Calgary Church – Join a movement….

In one moment, a few seconds, just a few short breaths, the entire communities of Shawnessy, Sundance, Millrise, Evergreen, and Midnapore were wiped out. All homes crushed, all power cut; there were no survivors. Did you know The number of people in those communities equals the loss of life in Haiti stemming from the recent Earthquakes? And we could be adding communities to the list in the ensuing days.

This post is both a response to the incalculable need and also to the grotesque replies to the carnage that some 'Christians' have propagated.

I thought the title of the post was witty indeed, until I realised someone else had used it. Many church leaders in the US (Canadian leaders are typically less charismatic or vocal) have gone on record to comment about the tragedy. Yet, rather than focusing on the humanity of the disaster, a response laden with odious remarks about the spiritual nature of Haiti's inhabitants was raised instead. To name a few, both Albert Mohler (Southern Baptist President) and Pat Robertson (televangelist nutjob) have either implicitly (the former) or explicitly (the latter) suggested that the earthquake was/could be God's judgment Haiti.

Robertson (and I won't provide a link to the content) would thrill conspiracy theorists noting Haiti shares the same island mass as prosperous Dominican Republic yet without the earthquakes or the voodoo. Robertson is so old that he was even around 600 years ago when Haiti apparently made a pact with the devil to help the country rid themselves of French occupation.

This perspective is simply asinine.

Mohler on the other hand doesn't suggest the ridiculous pact with the devil idea, but leaves plenty of room for an earthquake explanation that includes God's judgment towards a pagan nation.

If you follow this thinking, then from the outside looking in the Christian God is just a war mongering Yankee out to club non-believers. This perspective is unequivocally narrow and hazardous.

So does God hate Haiti because of their voodoo and devil pacts? Did he level the country with a finely tuned earthquake blotting out 50,000 people including women, children, sick, elderly?

To explore the answer let's ask: "does God even care (yay or nay) about the function of humanity?"

1) You could take a perspective that God created and then jetted of to some far off cloud place, so far he couldn't hear or involve himself in the plight of humanity.

2) You could also take the perspective that God is within everything, the trees, the moon, the water, the sky, and that there's some cosmic shift in the 'balance' of all things that perhaps predicated this disaster.

3) Or you could take the perspective that God is actively interceding into the daily history of humanity while simultaneously maintaining sovereignty over all things.

(I have conveniently left out the perspective that there is no God since that doesn't add to this discussion, merely ends it.)

I prefer option 3 for reasons that aren't fully explained in this post (but that are summarized in what Christ has done/is doing).

If God is actively engaged in the daily happenings of humanity then he is actively involved in disasters. The question is, what kind of involvement and why?

Because God is sovereign does that mean he sporadically decimates people groups and geographies? That would be violent and judgmental involvement. It could be the case, but I think we have evidence and precedent to lend to another perspective. Put it this way:

if God has indeed responded to Haiti by destroying the country, then he's got a massive and devastating show 100x the size to rain down on America.

CAN God destroy a nation on a whim? Sure, that's within his capability. But in a way, that's sort of like self-mutilation. How so?

The narrative of the Bible portrays a God who is continuously seeking out his people, always on a mission to reconnect, even when ignored, because he has placed an eternal value of each of us regardless if we acknowledge it or not.

That hasn't changed today and it's also the reason for the 'why' God even cares.

So how is God involved?

As Haitians lie in devastation, so too does God.

Simply put, if God hated Haiti there would be no hope and no reason for hope. But that's not what we're seeing. Hope is pouring in, and through the devastation will come a redemption for the country. That's not to say there's an easy answer to why there would be a price of 50 000 lives for the sake of the rebirth of a nation (assuming they even recover). But it does say that within the calamity God is not in the midst, but an active participant in both the sorrow and the redemption of some of the worst human conditions.

There are no ways to really express what has happened and some can express in writing better than I about how we grapple with the tragedy. The carnage is incomprehensible to the vast majority of wealthy North Americans. But it does leave us with some options.

1) We have to respond. To not respond in times of great need is selfish and inhumane. Be it cash, time, dialogue, inform, do SOMETHING in response. A list of ways to do something is at the bottom.

2) It is at best incomplete, and at worst prejudice, to assume God has inflicted this damage on Haiti as a result of their disobedience. There are some tough questions to ask, such as 'why', but to unequivocally state Haiti deserves the calamity is also inhumane and certainly unChrisitian. What's worst, it prevents someone from making a response to a very real and tragic human need.

The list on how you can help (add more as you come across).

- The Government of Canada will match dollar for dollar (up to 50 million) on all charitable giving to Haiti through a registered charity. If you wish to donate and have no means to and would like to do it through Calgary Church please contact us for details on how this can be done.

- One Starbucks coffee or help Haiti? Use text messaging to give: Rogers Wireless & Fido txt “HELP” to 1291 to donate $5 to onexone. Bell Mobility and Telus txt HAITI to 45678 to donate $5 to Salvation Army.

- Govt of Canada suggestions on what you can do extra.