Rain

It’s a love/hate relationship. Little children chant rhymes for it to come another day. Then they go out and play in the mud. On sunny days they get their parents to take them to water parks. Homeowners curse flooded basements and leaky roofs. They like it when their gardens and lawns get watered for free. I’m Canadian. And I live on the west coast of British Columbia. Here, rain is reality. Rain cleanses the air of the smog and filth being expelled from a million automobile exhausts pipes. It accompanies the windy southeasterlies that blow hats off of the heads of old gentlemen and lift the skirts of red-faced ladies.

In the past couple of weeks rivers have overflowed in various parts of the country, causing much damage of property and displacement of families. The rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous. So it falls on everyone. Well, maybe not on refugees in the Sudan. For them dust is reality. Dust, disease and death. The thing we need the most can either keep us alive or, if withheld, kill us. Such is life. It’s a doubled-edged sword. Great pleasure. Sometimes even greater pain. Earthquakes, tornadoes, typhoons, mudslides. The list goes on and on. The way the natural world operates often seems to conspire against us frail creatures. Combine that with murders, sexual abuse, torture, genocide. So why would God allow such things to occur if they cause such harm to his creatures, his children?

Well, I’ve got some views on the problem of evil but others have already written some good material on it. The following web articles might be of some use to some people.

http://www.str.org/free/commentaries/apologetics/evil/bosnia.htm

http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/problemofevil.html

http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/evil.html