This is an amazing story…the ongoing suffering in Syria and the earthquake in Nepal sometimes cause us to wonder how this can happen in the world? This video makes some people praise the human spirit. For me it makes me despair at the thousands of such children who are killed by mans inhumanity to man. And it reminds me that our only hope is the Gospel…Syria and Nepal demonstrate that we really need the Good News. Before you just dismiss that, consider the following and consider the alternative.
1) God made the world and all in it, ‘good’. He made human beings very good. (Genesis 1) …and yet that is not how the world is today…what went wrong?
2) When the Lord saw the great wickedness of the human race on the earth (exemplified in bloodshed and violence), the ‘Lord regretted he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled”. Genesis 6:6) When you see what humanity can do to each other – do you not at least begin to understand that?
3) When WE see such evil in the earth we tend to say – how could God let that happen? We forget that it is human beings who do the evil – precisely because they reject the God who created us good. As Freddy Mercury sang at LiveAid “If there’s a God up above, a God of love, then what must he think’ of the mess that we made, of the world that he created”
4) It is not that there is now a perfectly good world where things occasionally go wrong. The fact is we live in a broken universe – in a world populated with human beings who continue to do evil. What has God done to restore that broken creation? Everything…”For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16)
5) The bloodied hands of the rescuers in this video remind us of the bloodied hands of Christ. Redemption is not cheap. Fixing the brokenness of this world does not come cheap. The Son of God loved us and gave himself for us. “You are not your own, you were bought at a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19).
6) The whole creation is affected by human sinfulness and continues “in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought in to the freedom and glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).
7) Meanwhile we too groan and cry out “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you violence! but you do not save” (Habakkuk 1:2). And we save to the broken world…there IS a redeemer, there is a Saviour. Light has come into the darkness. “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour” (Isaiah 61:1-3).
That’s the Bibles great answer. Whats the alternative?
1) Bad stuff just happens. Thats the way the universe is and always has been. There is nothing we can do about it. It is utterly random and we just have to suck it up and see.
2) Human beings are basically good. To come to this conclusion you have to rejoice in the wonderful humanity shown in this video as the rescuers reach the child, but ignore the humanity that dropped the bomb that buried the child in the first place.
You choose. As for me, I live in the real world – the beautiful world marred by sin. I live with real humans – beautiful people made in the image of God as the apex of his creation – perverted by sin. And my hope is in the real God – my hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness….all other ground is sinking sand….Come soon Lord Jesus! I also believe that we too are called to rescue the perishing…..to snatch the brands from the fire….to bring light and life out of death and darkness…
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
Spot on David. Great to see you quote from that great old hymn, sadly rarely sung today but the sentiments timeless: “My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus blood and righteousness….all other ground is sinking sand”.
Your use of Bible verses reminds me of people who read meaning into Nostradamus quatrains. No matter what happens there is ultimately a reason God did it (remember, he has arranged it all as per predestination.
As for the alternatives. Yes, bad stuff happens and there is nothing that can be done about it. I am far more comfortable with that idea than the idea that there is a being that wants me to worship them despite fact that many more children are killed than saved in your example. And yes, humans are good and bad. We are a collection of cells, the sum of our dna and experiences to date. We are random. We are stuff that has happened.
Some people are love and caring personified and others are nothing better than random acts of death and destruction. The idea is that those who would tend to the latter need to be given help and guidance to help them tend to the former. I get that some people think that religion can do that. I prefer good education, nutrition and life chances.
Douglas. thanks again. I don’t agree with your classification of humans as either good or bad collections of ‘random cells’. It is a bleak, depressing, unscientific and dare I say ‘inhumane’ view of humanity.
I dont think being impressed at the history and biology and billions of random chances that led to us being here today is bleak or depressing. Nor is it unscientific, as I didn’t say random cells. We are cells though, tens of trillions of them, not including our symbiotic microbes. The causal chain that stems from the beginning of the universe to us on this blog meandered randomly without orchestration. There is no underlying, predetermined reason for us being here today.
It actually gives me a much more humane view of humanity and life.
What an amazing video.
I hear what you say about your reaction in dispairing about man’s inhumanity to man. I was in awe at the combined effort in the rescue of the child, and in awe that the child survived without suffocating under the rubble!
I like how you have compared the bloodied hands of the rescuers with the bloodied hands of Jesus. Yes, when God created humanity, he saw it was good, we are created in the image of God. An yes that marvelous prophecy about praise rather than a garment of despair the here but not here yet kingdom. Praise God!
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
Are they yelling “Allah Akbar?” sp
Yes.