City of God by Augustine (available from Amazon or free on the internet, here for example)
(i) Christians should remember that if they are raped that they have not sinned and their purity of mind is not lost ('There will be no pollution, if the lust is another's');
(ii) Christians should never commit suicide even to escape sin ('...suicide is monstrous');
(iii) Christians must remember that God allowing disaster is a profound mystery;
(iv) Non-Christians cannot simply blame Christians for disasters when their own gods did not save them and they have committed all kinds of evil ('Thus you refuse to be held responsible for the evil that you do, while you hold the Christian era responsible for the evil which you suffer. You seek security not for the peace of your own country but for your own impunity in debauchery').
I loved the tight little answer that Augustine says Christians should give when in times of disaster enemies ask 'Where is your God now?': 'The Christian answer is this: My God is present everywhere, and wholly present everywhere. No limits confine him. He can be present without showing himself: he can depart without moving. When I am troubled with adversity, he is either testing my worth or punishing my faults. And he has an eternal reward in store for me in return for loyal endurance of temporal distress. But why should I deign to discuss your God with people like you? Still less should I speak with you about my God who "is to be feared above all gods; since all the gods of the nations are demons; while the Lord made the heavens."'
He starts by not back pedaling away from the sovereignty of God in the disaster, which many Arminians and open theists do. Then shows acceptance of the responsibility of man for the sin, which sinful man does not like to do. Then focuses on the eternal reward for encouragement. Finally he rebukes the unbeliever for their sin in following false gods.
The question, 'Where is your God now?' is still asked today and Augustine's answer is one of the tidiest I've come across! Worth committing to memory.
Next week's reading
Begin Book 2 (Chapters 1-17)
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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