Strange concept of God
Published:Thursday | January 21, 2010 | 12:00 AM
The Editor, Sir:
This is in response to Tuesdays' article entitled 'The hand of God - Haitians call quake the Lord's message'.
I find the Haitians' religious concept of God to be very strange and conflicting. On the one hand they preach that God is merciful; on the other they proclaim that God used a 7.0 earthquake to kill thousands of their compatriots to send a 'message' to those who are left alive. I can never understand the idea of an all-powerful God who is so vindictive that he would selectively kill thousands people, including innocent children and day-old babies, in order to influence those left alive, to give him the worship that he seems to need and demand. Where is the mercy?
It's as if some parent, with lots of children, selected the ones who misbehaved, together with newly born infants and killed them in order that those left alive be scared into improved behaviour.
Kind of killings
Of course, some Christians may point to the Bible where God did the same kind of killings, as in Noah's flood (Genesis 7 and 8) and the people of Amalek (Samuel 15:2-3).
The Christian idea that the devil is the source of all evil prompts the question. Why doesn't the all-powerful God just kill the devil? As a parent, if there was someone responsible for corrupting some of my children, assuming I had the power to kill, wouldn't it make sense to kill the corrupter rather than the corrupted?
It is amazing how we in the 21st century continue to believe and preach the superstitious ideas written by ancient people such as Moses, who, in effect, created a God in their own image, reflecting the vindictiveness of their ancient nature.
I am, etc.,
Dr DILLON LOBBAN
Milford
Pennsylvania