Can there really be a place where God is absent?
In this episode of Unbound Love, Gayle and Nataliecontinue the conversation that began with Natalie’s pilgrimage through places connected to Etty Hillesum and the Holocaust. This time, they wrestle with a much harder question: Can a place become so filled with suffering, cruelty,and evil that God simply isn’t there?
Natalie begins with a haunting poem preserved from Auschwitz that describes Birkenau as a place “forgotten by God.” That language becomes the launching point: When we call somewhere God-forsaken, do we actually believe God has forsaken it? Or are we describing what happens when human beings become so disconnected from God—and from one another—that their actions become godless?
The conversation turns toward a challenging theologicalpossibility: perhaps there are no places without God unless human beingscreate them. God may remain available, but we can become so separated fromcompassion, empathy, and one another that we no longer recognize—or choose to participate in—the divine presence around us.
Join us on this journey as we explore the idea that humanbeings are remarkably capable of convincing ourselves that our desires are God’s desires.