
 
Practical Resources
Further Reading
Notes
Photographic Inserts
Foreword
How could a loving God allow the occurrence of disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, or tsunamis that bring such large scale suffering to humans in our world? The seeming absence of a satisfactory answer provides a common argument against belief in a good, loving, and caring God. From the position of a world leading scientist concerned with the study of disasters, their causes and effects, Bob White addresses head-on the question of who is to blame.
He first takes his readers through a masterly survey of the natural phenomena that provide so generously for our well-being and development as humans on Planet Earth. Over millions of years the amazing process of the earth’s evolution brought about land and sea, mountains and fields, ice, soil and mud. Within this environment, life developed into the amazingly complex, varied, and beautiful forms we find today. More especially, following on from this remarkable process, human life emerged with its capability to study creation, to relate to creation, to reflect on its wonder, its diversity, and fertility, and to take responsibility for caring for creation.
Throughout this story there inevitably exists the possibility of disasters connected with natural processes on both small and large scales. As modern communications instantly open up to us the vast world of human communities, as it were within one big family, we become aware of disasters being experienced now and of future disasters that threaten. Bob White points out that most of the damage from disasters could be avoided if human communities made proper provision well before the disasters arrived. In poorer developing countries much of the lack of provision is due to ignorance, to the flouting of building codes or the mindless destruction of forests. For developed countries, the progress of climate change provides a prime example of how humans are tending to make disasters worse. Very strong scientific evidence is being denied or sidelined by influential people including, for instance, many Christians in the United States. As a result, action being taken so far, especially in some of the world’s most powerful countries, falls far short of what is necessary. As Bob White concludes, we humans must be prepared to accept most of the blame for suffering and deaths from the world’s disasters.
So where does God fit in to the story? It is in the latter part of the book that we are taken through passages chosen from all parts of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation demonstrating that the whole story is God’s story. This includes all of creation with its incredible wonder, and the earth with its rich resources as God’s training ground for humans as its keepers and carers. The story’s central tableau is the cross where Jesus, Son of God, born into a human family, was crucified to rescue humans from sin and death. To the followers of Jesus at the time it seemed an utter disaster – but two days later, when they saw Jesus risen from the dead, they realized God’s great capacity to turn the worst of seeming tragedies into the greatest of triumphs, with its promise in the future of a new earth where death will be swallowed in victory and where love will reign supreme.
Thank you Bob White for presenting to us God’s big picture in such a thoughtful and inspiring way.
 
Sir John Houghton FRS, co-chair of the Nobel Peace Prizewinning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 1988–2002.
Preface
We often talk of disasters “of biblical proportions” when images from some particularly horrible disaster hit our television screens and newspapers. We tend to reserve the phrase for the devastation caused by natural processes such as floods, storms, volcanic eruptions, or earthquakes. Subconsciously, perhaps, we see these as “acts of God”, as disasters which humans could do little or nothing to prevent. In one respect that is correct: if we live in a world made by the creator God, then, as the Bible makes clear, God is ultimately sovereign over everything that happens. He holds the universe, as it were, in the palm of his hand. However, in another respect the term “acts of God” for these disasters is wide of the mark, because as I document in this book it is almost always the decisions and actions of humans which turn an otherwise beneficial natural process into a disaster.
There is another ironic failure in talking about particular disasters today as being “of biblical proportions”. In reality the global population has increased so rapidly that, in sheer numbers, far more people die nowadays from disasters than did during biblical times when the global population was much lower. The global population now is over 50 times larger than when most of the Bible