Every year we look forward to June and then it rains and rains. Hopefully in a few days it will have improved. Tonight I went to a meeting at the local church where they were hosting "Towards Belief." Inevitably the room was full of church folk althought the intention was to encourage uncommitted villagers in. How can anyone be moving towards belief when they are "dead in trespasses and sins?" I explained that I do not believe we have free will. We were looking at the subject of suffering and how it is an obstacle to faith. I think it is more likely an excuse for unbelief. Of course there are things to be looked at around suffering. Suffering is not pleasant but is often a means to making us grow in our faith.
I have written in previous posts about disasters. In the case of Concorde, decisions by people, plus other factors were directly to blame for the event. In the case of the Penlee disaster it may have been avoided if someone had made a better choice in the time beforehand and as a consequence brave men and the ship's crew and the captain and his family died. 9/11 was certainly the result of wicked men committing a terrorist act, but even in this there was heroism notably by another Cornish man, Rick Rescorla who helped many to safety and left it too late to help himself. In situations like this we see what the human spirit is capable of both good and evil. What of disasters that come on people because of the earth restless movement of tectonic plates. Often people live near volcanoes because the land is rich and fertile and they have the chance of a better life there when the volcano is resting. We cannot blame them for that but sometimes people become complacent...
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