{"id":5832,"date":"2024-07-09T05:43:59","date_gmt":"2024-07-09T10:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/2024\/07\/hurricane-beryls-destruction-and-president-bidens-future\/"},"modified":"2024-07-09T05:43:59","modified_gmt":"2024-07-09T10:43:59","slug":"hurricane-beryls-destruction-and-president-bidens-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/2024\/07\/hurricane-beryls-destruction-and-president-bidens-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Hurricane Beryl\u2019s destruction and President Biden\u2019s future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Hurricane Beryl came through my area yesterday, dropping nearly five inches of rain and causing high wind gusts. It was much worse elsewhere\u2014the earliest<\/span><\/a> Category 4 and Category 5 hurricane on record killed<\/span><\/a> at least three people and knocked out power to nearly three million homes and businesses in Texas after devastating<\/span><\/a> islands in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

In other news, President Biden wrote<\/span><\/a> a letter yesterday to his \u201cfellow Democrats\u201d stating, \u201cI am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump.\u201d He told<\/span><\/a> his favorite cable news program, \u201cThe bottom line here is, we\u2019re not going anywhere. I\u2019m not going anywhere.\u201d And he addressed<\/span><\/a> his largest donors in a Zoom conference yesterday afternoon, declaring that he is \u201cabsolutely and unequivocally\u201d staying in the race.<\/p>\n

Whatever you think of Mr. Biden\u2019s cognitive and governing capacities, it remains true that \u201cFather Time is undefeated.\u201d Hurricane Beryl reminds us that Mother Nature is equally powerful<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Faced with such reminders of our finitude and our Creator\u2019s omnipotence, this observation by Julian of Norwich (1342\u2013c. 1416) seems relevant today:<\/p>\n

\n

God is the ground and the substance, the very essence of nature;
\nGod is the true father and mother of natures.
\nWe are all bound to God by nature,
\nand we are all bound to God by grace.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

However, others could not disagree more vehemently, as we will see this morning. This debate is not just relevant to our rapidly secularizing culture, but to each of us who must confront some type of suffering today.<\/p>\n

Was it \u201cimmoral\u201d for God to create our universe?<\/h2>\n In Why? The Purpose of the Universe<\/i><\/span><\/a>, Durham University philosophy professor Philip Goff argues that the universe has a \u201ccosmic purpose\u201d and is directed towards \u201ccertain goals . . . such as the emergence of life.\u201d<\/p>\n However, he emphatically rules out the \u201cOmni-God\u201d as the force behind this purpose, claiming that \u201cit would be immoral for an all-powerful being to deliberately create a universe like ours.\u201d He later qualifies his assertion, stating: \u201cIn terms of the moral considerations we know about, an Omni-God would not have good reason for allowing the suffering we observe.\u201d<\/p>\n Professor Goff would likely cite Hurricane Beryl\u2019s destruction as evidence. A quick perusal of any day\u2019s headlines would offer more examples. He\u2019s right: \u201cin terms of the moral considerations we know about,\u201d I wouldn\u2019t know how to justify the brokenness of our fallen world.<\/p>\n We can and should blame the Fall for natural disasters such as hurricanes (cf. Romans 8:22), but an omniscient God knew our first parents would sin before he made them and sometimes counteracts the forces of nature we encounter in our fallen world (cf. Matthew 8:23\u201327). And we can and should blame misused free will for much of the suffering we experience, but God sometimes intervenes to prevent such consequences (cf. Acts 12:1\u201311).<\/p>\n I can respond with my oft-repeated assertion that God redeems all he allows or point to reasons why at least some suffering is necessary<\/span><\/a>, but I cannot prove that this is so on this side of eternity. It is a simple fact that if you and I were God, our world would face far less suffering\u2014or so we think.<\/p>\n It is little wonder that secularism is escalating as world conditions grow more challenging. And that many who claim to follow Christ separate our religion from the \u201creal world\u201d as though the former is irrelevant to the latter.<\/p>\n

Blaming our doctor for our disease<\/h2>\n* ** But here\u2019s the problem with Professor Goff\u2019s reasoning: \u201cthe moral considerations we know about\u201d cannot begin to exhaust such considerations available to an omniscient God. The Lord reminds us: \u201cAs the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts\u201d (Isaiah 55:9).<\/p>\n ** Given his unlimited knowledge and our fallen minds, how can it be otherwise?<\/p>\n ** Now we have a choice to make. We can claim that \u201cit would be immoral for an all-powerful being to deliberately create a universe like ours\u201d and dismiss his existence in times of suffering, but they are precisely when we need him most. Like a patient who blames his doctor for his disease and thus forfeits the healing she could provide, our rejection becomes a circular, self-fulfilling prophecy.<\/p>\n ** *The less we trust God, the less we experience the grace that would encourage us to trust him. And the enemy who \u201ccomes only to steal and kill and destroy\u201d is pleased (John 10:10).<\/p>\n Or we can admit that we cannot know all that the King of the universe knows and trust his omniscience over our finitude. We can believe that a Father who would seek our salvation at the cost of his own Son\u2019s suffering and sacrifice<\/span><\/a> is a Father whose love is worthy of our faith.<\/p>\n Like all relationships, our decision to trust him will then become self-validating. The more we experience Jesus as a living Person and omnipotent Lord, the more we will be encouraged to believe in his existence and to have confidence in his providence.<\/p>\n \u201cAll history converges in Christ\u201d<\/h2>\n*** ** ***You and I cannot defeat Father Time or Mother Nature. But we can agree with Pope Paul VI, who testified:<\/p>\n "\n*** ** All things, all history converges in Christ. A man of sorrow and hope, he knows us and loves us. As our friend, he stays by us throughout our lives; at the end of time, he will come to be our judge; but we also know that he will be the complete fulfillment of our lives and our great happiness for all eternity. . . .<\/p>\n ** I proclaim to all men: Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, Lord of the new universe, the great hidden key to human history and the part we plan in it. He is the mediator\u2014the bridge, if you will\u2014between heaven and earth. Above all he is the Son of man, more perfect than any man, being also the Son of God, eternal and infinite.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n ** He concluded:<\/p>\n ** \u201cIt is Jesus Christ I preach day in and day out. His name I would see echo and re-echo for all time even to the ends of the earth.\u201d<\/mark><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n ** ***Whose \u201cname\u201d will you \u201cpreach\u201d today?<\/p>\n Tuesday news to know:<\/h2>\n\nThree Columbia deans put on leave for text messages evoking \u201cantisemitic tropes\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\nEurope\u2019s new politics: Nobody is popular<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\nGlobal press freedom group condemns Russia\u2019s secret trial of WSJ\u2019s Evan Gershkovich<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\nNASA\u2019s Mars simulator crew emerged after 378 days: What did they learn?<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n**** On this day in 1877: Wimbledon tournament begins<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nQuote for the day:<\/h2>\n******* ** \u201cThere is a twofold hedge that God makes about his people. There is the hedge of protection, to keep evil from them; and the hedge of affliction, to keep them from evil.\u201d \u2014John Bunyan<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ** *******Hurricane Beryl came through my area yesterday, dropping nearly five inches of rain and causing high wind gusts. 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