World Trade Centre Disaster

Horror, anger, fear, disbelief - emotions surged as news came through of attacks on the World Trade Centre.

I was writing about Destiny's Child's album, Survivor - it was to have been the subject for this article. But with such events as a backdrop, writing about music seemed trivial and pointless.

Maybe it wouldn't have been - by the time you read this, the events of 11 September will be old news. They will no longer be the main focus of every news bulletin and we'll have reached the point where discussing other things seems reasonable again.

But, as I write, it's only hours since the first aircraft crashed and I can't disconnect my mind from what's happened.

I have vivid memories of visiting the World Trade Centre - super-fast elevators; incredible activity with 50,000 people working there and thousands constantly coming and going; extraordinary views from 110 stories up and the discernible movement of the tower swaying in the wind. I even recall standing on the observation deck wondering, 'What would it take to knock this down?'

And now it's gone. So much has gone with it. I have no idea how many lives - the official figure is currently six but the final total must be thousands. How many lives have been shattered by injury or bereavement? How many dreams have been extinguished?

It's another salutary reminder of life's fragility and of the potential for evil in human hearts. Life is a hard-to-handle mess of golden moments and times of utter blackness. It couldn't be anything else for people made in God's image who have rebelled against him and corrupted every aspect of that image. Thanks to our rejection of God and the moral structure of his universe, suffering and death are the only inevitable aspects of human existence.

I don't understand all the ins and outs of this. I don't have a complete answer to the question of why God allows catastrophes like this. But if he isn't in the picture somewhere it's all meaningless. Without God, humans are just 'DNA replicating machines' with no free will. On that basis, atrocities like this have no real moral significance. They mean nothing. That's no answer at all. Our horror at these events points to the innate, God-given value of human life - and to the moral dimension of human actions.

Music can wait. The big issues of life and death need grappling with again.

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