Tsunami and The Problem of Evil

(The following is an edited response to an inquiry on the topic.)

The tsunami crisis has not moved me one single bit. Since learning about the sovereignty of God, it seems that my entire psyche has changed. Things like these events used to disturb me, but now that I know that God is in fact the Cause of these events, I can rest in His judgment. Of course, it does not relieve me of the duty to pray for God's works and any charitable givings. Is this a correct response?

Yes, your attitude is the biblical one. Many people will hesitate to state it so clearly and directly — apparently you are not one of them, and neither am I.

Big or small, no instance of natural or moral evil can generate a logical problem for Christianity. On the other hand, big or small, every instance of natural or moral evil can generate an emotional problem in a person about Christianity. But then the "problem" is purely subjective, non-rational, or even irrational. That is, the problem is with the person, not with Christianity.

I have not been paying too much attention to Christian reactions to the tsunami, but still I have heard a few. Even some professing Christians are shaken to question the existence of God by this, which is obnoxiously stupid. How about Noah's flood? If the flood does not shake their faith, then the tsunami shouldn't — unless they have never taken the Bible seriously to begin with.

Any reaction that causes you to doubt or defy God is certainly not biblical compassion, but it is a humanistic and anti-biblical sympathy that is rooted in irrationalism and rebellion. You can affirm the rationality of God and Christianity against the argument of "the problem of evil" and still have compassion. In fact, it is the only way that you can have compassion. Doubting God because of human suffering is no sign of compassion, but a sign of wickedness and defiance. If you doubt God, then you are really doubting the very foundation of compassion, and how then can you have compassion?

In any case, "the problem of evil" is convincing only to those who hold to false and irrational presuppositions — of the primacy of human dignity and physical welfare, for example, rather than the glory, the holiness, the wisdom, and the sovereignty of God. Instead, one who understands the holiness of God and the depravity of man asks, "Why are so many people still alive?" Of course, the Bible also answers that question — God has his own plan for history, and a big part of this is to direct all events, whether big or small, whether human or natural, toward the filling up of the sins of the reprobates, and toward the salvation of the full number of the elect. But the non-Christian has no rationally defensible answer for either "Why were so many people killed?" or "Why are so many people still alive?"

Recommended:
The Problem of Evil
Apologetics in Conversation
Prayer and Revelation (Chapter, 11)