My dear young friend,
You now ask a different question, and one which is more difficult to answer.
Indeed, I see the justice of your complaint. It is one thing for your nation to
confess its national sins. It is entirely another to ask why a particular person
died in such an attack.
Please remember that God does not see death as we do. Indeed, his ways are
higher than ours; his thought is higher than ours. Is it not likely that he sees
death simply as the entrance into his presence for his children? We grieve; he
welcomes the departed home. For this reason I look forward to the day of my
death. Most of those whom I love are gone from me; I anticipate the reunion with
pleasure.
It often seems to me that God is arbitrary in these matters. The Scripture
tells us the story of the man born blind, healed by our Lord. He was blind from
birth. He was thirty-seven when healed. All assumed that he had sinned, or his
parents. But our Lord revealed that he had another purpose: the very glory of
God. It seems less than just that a man suffer so long so that others might see
the majesty of the Lord. But what are thirty-seven years compared to eternity?
Remember, too, that God permits no evil unless a greater good can be brought
from it. Surely the omnipotent one could have kept Judas from betraying him –
but he did not. For out of that betrayal came the Cross; out of the Cross came
the resurrection; out of the resurrection came our salvation.
As to the result of this matter, I think it too early to judge. Who knows?
Perhaps it may bring about a great awakening of your people. Surely by now you
know you need it.
I remain,
Isaac the alchemist
