On Nyawlins

There is a peculiar humanistic hubris which believes that mankind is in control of his circumstances. When one rejects the predestinating providence of God, he seeks to subsitute the predestinating autonomy of man.

We in the post-Endarkenment West are guily of it in spades.

This (rightly understood) act of God which has befallen us is a solid refutation of our pride. Hurricane Katrina was simply bigger than all our strength could handle.

We cannot come to grips with the fact that one of our cities has been destroyed. We are too proud to admit it, and too stubborn to see that the obvious response is to walk away and rebuild elsewhere.

Already, one can hear man-centered talk of the coming triumph of the human spirit as New Orleans is rebuilt better than before. Below sea level.

The proper response ought to be mercy to the survivors, national humility before the Lord, and responsible acknowledgement of the fact that we do not tame the wind and the waves, and we ought not to think that our ingenuity is proof against them.