Annie Dillard's Pilgrim At Tinker Creek

"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you" (New International Version, James. 4.8). When a person directs their focus and attention to God, He will surely answer. The book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard, attempts to draw general revelation from nature about God 's nature. Annie Dillard spends her time in nature, focusing on its beauty and attempting to draw conclusions on key life questions from the knowledge she perceives in the natural world. Through scripture, God 's nature is truly revealed and key life questions are answered. Annie Dillard through hasty conclusions and misunderstanding believes God is brutal, distant, and sinister, directly contrasting the Biblical view of God being loving, concerned, and the source of

Annie Dillard points to the brutality of life and the parasitic nature of creation to establish her view of God being a brutal god that is without mercy. "Is this what it’s like, I thought then, and think now: a little blood here, a chomp there, and still we live, trampling the grass? Must everything whole be nibbled" (Dillard 230). Dillard paints a picture of a cruel God who makes creatures suffer and doesn 't have any mercy to hear their wails of pain. In the Bible, God is shown to be merciful and loving. "The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works" (Pslm. 145.9). The Lord is good to all, not cruel, and shows mercy to all his creatures. The Lord is the source of love and loves unconditionally even giving his only son so that all may have eternal life. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3.16). God loves the world so much that he gave his only son as a sacrifice to atone for our sins. God is a loving god who is full of mercy, not a cruel god that wants to see the world