Scottish Archbishop at Glasgow accident funeral: ‘What happened was random, cruel and meaningless.'

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Yeah, but he also says:
'In the Gospel Jesus says to… all the bereaved and to all of us: “Come to me all you who labour and are overburdened and I will give you rest.” And in these sad circumstances, we all need rest and comfort and re-assurance and light. The God of whom Jesus speaks is not cruel, vengeful or capricious. The God whom Jesus reveals is loving, merciful and just. “Come to me and I will give you rest.” The God of whom Jesus speaks, whom we know as Our Father, only wants the good for his children in this life and in the world to come.
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'And so God created us for life and freedom. And in this life we are free. We move as we wish. We are not puppets on a string, not robots controlled from afar.
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'At the same time we are not indestructible, not immune from forces which are too much for us. Our bodies cannot survive everything here on earth. These are the limitations of the human condition.
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But we are not meant for limitations. We are meant for life and glory. And in the resurrection, neither random forces nor chance tragedy, nor serious illness, not even death itself will have any power over us. In the resurrection, our bodies will be glorified and will be filled with eternal life. This is the hope that Jesus Christ – and He alone – holds out to us. This is what awaits Erin, and Jack and Lorraine, and today we speed them on with our prayers and supplications.’
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To me all this is saying is that human beings don’t ask God stupid questions.
 
lizardley said:
Archbishop Philip Tartaglia of Glasgow, president of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland, preached the following homily at the funeral Mass of bin lorry crash casualties Jack and Lorraine Sweeney and their grand daughter Erin McQuade at St Patrick’s, Dumbarton this morning.
Report at: sconews.co.uk/news/42628/archbishop-at-funeral-what-happened-was-random-cruel-and-meaningless/
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Well, from our perspective, it is random, cruel and meaningless. If you don’t concede that much I fear many will spit in your face. I don’t have a problem with Christianity allowing that man doesn’t always understand the ways of God. Job stumbled a bit there, again, understandably. Jesus ask God why he had abandoned him when he was hanging on the cross. A good quarrel now and then I think can be therapeutic; otherwise you are many times alienated even more by deceit against him in your heart in the form of false humility and obedience; he will become (and stay) a monster to you much faster that way.
 
I am reminded of an old story:

Job: God, I don’t understand You.

God: Well, at least you finally got that right.
 
lizardley said:
Scottish Archbishop at Glasgow accident funeral: ‘What happened was random, cruel and meaningless.’
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He got at least one thing wrong. Accidents are seldom random. Most of the time accidents happen because at least one human being did something stupid.
 
DaveBj said:
He got at least one thing wrong. Accidents are seldom random. Most of the time accidents happen because at least one human being did something stupid.
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Humans are also bound by the unforgiving limits of a physical world, meaning that there are rare occasions in which things do spontaneously occur.

That said, complaining at God because bad things happen is a bit like shooting oneself in the foot and howling because the gun went off. We as a race put ourselves entirely in this position with the Fall.
 
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