Truth does not need a defense. If that statement is true, what is the purpose of a trial? I have often wondered how a lawyer could take a case in defense of an obviously guilty party and whenever I have questioned that, the answer was: “Everyone has the right to be defended.” That may be the proper answer in the light of jurisprudence or those acquainted with the science or philosophy of law but to me I would still have difficulty in knowingly trying to free or acquit an obviously guilty person. If nothing else this personal feeling of mine is proof I am not a suitable candidate to be a lawyer. Some words within the etymology of the word jurisprudence, e.g., “right” and “skill” impresses me as loopholes. In other words, if you get a skillful lawyer falsehood can be made to appear true (or right). Regretfully, one other factor also enters the picture: Skillful lawyers are expensive and those with sufficient finances have proportionate advantages.
The anti-God comments in regard to the World Trade Center tragedy of September 11, 2001 fostered thoughts in my mind that need to be put into print. Why is it when any accident or tragedy occurs one thing we typically hear is: “Why would a loving and merciful God allow such a thing to happen?” It is obvious to me that whoever says such is mixing inferior theology with the facts. Those who would like us to believe God is behind or causes every accident or tragedy are in fact unjustly accusing God of being evil. Concepts of a God of love and mercy are difficult to harmonize with life. It doesn’t matter if their assumptions about God are invalid but they are doing their best to prove someone has to be to blame, why not God?


Life is not a one-way street. Accidents and circumstances occur and if one studies the book of Job long enough it becomes easier to see that God can be looked upon as an observer. Job asked God “why have all these tragedies happened to me?” God never did really answer him but he did ask Job a lot of other questions like “Where were you Job when I created all this?” John Lennon made an astute observation: “Life is what happens while we are busy making other plans.” Millions of people in this world are busy making plans and for man to regard God as the Divine Engineer or Operator of railroad track switches, airplane motors and such is a bit like believing God was made for man instead of man made for God. The latter truth is a biblical thesis. Man (and women and children) has to be held accountable for some circumstances. When alcohol and gasoline are mixed unbelievable irresponsibility becomes a reality. When safety with a firearm is disregarded a bullet is discharged whether the gun is aimed in the right direction or not. The drunken driver kills innocent people and the careless hunter can cause great damage to his foot. Surely it is not the fault of God for such accidents.
Someone has posed the question: Did God create evil? One could correctly say, “Yes, in the same way a shadow is caused by the sun shining behind an object, and a shadow is created.” In the book of Genesis, when God was finished with steps of creation we find the expression, “…and it was good.” The epistles and gospel of the apostle John expressly and consistently says, “God is love” and “God is good”. As hard as it may be to understand, it is a fact that God has worked with man in cultures in which man existed. What appears to us in the 21st Century as being crude or extreme makes God look like he doesn’t fit modern man’s civilized ways. What looks like extreme laws (e.g., the Ten Commandments and other laws the Jews lived under) and a man’s hand being cut off or he was stoned to death; and such punishments were not unusual in the days of Moses. God can and does work within our modern cultures as well as ancient cultures in the times of the days of Abraham or Moses.
Frankly I would not consider it too smart accusing God of such a thing if I really believed he does cause accidents or I might end up being a grease spot in a rug or a flat cinder on the sidewalk. If God is really that kind of a being it seems logical to me that anyone critical of his works could be quickly dispatched as unwanted and fit to kill in a “divine moment of anger”.
There are attributes of God that do not fit the profile these critics [or detectives of the cause of 911] are trying to establish. Love, mercy, steadfastness and sustainer are just for starters in my defense of God being accused of causing 911. Nothing so out of character is such a charge. If this premise is correct, then what is the other side of the argument? Another attribute of God is creator. Of course belief in there being a Creator is a subject that becomes a factor in this issue.
The human element in life must be considered. Our nation’s founding fathers were a bit presumptuous in statements about our rights and freedom. Freedom of the press, expression and however many other freedoms are thought to be ours represent a conglomerate of words. Being free to speak does not make it permissible to shout “FIRE” when there is no fire! But freedoms certainly bear a kinship humans have with God. Once a person is born into the world, you might say, the war has begun. A baby is free to do anything he wants to as he becomes able except that which his parents deem inadvisable or improper. God created man with free will and we have to live with this fact. It appears there are patterns in the Creator’s hands: facial or bone structure, the arrangement of cells within a body, the basic functionalities are generally in every body but certain characteristics are what make us attractive or unattractive to others. Birth defects were studied and mixes of genes or chromosomes were found to be the cause of those defects. Sometimes birth defects are caused by accidents or unwise actions. Would a God of love and mercy intentionally cause such defects? I believe not. But one thing for sure every tragedy is often the driving force for bringing out the best in all of us. A casual reading of workers in Disaster Teams reveals that good can often come from bad things happening to innocent people.
I have traveled a long way around the barn to come to this point – what’s all this got to do with “God doesn’t do 911’s”? Briefly stated, “God was not responsible for 911, human beings are to blame.” (Note the period!) I believe God created everything in this world (or universe). I believe God “set up” characteristics in this world that men such as Newton, Galileo, Archimedes, Euripides, Leonardo de Vinci and our own country’s Jonas Salk and George Washington Carver found to be innate parts of their mentality. And where the wisdom of these men left off we find less skilled men (and women) who applied themselves or perhaps refused to apply themselves. But we cannot do without the dreamers and inventors.
But there are prices to pay. Inventors made guns and ammunition. Inventors made airplanes and fuels. The terrorists who flew those three planes that crashed into the Word Trade Center twin towers and the Pentagon were guided by free agents. The fourth plane, presumably headed for the nation’s capital, was also guided by free agents but several brave passengers risked their lives to thwart such plans. Those free agents (the terrorists) were driven by their conscience to do such evil. Men and women who had no concern or care for anyone other than themselves are the ones to blame for that tragedy, not God. God does not make robots. We might believe those evil people were brain washed but that is our opinion as to what drives people to do wicked things. God does not do wicked things. Remember and study the attributes of God. God is love, longsuffering, forgiving, full of mercy, good, our sustainer and not a Divine Police Officer or Engineer of a Divine Switchboard.
THE WORDWRIGHT