Sunday Week 24 Year A

‘He who exacts vengeance will experience the vengeance of the lord’. That’s what the folk wisdom of Ecclesiasticus says. So why can’t I preach a homily underlining that? Let the parable be Jesus threatening us into forgiveness—making an unforgiving heart an unforgivable sin.

Partly it’s because I don’t want a schizophrenic God who can be moved to write off a million pound debt one moment yet the next is sending for the torturers and sounding pleased about it.

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Add comment September 11th, 2005

Hurricane Theodicy

Hurricane Katrina, like the Christmas Tsunami, has had us all interpreting and excusing or blaming God in one way or another. I’ve mentioned several opinions in my recent posts but wanted to add a few more.

• Edward Rothstein in the New York Times raises the subject of disaster and theodicy.
• Today’s Guardian has a piece by Karen Armstrong about religion and our relationship with the natural world.
• From a very different perspective Simon at Thinking Deeply has been grappling with God’s Wrath / God’s Love. I unwisely chanced a comment there.
• More to my theological taste is this post from WaiterRant.

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Add comment September 11th, 2005