tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4489548841570284122.post6195764708148766989..comments2023-08-10T21:01:54.534+12:00Comments on Hikanos: ‘Acts of God’ and the futility of creation (thoughts on Christchurch part 2)Tim Harrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13316071177447733796noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4489548841570284122.post-63731052803644853152011-02-28T11:33:47.747+13:002011-02-28T11:33:47.747+13:00Bryden, I have amended my post slightly with a vie...Bryden, I have amended my post slightly with a view to your comments above.Tim Harrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13316071177447733796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4489548841570284122.post-31653282545241627022011-02-28T11:25:09.712+13:002011-02-28T11:25:09.712+13:00Hi Bryden,
Thanks for your comment, and I quite a...Hi Bryden,<br /><br />Thanks for your comment, and I quite agree that it is a difficult area to formulate a nuanced position. I had already slightly revised another version of my paper by adding 'The latter [the things God permits] reflects God’s working within the messiness of the world as it is, here and now—whether natural disasters or results from sin and evil'.<br /><br />I am very conscious of wanting to communicate in a relatively straight forward way and not drown the piece in qualifications. My own understanding is that creation is not static (including the movement of tectonic plates), but is moving towards a greater 'order' - but the present reality is still marred by destructive features that will not be part of the 'telos' of creation.<br /><br />The murkiness in discerning God's will (and I quite agree with you here) is in allowing for the messiness of God's engagement with a world that falls short of God's intention for creation.<br /><br />The language of 'futility' I'd suggest is the Pauline term... <br /><br />With you, I accept that we will never comprehend but only apprehend in part - and such thoughts are of course necessarily tentative. But I do not believe we should be mute in exploring the way in which Scripture may inform our undrstanding of the realities of life as we experience it.<br /><br />Be assured that all Christchurch are in our thoughts and prayers, with all that each day brings.Tim Harrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13316071177447733796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4489548841570284122.post-61173929913107838452011-02-28T10:51:01.583+13:002011-02-28T10:51:01.583+13:00Again, a very brief reflection of my own (just as ...Again, a very brief reflection of my own (just as yet another rolling shake rumbles and creaks!). While liking very much what you setting up both theologically and pastorally (the two may never be severed in my mind), I’d have to go further re Acts of God, and notably: “This takes us into the realm of creational disorder such as earthquakes reflecting God’s permissive will, but not decretive will.”<br /><br />Well; yes and no! For without plate tectonics - the very cause of earthquakes after all! - there’d be no South Island Alpine chain for tourists or skiers or farmers, and no West Coast rain barrier to cause great precipitation, etc; no Rockies; no Swiss Alps - and certainly no Himalayas with Everest there for Sir Ed to “knock off the bastard”! So the neat scholastic distinction often painted re types of divine will is even murkier, I suggest. We simply may not speak of Nature’s Acts as if they were divorced from the very God who is ‘creating’ in an on-going way, and so not <i>that</i> "futile" perhaps after all in some respects ... What is more ala the “permissive” though is WHERE we humans perhaps recklessly settle our habitations ... And then the quality/design/etc of those buildings: a point horridly demonstrated last week. But as you say, all a bit tentative. I’d really appreciate some push-back - from you or others ...Bryden Blackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15619512328964399016noreply@blogger.com