God's Consolation in Times of Loss

With the loss of life in the recent tornados in the South US, and the tragic loss of life in the baseball team accident in Atlanta, Georgia, people again ask each other what their beliefs are regarding God's love and consolation.

I wrote a little email to a dear commentator, and wanted to share some of what I offer.

Why this is a great question, and opportunity:

You may have noticed that many, many people in media, both believers and not, ask the question of what to think after a tragedy, how could God allow it, and what is the role of faith in the occurrence of a tragedy, and the subsequent consolation. I consider this question to be one of the most important opportunities to address the faith (and indeed, comfort and witness) to a broad audience, and one that is questioning. I think people truly want to hear about God, and not about the psychological aspects, such as the stages of grief, for which there are abundant alternate resources.

God does not "cause" the tragedy:

Start by saying, God does not "cause" the human behavior that triggers the tragedy. God does not put up poor lettering of road signs, poor lighting, shoddy pavement, cause the darkness of the dawn, or create the confusion in a driver's mind. This may seem obvious to you but you must reassure people of this explicitly. Especially in these "new age" and magical thinking secular times, where people are somewhat paranoid. God has given free will for people to invent cars, busses, planes, roads, etc and use them. You could add, and God expects people to use their tools in a "love thy neighbor" way. This means compassion and care on the road. I'm not saying anyone was negligent, but I am saying that you must set the framework that God does not create the circumstances for accident or tragedy.

God working "within" the tragedy:

Then you could say, once a tragedy occurs, there are often signs of supporting faith. For example, people who perform great rescues.... God, through the Holy Spirit primarily, or guardian angels, works to promote rescue, survival, and healing in all circumstances. Sometimes the physical reality is too much (Jesus Christ is not physically present and changing nature's bodily law to perform a miraculous revival of the dead), but you can see that in almost every tragedy, there are ways that God's love (whether the survivor is a believer or not) is working through others, often with miraculous survivals.

What does God "allows" mean?

God does not cause the tragedy or the behavior/actions that contribute to it. The bible explains that these things happen according to "God's will" because all that happens on earth is within God's ultimate control of allowing humandkind to have life at all, and the free will to act. So God allows this to happen because he has not taken away humankind's life and actions.

What does God's plan mean?

Then you can say, yes, when people suffer, they must ultimately trust in the greater plan of God. The plan of God is not that a particular beloved child of God dies in an accident.... but the plan of God is that no life, whether a small baby or an aged man, is ever a waste and for nothing. That is the greater plan... not the causing of a tragedy or death, but how that person moves on into the larger plan of eternal life. Healing people who have survived or experienced a loss comes when they can trust in eternal life (and the thought of their young child in heaven) as the overall plan. And this is why many survivors of tragedy become crime or consumer advocates, because they know that God's will is also that "love thy neighbor" can translate into "I don't want what happened to me to ever happen to someone else".