When friends say that the disasters around the world are God's doing, how can a Christian Scientist reply without making it a contentious issue?
A1 While people of all kinds of religious backgrounds often agree that God is Love, there are some differences in individual understanding about just what this means. One thing we can probably agree on is the idea that God's love can be seen as an eternal provision in the midst of and following dire circumstances or disasters.
The Bible tells of many people who proved this provision of God's love. Abraham showed what faith and trust in God does, as he created a great nation in formidable times. In great extremity, Moses received the Ten Commandments, by which God assured His people of eternal salvation. And Joseph proved God's omnipresence in every conceivable sort of disaster: family feuds, slavery, imprisonment, betrayal, famine. All of these examples show that the important thing is not so much the origin of the problem, but that one can always rely on God when confronted with a problem—no matter how hopeless the circumstances. And that God, now just as then, will deliver His people.
