{"id":561,"date":"2011-03-14T10:05:55","date_gmt":"2011-03-14T10:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/where-is-god-when-the-earth-shakes.html"},"modified":"2011-03-14T10:05:55","modified_gmt":"2011-03-14T10:05:55","slug":"where-is-god-when-the-earth-shakes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/where-is-god-when-the-earth-shakes.html","title":{"rendered":"Where is God when the Earth Shakes?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The earthquake and tsunami in Japan bring up the same question as every other natural disaster: Where is God? It&#8217;s one thing to explain human suffering when humans cause the suffering (i.e. murder, rape, drug abuse). It&#8217;s quite another when humans face natural forces that are out of control. Theologians and philosophers offer answers, but at the end of the day, we can&#8217;t understand this type of suffering. We can&#8217;t make sense of it. Explanations are hollow shells in the face of devastation and death.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The only consolation I can find is that God is the God who is present in the midst of suffering. God is the God who hung on a cross and suffered with us, suffered for us. God is the God who promises to redeem all suffering. Revelation 21:4 reads, &#8220;<span class=\"Apple-style-span\">He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death&#8217;<sup>[<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=rev%2021&amp;version=NIV#fen-NIV-31058b\" title=\"See footnote b\">b<\/a>]<\/sup>&nbsp;or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.&#8221; The tears will flow. But one day, God will overcome this sorrow.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span class=\"Apple-style-span\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div><span class=\"Apple-style-span\">Similar questions arose in response to the earthquake in Haiti. For more of my thoughts on these questions, take a look at &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2011\/01\/haiti-in-the-rubble-faith-and-doubt.html\">Haiti in the Rubble: Faith and Doubt<\/a>&#8221; and&nbsp;&#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/shaken-faith-where-is-god-when-the-world-is-falling-apart.html\">Shaken Faith: Where is God When the World is Falling Apart?<\/a>&#8220;<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The earthquake and tsunami in Japan bring up the same question as every other natural disaster: Where is God? It&#8217;s one thing to explain human suffering when humans cause the suffering (i.e. murder, rape, drug abuse). It&#8217;s quite another when humans face natural forces that are out of control. Theologians and philosophers offer answers, but&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Where is God when the Earth Shakes? - Thin Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/where-is-god-when-the-earth-shakes.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Where is God when the Earth Shakes? - Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The earthquake and tsunami in Japan bring up the same question as every other natural disaster: Where is God? It&#8217;s one thing to explain human suffering when humans cause the suffering (i.e. murder, rape, drug abuse). It&#8217;s quite another when humans face natural forces that are out of control. Theologians and philosophers offer answers, but&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/where-is-god-when-the-earth-shakes.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-03-14T10:05:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"amyjuliabecker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Where is God when the Earth Shakes? - Thin Places","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/where-is-god-when-the-earth-shakes.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Where is God when the Earth Shakes? - Thin Places","og_description":"The earthquake and tsunami in Japan bring up the same question as every other natural disaster: Where is God? It&#8217;s one thing to explain human suffering when humans cause the suffering (i.e. murder, rape, drug abuse). It&#8217;s quite another when humans face natural forces that are out of control. Theologians and philosophers offer answers, but&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/where-is-god-when-the-earth-shakes.html","og_site_name":"Thin Places","article_published_time":"2011-03-14T10:05:55+00:00","author":"amyjuliabecker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/where-is-god-when-the-earth-shakes.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/where-is-god-when-the-earth-shakes.html","name":"Where is God when the Earth Shakes? - Thin Places","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-03-14T10:05:55+00:00","dateModified":"2011-03-14T10:05:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#\/schema\/person\/4dde10eee38770361dc9b46a9413776b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/where-is-god-when-the-earth-shakes.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/where-is-god-when-the-earth-shakes.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2011\/03\/where-is-god-when-the-earth-shakes.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Where is God when the Earth Shakes?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/","name":"Thin Places","description":"Amy Julia Becker on Faith, Family, and Disability","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#\/schema\/person\/4dde10eee38770361dc9b46a9413776b","name":"amyjuliabecker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/222\/2222023dcae76abe6e896a3cf80e9836x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/222\/2222023dcae76abe6e896a3cf80e9836x96.jpg","caption":"amyjuliabecker"},"description":"Amy Julia Becker writes about theology, disability, family, and culture. Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/561\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}