A Theological Response to Natural Suffering

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A Theological Response to Natural Suffering

In his book, The Sacred Canopy, Peter Berger asserts that ``Religion has played a strategic part in the human enterprise of world building,`` and `` implies the farthest reach of his ( man`s) infusion of reality with his own meaning.`` (Berger, 1967, 27) Thus, theology, another term for religion, is the foundation of human sense of the meaning of life and closely related to our daily life.

The 921 earthquake occured on September 21, 1999 that caused the most serious damage in Taiwan since 1935. Besides the 921 earthquake, there have been many other earthquakes and typhoons in Taiwan that have caused a great deal of loss of lives and properties. How do these people sense the meaning of the suffering in their lives? How does theology give them the appropriate answers to help them to deal with their suffering? These issues are the ministry of theology.

The purpose of this project is to examine natural suffering through the understanding of the earthquake and the various perspectives of the suffering and its relationship with the Ultimate Reality, God. The goal is to identify an appropriate explanation of natural suffering and to help those suffering to heal, undergo personal transformation, and start new lives.

The September 21, 1999 Earthquake

Basic facts about the 921 earthquake

At 1:47 on the morning of September 21,1999, Dr. Tsai, the president of Puli Christian hospital, drove on the road back to Puli. Twenty seconds after he passed a tunnel, he felt the vibration of the highway. When he turned his head, he found the tunnel he had just passed had collapse, and the crack of the road before almost made him loose control of his car. It was a strong earthquake that slammed the central area of Taiwan. The earthquake was measured 7.3 on the Richter scale.

During the earthquake, the people of the entire island felt the shaking of earth beneath them and the building for a few minutes. In Nanto, the area of the epicenter, almost all of the buildings collapsed. In Taichung, a close metropolis, many buildings collapsed or bent. For the rest of the night, all the people in Taiwan were in the terror from numerous aftershocks. According to one citizen`s description, although the building she lived in was not damaged, her family slept in their car all night for fear that their home would collapse in the next aftershock.

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