Nouslife: Archbishop Desmond Tutu: When God Smiles

17 February 2007

Archbishop Desmond Tutu: When God Smiles

In many ways this is not intellectual theodicy and may not say it all, but I feel that the emotional impact is something that we have to take seriously and that it is an important insight to keep in mind when thinking about the ways of God and the world. Certainly, I recall sharing something similar among a group of fellow Christians a couple of years or so back, and there was scarcely a dry eye in the room once people had engaged with the idea.

I frequently say, I'm so glad I'm not God! Can you imagine having to say, “Bin Laden is my child. Saddam Hussein is my child. George Bush is my child.” Oh! All of them, including me. Can you imagine what God must have felt watching the Holocaust? Watching Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Watching Rwanda? Can you imagine God watching Darfur? Imagine God watching Iraq and saying, “These are my children here, and they are killing my other children. And I can't do anything because I have said to them, 'I give you the space to be you and that space enables you to make choices. And I can't stop you when you make the wrong choices. All I can do is sit here and cry.'” And God cries until God sees beautiful people who care, even if they may not do earth-shattering things.