I was interested to compare two letters written to The Dominion Post this week, in answer to another from one Chris Lakomy, on the subject of God.
Here's one:
'Chris Lakomy asks why religious people 'worship a God that has created so much disaster in the world' (Letters, January 19). It's a fair question.
When the horrors of the world (from bubonic plague to depression) get a bit much, some believers do stop believing, but most give God a dose of sorrow, perplexity or anger and hang in there, trusting that this world is part of a larger story that can end well.
Believers don't say the world is perfect, and I suggest that it's actually no worse than we humans deserve. When you look around t the horror - so much of it made by us (we are a very dodgy outfit) - it could be said that we don't deserve any world at all.
Yet, here we are - with a chance to make good. Not only that, but this horror-ridden world is also beautiful, often magically so. I would say the world is a mixed bag, like every human heart. God relates to that mixed human heart, and I love Him in return (not because I think everything is hunky-dory).'
- Gavan O'Farrell, Fairfield
Here's the other:
'Pardon me if I introduce into the pages of The Dominion Post a
derelict three-letter word which completely explains Chris Lakomy’s objections
to God (Letters, January 19).
Sin is now so rarely mentioned - even in Catholic schools - that it’s
hardly surprising he should ask ‘why religious folks want to worship a God that
has created so much disaster in our world’. The answer of course is, God didn’t
create disaster. Man did, by preferring his own will to God’s. In other words,
by sinning.
Let me assure Lakomy that one day he will meet the true God and if he’s the
good man he seems to be, far from wanting to kick God’s butt, he will instantly
fall in love with him.'
- Julia du Fresne, Waipukurau
Guess which was published. So much for brevity being the soul of wit.
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