BROKEN PLANET:
If there’s a God, then why are there
natural disasters and diseases?
By Sharon Dirckx
IVP. 216 pages. £10.99
ISBN 978 1 789 740 929
There are few questions that might cause someone to doubt the existence of a loving God more than natural disaster and disease.
When mutating cells lead to a terminal cancer diagnosis, or the movements of the earth lead to devastating earthquakes and tsunamis, our anger and hurt make it easy to dismiss any notion of a good God.
Sharon Dirckx explores these topics sensitively yet robustly, recognising from the start that natural disasters and disease sit uncomfortably with us because we value human life. This makes sense if God is the author of life and gives us purpose, but it makes no sense if the universe is random and meaningless. The arguments are well-rounded and accessible for non-technical readers.
The book shows there are no easy scientific arguments: the forces of nature that create beauty are the same ones that lead to disaster; the same insects that appear harmful are simultaneously vital for balanced ecosystems. Yet the effects of natural disasters are so often compounded by human factors: the poorest in the world are those most in danger when natural disaster comes.
This is a book where wrestling with natural evil meets lived experience. Before embarking on the main argument, each chapter begins with testimony. These stories reveal the wrestling of Christian people who have witnessed the devastation of natural disasters through providing relief and aid, or simply through surviving them. They own a real-world theology where they question God’s plan amidst such suffering, often finding no satisfactory answer and at other times finding small shards of grace in hopeless situations. These are honest reflections.
What Dirckx does so well is to show that natural evil is no easier to contend with if you dismiss God. Yet in Jesus we find the God who is familiar with suffering Himself, and who continually sought to undo natural evil during His earthly life. Whilst this doesn’t answer all our questions, it certainly shows that God understands suffering personally. Having someone who has experienced suffering to reckon with when evil comes feels far more appealing than having no answer at all.
