Malcolm Pollack, who wrote a very thoughtful comment to my process theology post, took the news about Abigail Taylor (the six-year-old whose life was changed in a recent swimming pool accident) a lot harder than I did, probably because he's a dad. I'm sure many parents read that story and had the same protective reaction. What parent wouldn't?
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Friday, July 06, 2007
Ave, Malcolm!
3 comments:
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Hi Kevin,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link.
Yes, I am sure you are right: a parent's natural reaction to a story like that is to imagine that such a thing has befallen your own child. I reacted with similar, visceral empathy to the deaths of five young women a week or so ago as they were driving to a cottage in upstate New York to celebrate their graduation from high school.
How does a Presbyterian like you reconcile such horror with the idea of a caring God? I realize that there are other, more deistic models of God that might survive such inquiry (though I can't see why anyone would have need of such a hypothesis), but this version - the caring, personal God who animates our every breath, and who watches over us with measureless love - I am afraid I must utterly reject.
Kevin, you're right about parents and stories like that one about the little girl. I couldn't even bring myself to read it.
ReplyDeleteJeffery Hodges
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Malcolm,
ReplyDeleteEh, wot? I'm surprised you'd ask me that, given what I've written about my own religious views!
I'm not a traditional Christian by any means. As far as I'm concerned, no anthropomorphic God exists. This doesn't stand me in good stead with most of my church, but there we are.
I feel strange doing this, but in my book, I'll point you to the chapters on theodicy and "leaving theism" for more.
Kevin