Amidst the rubble …

A local church sign is featuring these enlightening words this weekend: “Amidst the rubble, stood a metal cross,” which is obviously a statement in honor of the now famous World Trade Center cross, a group of beams that was found in the rubble following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York.

Credit: Samuel Li via Wikipedia

Of course, folks who say the discovery of a steel cross gives people hope apparently have forgotten the fact that they aren’t called “crossbeams” for anything, since skyscrapers have many such “crosses” all along their structures. In fact, if volunteers at Ground Zero hadn’t found a grouping of beams in the shape of a cross, that would have been a real miracle, since that’s essentially of what building frames consists. As it happens, the discovery of this particular WTC cross of crossbeams is, without a doubt, unremarkable.

But let’s assume for a moment that there was actually some kind of spiritual element behind the cross appearing at Ground Zero. Couldn’t a cross amid the rubble just as well mean that Jesus was actually behind the attacks? Couldn’t the cross be kind of like a personal stamp on the whole scene, kind of like graffiti or the branding of animals? And if that were the case, wouldn’t it be a little bizarre for Christians to look at the cross as a sign of hope and inspiration? In actuality, if God exists and if he’s omnipotent, he is at the very least, an accomplice to the attacks because he is said to be a) all-loving and b) omnipotent. He knew it was going to happen and watched it take place with folded arms, possessing all the power in the universe to prevent it. Isn’t this more plausible than an all-loving, all-powerful God watching 3,000 people die in New York and then mockingly placing his supposed symbol among the bodies and debris? In that context, how could this cross, even if legit, provide inspiration to anyone?