Concerns felt for the tragic losses of the people of Haiti, and for those in Florida and our own Southeast coast go far beyond our sense of moral duty.
States of emergency bring out the best in our common humanity—and sometimes the worst.
When “acts of God” turn lives upside down, neighbors reach out to one another from next door— and far away…even as others see a chance to get ahead at the expense of those who have fallen.
There’s an often-quoted saying that says, “If you can’t see the difference between right and wrong, you don’t need religion, you need empathy.”
But what do we need when, with or without religion— we lose even the most basic of human feeling for those who are suffering?
Questions like this have ancient roots. When fire, wind, and war fell on Job, broken-hearted friends showed up at his door to comfort him— until they heard him lash out at God.
Looking back, we see how Job’s story exposed the common theology of his day—that we get what we deserve (Job 4:7-8).
In Job’s case, that kind of religion eventually broke him, even before his friends tried to defend the honor of God by accusing him of hiding the scandal that would explain his losses.
Job was preview. Someday, far off in the future, another generation would lose human empathy, while defending moral and religious duty, at the expense of one— who didn’t end up arguing with his accusers. Instead he would pray— “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”
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