The loss of life and destruction is truly heart breaking, and I share your emotions. But at the core, isn’t the real source of this tragedy in geology, gravity, and anatomy? Aren’t we really asking why the Almighty didn’t violate the laws of physics and nature for the sake of innocent people? And by the same token, how can we say that there was a “reason” or “message”, implying that physical laws were violated in order to make a statement? And isn’t it true that if we could have observed all the molecular interactions that led up to the quake, we could have predicted it and evacuated? Ultimately, observable deviations from nature, whether constructive (preventing destruction and death) or destructive (smoking the bad guys with fire and brimstone from the heavens), are so very rare because they are the antithesis of free choice – what would an atheist say if there were no casualties or damage from a 7.0 quake? I for one find comfort in the fact that we grieve – it means we care – it means we value the inherent beauty of life and of humanity for which there are no real explanations to be found in physics and chemistry. We accept the real miracles of life, and suffer the consequence of the physical operations that facilitate them.
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