God and Tucson

Many of the conversations, quotes, and writings about the Tucson disaster have mentioned God. It appears that God is to be thanked for the saving of the lives that were spared, especially for the "miraculous" survival of Congresswoman Giffords - who made extraordinary progress following her brain injury. Perhaps he did have a hand in these "miracles."

But did he, then, also have a hand in the actions leading to the six who were killed? Obviously they were not selected for "saving." It seems that we are always ready to thank God for rescuing us from a disaster, but never "blaming" God for the disaster in the first place! Are we implying that God had nothing to do with causing the problem, but only showed up to mitigate it?

Believers "understand" this dichotomy. After all, "who are we to question the ways of the Lord." But should this entire catastrophe be an act of God, must we not also accept the fact that Jared Loughner took these steps as an "agent of the Lord?" If, on the other hand, it was an act that God did not dictate, but could have prevented, he obviously saw no reason to intervene.

I believe I am correct when I paraphrase the Bishop of Tucson who, in his eulogy of Christina-Taylor Green, stated that "God wanted her to be with him." God works in mysterious ways. If he, indeed, did wish Christina to join him, it seems a rather cruel way to get her there. He had the option of having Christina die peacefully in her sleep, but instead chose to have her die violently with a bullet.

Who are we to question the actions of God. We are only human beings - we are not, and never will be privy to God's reasons. His actions are always beyond our comprehension.