Where Was God?
The program consists of many people describing their own challenges with the problem of evil in the attacks on September 11th.
Richard Mouw, Christian philosopher and president of Fuller Theological Seminary, says that "I know the problem of evil, I taught it in my classes, but its something that I've always struggled with philosophically." He was devastated by the death and destruction it caused and wondered how could God have let this happen. He turned to the Psalms of the Bible for help as many of them wondered where God was and it seemed as if He was far off to them too. However, he never questioned if there was a God, merely where God was. The Old Testament is what helped him through his issues.
Joan Dehzad, Episcopal deacon and executive director of the Institute of New Americans, see the problem of evil in the treatment of Islamic people of the basis of what had occurred. She says "We must not act of out emotion; we must act out of reason." She believes that the "horror and magnitude" of the events were still too much to grasp shortly after the attacks occurred. All the texts that talk about love help her to deal with what she sees as the problem of evil.
Rabbi Barry Cytron, director of the Jay Phillips Center for Jewish-Christian Learning, fought through the devastation by reading from Jeremiah, Lamentations, and the Book of Joab. These are what the Jewish people read in times of trouble and hardship. The books are all about the world being turned upside down. He had to tell his students the next day how a Jewish person would deal with the problem and they both helped each other to get through the tragedy.
Patricia Hampl, poet and author of A Romantic Education and Virgin Time, saw the evil in the acts and saw the power of the language in the psalms. As a writer, she saw that the words of the Psalms had great power and the meaning of the spirit. The power of the words helped her to deal with the evil she saw in the catastrophe. Poetry helped her as well to see the connection between power and the soul.
Linda Loving, pastor at the House of Hope Presbyterian Church, St. Paul, Minnesota, had to make a speech the day after the events. She dealt with the events by seeing how we are dependent on God and His grace. She saw how people hunger for God and that at times of peril, we need God very much so.
Dan Grigassy, Franciscan friar and professor of liturgy, Washington Theological Union, faced the problem of evil by seeing the acts of courage in people trying to help others. "Do you have any idea of how good people are?" He sees people as doing wonderful things, and moving towards community, and God is in our midst. The best of our humanity is having God's presence among us.
Cynthia Eriksson, clinical psychologist at the Headington Program in International Trauma, sees the problem of evil in the suffering of innocent people. She deals with this by seeing the grace that we and other people experience. Friends help one to see the grace that we receive. She finds God and his grace in other people and their caring and trust for God and each other.
Anthony Ugolnik, Ukrainian Orthodox priest and professor of English literature at Franklin and Marshall College, realizes it is much more difficult to deal with the problem of evil when it is personal and touches the life directly. He deals with the problem by researching his own traditions and found it in an Orthodox person in history. The Traditions of his Church helped him to deal with the problem.
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