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Emphasis Mine In Bible Verses
Introduction
Is Satan Responsible For Natural Disasters?
Some Are Of The Opinion That Disasters Are Heavenly Rebuke
(Which Begs The Question... How Do They Know?
What The Bible Says
Can God Control Conditions That Cause Disasters?
Natural Laws
Many Things That Are Constructive To Human Life That Can Also Be Destructive To Human Life
That Once Perfect World
Reasons For The Flood
Results Of The Flood
Natural Phenomena May Play A Vital Role
Human Error, Greed, And Sheer Stupidity
Quite Simply We Cannot Lay Everything At God's Door
Earthquakes
Famines
Volcanoes
Storm Surges
Disasters Sometimes Serve As A Wake Up Call
Escalation Of Disasters In The End Times
Atheism Has No Answers
But The Bible Promises The Redemption Of Creation
Introduction:
The difference between moral and natural evil is that the former finds its genesis in the hearts of man and manifests itself in theft, murder, deceit, etc. for which man has no one to blame but himself. Natural evil stems from extreme expressions of the Earth's processes such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, tornados and floods.
As an aside, it is distressing that natural disasters are often termed "acts of God", but He is never praised for a weeks and years of peace, good weather and the breath taking natural wonders that make our spirits soar. Why isn't beautiful weather referred to as "an act of God."
The question is whether or not tragedies that are the result of natural phenomena can be reconciled with a good and benevolent God.
Nothing makes us feel more frail and helpless than to be confronted and, all too often, beaten down by the raw power of "nature's fury". In a matter of seconds a cataclysmic natural disaster can tear down what could have taken years or even decades to build killing thousands of humans as if they were so many match stick figures.
Earthquakes and Tornados irreparably alter once-familiar landscapes. Hurricanes sweep in from the open ocean and demolish practically everything in their path. Tsunamis and flash floods bury all vestiges of human effort and existence under a terrifying wall of water many feet deep. Volcanoes cover the surrounding miles in unimaginably hot lava and noxious gases, often spreading a veil of grey ash for great distances.
Man has kept a grim log of these tragedies that are neither isolated nor infrequent. The following data has been excerpted from an article entitled The Worst Natural Disasters Ever By LiveScience [01] and Wikipedia’s list of natural disasters. [02]
1138 - Aleppo earthquake in Syria, killed about 230,000
1556 - Shaanzi, China, earthquake killed 830,000.
1815 - Tambora, Indonesia, volcano of 1815. 80,000 people died in the subsequent famine
1931 - Yellow River flood, estimated to have killed 1 million to 3.7 million people via drowning, disease, ensuing famines and droughts. The river also had flooded catastrophically in 1887, killing nearly as many.
1970 - Bhola cyclone, the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded, struck East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and India's West Bengal killing an estimated 500,000 people primarily as a result of the storm surge that flooded much of the low-lying islands of the Ganges Delta.
1976 – The magnitude 8 Tangshan earthquake in China is estimated to have killed somewhere between 255,000 and 655,000 people.
Dec. 26, 2004 - The magnitude 9.3 Indian Ocean earthquake and resulting tsunami is estimated to have killed more than 225,000 people. It affected a broader region and more people than any modern disaster.
August 2005 - Hurricane Katrina killed more than 1,800 people and is the costliest hurricane in U.S. history. More so than any U.S. disaster in recent decades, its effects linger even today as New Orleans and many coastal communities still struggle to get back on their feet.
2010 – The death toll from the January 12th Haiti earthquake will probably never be known with any certainty. However it is believed that more than 230,000 people perished.
In the aftermath of every tragedy there are those who ask "why?" - a question that can not be taken lightly especially when asked by someone standing on the charred remains of his home. The sheer scale of many natural calamities and the resulting death, destruction, and human misery can not only test the faith of even the firmest believer but cause many others to question God's goodness and even His very existence.
The thought process goes something like this - if God is behind such disasters how can He be just or loving? On the other hand, if God is not in control of the nature He is said to have created He is certainly not all powerful and something less than God - in which case not worthy of worship. Others take the stand that since a benevolent God could not possibly allow these things to happen, there must not be a God.
However, a Christian who believes in an omnipotent and benevolent God is challenged to go beyond geological/scientific explanations of disastrous events and explain why God allows disasters like Tsunamis to happen.
It is doubtful that any answer will be completely emotionally satisfying. Nonetheless there are Biblical answers that not only meet the criteria of reason, but refute most of the banal platitudes peddled by those who apparently speak before they give the matter a modicum of thought. Why some Christian leaders do not consult God's word before venturing their opinion is, as usual, a matter of wonder.
One school of thought is that...
Satan Is Responsible For Natural Disasters
Referring to the book of Job, there are those that believe that God allows Satan to use natural forces to wreak destruction. However several passages in the book make it clear that both Job and his relatives understood the calamities to be the work of God, not of Satan. Job is quoted as saying
He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21 NASB)
Other passages also support the fact that God Himself was responsible. (All Emphasis Added)
But he said to her, "You are speaking as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we actually accept good from God but not accept adversity?” Despite all this, Job did not sin with his lips. (Job 2:10 NASB)
Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they sympathized with him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him. And each one gave him a piece of money, and each a ring of gold. (Job 42:11 NASB)
Note God words to Satan in Job 2:3,
The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man fearing God and turning away from evil. And he still holds firm to his integrity, although you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.” (Job 2:3 NASB)
Yet others believe that
Disasters are a Heavenly Rebuke
Whenever there is a natural disaster, some one or the other will be quoted as saying that the tragedy was Gods judgment on a sinful people. Apparently the idea has been alive and well for centuries unrestricted by religion or race. Some Christian religious conservatives actually ventured the idea that Hurricane Katrina was sent by God as an omen or as a punishment for America's sins.
Charles Colson speculated that God allowed Katrina as a reminder to the United States of the importance of winning the "war on terror".
Hal Lindsey said that it was proof that "judgment of America has begun"
Pat Robertson linked Katrina to legalized abortion. [03]
Robertson also once suggested Haiti has been cursed ever since the population swore a pact with the Devil to gain their freedom from the French at the beginning of the 19th Century. Apparently the Haitian earthquake was judgment for their pact with the devil and, of course, their ongoing practice of voodoo. [04]
One cannot help but be reminded of Job's "friends" who questioned what Job must have done to deserve the tragedies that befell him.
See Footnote I - Christian Religious Leaders Are Not The Only Ones Pointing Fingers
All of which begs the question...
How Do They Know?
How do these people know that these natural calamities were specifically linked to the sins of the individuals who suffered or perished in them? Is every flood, every fire, every volcanic eruption, every hurricane a heavenly rebuke? And, if not, which disasters are part of that judgment and which are not?
Additionally, how do we explain the righteous who died alongside the sinners that may have deserved to be punished? There were plenty of Christian organizations in Haiti and plenty of Bible believing Christians in New Orleans who suffered alongside every one else. Why would God allow so many of His followers to be injured and killed if He was raining judgment down on sinners. Or are we to consider them collateral damage which doesn't make any sense considering that in the Old Testament God spared His people from His wrath.
He brought them unscathed through the plagues of Egypt, the Red Sea and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, just as He will bring His people through His final judgment on this earth. So why would Haiti and New Orleans be any different?
See The Interlude Between The Sixth and Seventh Seals
when Gods people are sealed, which means that they will not only be protected from God's wrath, but will be the "first fruits" or the first ones "purchased from among men"
In an article entitled "Katrina: God's Judgment on America" Beliefnet says "The hurricane was an act of God upon a sin-loving and rebellious nation. It's a warning - and a call to repent" and asks whether there was "wickedness in New Orleans, Alabama and Mississippi?"
Hurricane Katrina has been linked to a "burgeoning Gulf Coast gambling industry, with a new casino that was to open on Labor Day weekend" and the 34th Annual gay, lesbian and transgender "Southern Decadence" Labor Day gala to be held from August 31st to September 5th… expected to draw 100,000 visitors and millions of dollars to the New Orleans business community and local government" [05]
In which case why weren't Vegas and San Francisco flattened as well, or does God just have lousy aim? Albert Mohler takes it a step further...
"Why did no earthquake shake Nazi Germany? Why did no tsunami swallow up the killing fields of Cambodia? Why did Hurricane Katrina destroy far more evangelical churches than casinos? Why do so many murderous dictators live to old age while many missionaries die young?" [06]
The fact is that unless God specifically said so, Pat Robertson did not have any way of knowing the earthquake was God's judgment on the Haitians for voodoo, and Charles Colson and Hal Lindsey had no inside information that tied Hurricane Katrina to a determined act of God.
This does not mean that Haitians will never have to answer for their spiritual darkness and the people of New Orleans for their "Southern Decadence". They will stand in judgment along with the rest of humanity. "God does hate sin, but if God merely hated Haiti, there would be no missionaries there; there would be no aid streaming to the nation; there would be no rescue efforts — there would be no hope". [07]
While it is true that in the past God has used natural disasters as judgment, we should never assume that one that occurs on this earth is His specific judgment on specific people. If we trouble ourselves to go back toe the Scriptures we will find that no correlation can be made between disaster and the morality of the people involved.
What The Bible Says
Job: Proof that every tragedy that befalls people is not a judgment on their sin and that bad things sometimes do happen to the best people, is to be found in the book of Job. God Himself identified Job as a man so righteous there was no one like him on the earth..
The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” (Job 1:8 NASB)
Yet tragedy after tragedy befell this "blameless and upright man".
Sun and Rain: In Matthew 5:45 Jesus pointed out that God makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. In other words God sends good and bad weather to everyone, regardless of the morality of its recipients.
Tower of Siloam: In the book of Luke some of the crowd told Jesus that, for reasons unknown, the Roman governor Pilate had worshipers killed at the time they were offering sacrifices in the temple. Then, as now, people probably felt that the victims had to have been really bad sinners to have suffered and died as they did.
Jesus not only soundly refuted this idea, but warned His listeners that unless they repented they too would perish in the same way. He then reinforced His point with the example of an accident in which 18 people were killed when the tower in Siloam collapsed on them, saying that those that perished in this tragedy were no worse culprits than all other men in Jerusalem.
Now on that very occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus responded and said to them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans just because they have suffered this fate? "No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
"Or do you think that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse offenders than all the other people who live in Jerusalem? "No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:1-5 NASB)
He was clearly discrediting the idea that there was an automatic connection between disaster and the morality of the people involved and the automatic connection between sickness (or disability) and sin.
As Jesus passed by, He saw a man who had been blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. (John 9:1-3 NASB
God Cannot Control Conditions that Cause Disasters
Those who take this standpoint believe that natural calamities are caused by natural laws which are beyond God's control. Although God is sorry to see human beings suffer, He is incapable of preventing natural or human induced disaster.
In his popular 1981 book When Bad Thing Happen To Good People author Rabbi Harold Kushner articulated the view that although God does not send misfortunes to punish the wicked, He cannot intervene to stop these disasters. Rabbi Kushner came to the conclusion that God can be understood as all-knowing and all-loving but not all-powerful. He believes
"that even God has a hard time keeping chaos in check and limiting the damage that evil can do" (p. 43).
And went on to say...
"I recognize His limitations. He is limited in what He can do by the laws of nature and by the evolution of human nature and human moral freedom" (p. 134).
This view can be very appealing to some as it lets God “off the hook”.. so to speak. If God does not have control over natural laws He can not be blamed for the disasters that occur with unfailing regularity. However, no Christian can read the Bible and not come to the conclusion that God has sovereign rule over all his creation and can cause nature to do His bidding whenever He pleases.
Verses that unequivocally demonstrate His power over nature include,
Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the LORD out of heaven, (Genesis 19:24 NASB)
Then Moses reached out with his hand over the sea; and the LORD swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. So the sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right and on their left. (Exodus 14:21-22 NASB)
Otherwise, the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and He will shut up the sky so that there will be no rain, and the ground will not yield its produce; then you will quickly perish from the good land which the LORD is giving you. (Deuteronomy 11:17 NASB)
LORD God of armies, who is like You, mighty LORD? Your faithfulness also surrounds You. You rule the surging of the sea; When its waves rise, You calm them. (Psalms 89:8-9 NASB)
Furthermore, I withheld the rain from you while there were still three months until harvest. Then I would send rain on one city, But on another city I would not send rain; One part would be rained on, While the part not rained on would dry up. (Amos 4:7 NASB)
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit. (James 5:17-18 NASB)
In the New Testament Jesus exercised control over the storm that threatened to swamp the boat that He and His disciples were in.
They came up to Jesus and woke Him, saying, "Master, Master, we are perishing!" And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. And He said to them, "Where is your faith?" But they were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, "Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?" (Luke 8:24-25 NASB)
In fact the book of Revelation describes many events which could easily be characterized as natural disasters, although we can not state with any degree of certainty that they will be.
See The Judgment of God... The First Six Trumpets
So if God is capable of controlling the forces of nature does He have a responsibility to stop natural calamities like earthquakes and tidal waves? This question brings us to...
Natural Laws
The following excerpts by two different authors show that the world we now live in is governed by natural laws - many things that are constructive to human life that can also be destructive to human life.
If a man steps off the roof of a five-story building, gravity will pull him to the pavement beneath. If a boy steps in front of a moving freight train, since two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time, the train will strike the child and likely kill him. The same laws that govern gravity, matter in motion, or similar phenomena also govern weather patterns, water movement, and other geological/meteorological conditions. All of nature is regulated by these laws, not just the parts that we find convenient. [08]
Besides which, some disasters may be the a secondary result or side effect of something that itself is good. In addressing this point, Christian apologist Dr. Norman Geisler noted:
In a physical world where there is water for boating and swimming, some will drown. If there are mountains to climb, there must also be valleys into which one may fall. If there are cars to drive, collisions can also occur. It may be said that tornadoes, lightning, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are likewise byproducts of a good physical world. For instance, the purpose of rain is not to flood or drown, but the result of rain may include these disasters. Likewise, hot and cold air are an essential and purposeful part of the physical world, but under certain conditions they may combine to form tornadoes (1978, p. 72, emp. in orig.).
The natural laws that God created allow man to produce fire. But the same laws that enable him to cook his food also allow him to destroy entire forests. Laws that make it possible to have things constructive to human life also introduce the possibility that things destructive to human life may occur. How can it be otherwise? A car is matter in motion, and takes us where we wish to go. But if someone steps in front of that car, the same natural laws that operate to our benefit will operate in a similar fashion to our detriment.
Third, natural laws are both inviolate and non-selective. Everyone must obey them or suffer the consequences. In Luke 13:2-5, Jesus told the story of eighteen men who perished when the tower of Siloam collapsed. Had these men perished because of their sin? No, they were no worse sinners than their peers. They died because a natural law was in force. Fortunately, natural laws work continually so that we can understand and benefit from them. We are not left to sort out some kind of haphazard system that works one day, but not the next.
Frederica Mathewes-Green - an Eastern Orthodox author - talks about how it would be possible to limit suffering. She writes
OK, earthquakes. Would you have constructed the world some other way, without plate tectonics? Great! That was an easy one.
But if "Earthquake" was not the worst kind of natural disaster, whatever was number two now automatically becomes number one — tidal waves, maybe, or volcanoes. People won't be grateful for the nonexistence of earthquakes, like they're not grateful for the nonexistence of Skin Melt Disease. As long as there are any natural disasters, something's going to be worst.
And, yes, it's unfair that some victims of disaster are miraculously saved, while others die. How do you want to make it fair? Nobody gets miracles, or everybody does?
Let's just go ahead and eliminate all natural disasters, anything caused by changes in weather, earth, or sea. But even stuff that's just sitting there can kill you. You can fall into a pool of water and drown.
Would you make it so that couldn't happen? Would you do that by changing the nature of water, or changing the nature of lungs?
Maybe water would have a tough skin, so you'd hit the surface and bounce. But how would we drink it? Would you change the way our bodies take in water? Or maybe we wouldn't need water? Would we need something else instead?
Don't forget gravity. We've eliminated earthquakes, but what kills people in earthquakes is being crushed by things that fall on them. Stuff can fall, even without an earthquake. Would you make it so gravity doesn't pull things down on people? … No, that whole train of thought is problematic.
When you say that if there was a truly omnipotent God, he could have prevented suffering, do you mean that God could have made things differently? [09]
The world we live in is very complex and we can not lay the blame for natural calamities at any one door. But could God have made things just a little bit differently as the above author asks? Perhaps He did!
In order to discover what kind of world God created, we have to step back in time to the beginning - to the book of Genesis.
That Once Perfect World
After the six days of creation God rested on the 7th day, which He would not have done had there been anything else He wanted to create, change or, an ridiculous as an idea as that is, redo.
That He rested because He was satisfied with what had been done is emphasized by the fact that at the end of each of the first five days God saw that what He had created was "good" and, after the sixth day when He created both land animals and the first people, He pronounced it "very good" (Genesis 1:31).
To be noted is that there was one the part of his creation that God didn't specifically call "good" for which there was a VERY good reason
As the story of creation unfolds we are told that at the end of each day God declared His handiwork to be "good" with one exception - the events of the second day. Although it is true that Genesis 1:31 tells us that on the sixth day God saw all that He had made and behold, it was very good, the second day of creation (Vs. 6-8) is the ONLY day in the Genesis narrative that the Lord does not specifically pronounce what He created that day as "good". And that because it wasn't.
See What and Where is Heaven? Part VI ... No More Sea?
(Scroll down to "The Second Day... Let There Be A "Firmament" "
While we may never know precisely what conditions prevailed at the time, He is unlikely to have pronounced the world very good if it even remotely resembled the one we live in today.. quite simply there could not have been hurricanes, tornados, floods, erupting volcanoes, earthquakes or Tsunamis.
Not only did God place humankind in this perfect environment, He placed them in a garden that offered both beauty and sustenance
The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. (Genesis 2:8 NASB)
Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and tend it. (Genesis 2:15 NASB)
Note that the word Eden that signifies pleasure or delight is the name of a particular geographical location (See Genesis 4:16; 2 Kings 19:12; Isaiah 37:12; Ezekiel 27:23; Amos 1:5). In fact two of the four rivers named are known to us today.
Reasons For The Flood:
But the peace and tranquility of Eden was soon shattered by the disobedience of our parents. Their act of disobedience, commonly known as ‘The Fall’, affected not only the future of the entire human race, but also the physical world. Although we do not understand it completely, there is little doubt that Adam's sin had an adverse affect on nature. Genesis 3:17 tells us that God cursed the ground because of Adam and Eve's sin.
However it didn't seem to have ended there - the entire situation rapidly deteriorated after man's expulsion from the garden - albeit in a different way...
Now it came about, when mankind began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not remain with man forever, because he is also flesh; nevertheless his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of mankind, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. (Genesis 6:1-4 NASB)
Followed by
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. So the LORD was sorry that He had made mankind on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. Then the LORD said, "I will wipe out mankind whom I have created from the face of the land; mankind, and animals as well, and crawling things, and the birds of the sky. For I am sorry that I have made them.” (Genesis 6:5-7 NASB)
The global destruction of the earth caused by the Flood, was God's judgment on an earth that had corrupted itself beyond imagination..
See As It Was In The The Days Of Noah
The exact nature of the bizarre events described in Genesis 6:1-4 are controversial, but it does not pay to gloss over them as they are exceedingly important and could very well affect every one of us in the not too distant future. Jesus Himself said "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man," (Matt 24:37 and Luke 17:26). He linked these two epochs together and said that one is the parallel of the other.
The multi million dollar question is what conditions are going to be duplicated.
It is true that men were terribly wicked in those days however, that is not all. The Old Testament tells us how "the sons of God" took wives for themselves from among the daughters of men, had children by them, and that the "Nephilim" (the mighty men of old) walked the earth at that time. If we wish to know what exactly we are to expect before the wrath of God rains down it is essential we understand who these 'sons of God' and 'Nephilim' were.
Results of The Flood:
The Bible indicates that the waters of the Flood came from two sources:
In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. (Genesis 7:11 NASB)
What Were Conditions Like On The Earth After The Great Flood?
The "fountains of the great deep" were probably subterranean sources of water, which means an immense quantity of waters occupied the center of the antediluvian earth. One has to wonder whether the strata of the earth sunk in as this water poured out, and whether it was this enormous flood that broke the lithosphere (the crust and the uppermost mantle, which constitute the hard outer layer of the Earth) into moving plates. In other words, havoc of unbelievable proportions reigned in God's creation.
Regardless of whether this is completely accurate or not, it seems reasonable to assume that the Flood radically changed the topography and geology of the entire planet... that there were catastrophic changes in the environment permanently altering the face and formation of the earth. (See The Flood.. Local Or Global?).
Numerous biblical scholars have suggested that conditions were radically different than those we see today, and that the Earth was devoid of the many natural disasters that it presently experiences (see Rehwinkel, 1951; Whitcomb and Morris, 1961; Dillow, 1981). Whitcomb and Morris have stated, for example:
This is inferred from the fact that the "breaking-up of the fountains of the great deep" (Genesis 7:11), which implies this sort of activity, was one of the immediate causes of the Deluge; therefore it must have been restrained previously.... Thus the Biblical record implies that the age between the fall of man and the resultant Deluge was one of comparative quiescence geologically. The waters both above and below the firmament were in large measure restrained, temperatures were equably warm, there were no heavy rains nor winds and probably no earthquakes nor volcanic emissions (1961, pp. 242,243).
It is not unreasonable to suggest, knowing the changes caused by local floods, that the global Flood of Genesis 6-8 not only radically altered the face of the Earth, but simultaneously produced circumstances that are responsible for many natural disasters experienced since that time. New, higher mountains and lower valleys were produced by God after the Flood (Psalm 104:6-10). Approximately 71.9% of the Earth’s surface remained covered with water. Temperature changes occurred, producing seasonal variations unlike any before. No doubt other factors were involved as well. [10]
And although the flood waters eventually receded and Noah's family began to pick up where they once left off, the damage was done. The planet was no longer the idyllic place that had been once created... the widespread evil in Noah's day precipitated the flood and very likely was responsible for the changes that cause various natural disasters.
In spite of this there seems to be evidence that at least some natural phenomena actually plays a vital role in man's very survival.
Natural Phenomena May Play A Vital Role
Hugh Ross on the good side of Hurricanes and Earthquakes
Hurricanes counterbalance the ocean's tendency to leach carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This leaching, if unchecked, would result in a catastrophic cooling of the planet. On the other hand, hurricanes prevent the oceans from trapping too much of the sun's heat by helping to circulate greenhouse gases globally as they shade the ocean locally, preventing heat from building up too dramatically for the safety of certain sea creatures." [11]
Likewise earthquakes play a vital role in providing for mankind's survival. Without them nutrients essential for land life would erode off the continents and accumulate in the oceans. In a relatively brief time, land creatures, at least the advanced species, would starve. Thanks to the movement of the Earth's tectonic plates, these nutrients are recycled back onto the continents.
In their book, Rare Earth, Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee suggest that many specialized conditions are required for life to exist on any planet. In a sense, the authors - an eminent paleontologist and a top astronomer - discuss the "anthropic principle,” which specifies the degree to which our planet appears fine-tuned for complex life. The concept is often used in Christian apologetics to show that our intelligently designed universe seems to point to an Intelligent Designer.
Change any of a hundred factors a tiny fraction — like Earth's distance from the sun, axis tilt, our location in the galaxy's edge, our moon's position and size, etc. — and this would not be a place where we could live. Many scientists today believe this "perfect" planetary design for human life is far from random, and, added with design factors like the Big Bang and the genetic commonality, requires a Designer.
Apparently our planet is reasonably unique in having plate tectonics. Ward and Brownlee show that without this geological feature, there would be no large mountain ranges or continents. Without plate tectonics, the earth's land would be submerged to a depth of several thousand feet. This might be the design for a place where sea life survives, but not humans. According to Ward and Brownlee, "Plate tectonics also help regulate the earth's climate, preventing the onset of scorching or freezing temperatures that would make mammalian life impossible. In sum, plate tectonics are a necessary prerequisite to human survival on the only planet known to sustain life.”
Tectonic plates moved and land violently pushed upward from the undersea floor. Islands and continents were formed. This clearly fits, for me, the Genesis 1 account of creation. [12]
Plate tectonics also help regulate the earth's climate, preventing the onset of scorching or freezing temperatures that would make mammalian life impossible. In sum, plate tectonics are a necessary prerequisite to human survival on the only planet known to sustain life.
Also See Anthropic Principles
So if hurricanes and earthquakes etc. do contribute to the survival of complex life on earth, how do we reconcile this with the fact that they also take life by the thousands. Unfortunately, factors like human need, carelessness, indifference or greed greatly multiply the extent of the destruction and fatalities caused by natural disasters.
Human Error, Greed, and Sheer Stupidity
The number of humans in the area affected is often of greater consequence than the power of the natural forces involved. In a vastly smaller population, most natural disasters would not have been anywhere near as destructive as they were. In fact we are unlikely to even call them a "disaster" if they happen on a remote or uninhabited island out in the middle of the ocean somewhere. Natural disasters become "disastrous" when they take human life.
It is when people "accidentally or intentionally get in the way of nature or cannot get out of the way of natural occurrences that we call them disasters and start asking sticky questions about God and how the universe runs."[13]
People also tempt nature with rapid and unplanned urbanization in flood-prone regions, increasing the likelihood that their towns and villages will be affected by flash floods and coastal floods.
"Large land areas are [being] covered with cement so this means the flow of water becomes very strong," Guha-Sapir (director of the Center for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) in Brussels, Belgium) said. "The runoff from the water can't get absorbed by the soil anymore, so it keeps collecting and rushing down, getting heavier and faster, and then you have much bigger floods."
People aren't just putting themselves at risk for floods, but for natural disasters of all types, including earthquakes and storms like hurricanes and typhoons. [14]
Another problem is that
... more and more people are living in high risk areas. According to a report published by the World Bank, in more than 160 countries, over a quarter of the population live in areas of high mortality risk from natural disasters. "As you put more and more people in [harms] way, you make a disaster out of something that before was just a natural event," says scientist Klaus Jacob of Columbia University in the United States. [15]
Here are a few considerations to take into account.
1) God is not the only source of causation in the world. There are many actors in the world, human and supernatural, and God is only the most important and powerful one. Even the Bible does not suggest God is the only source of all that happens in the world.
For example, Biblical writers are pretty adamant that God is not the cause of human sin. Were that the case, God would in no sense be a good God. It follows from this conclusion that there are things that happen in this world that are the fault not of God but of human beings. It does not further this discussion to add that God allowed this to happen. But then God allows all kinds of things to happen, good, bad, and ugly and it is no reflection on God's character nor is it an indication that God does not care.
2) We live in an interactive world, a world where human behavior affects nature and vice versa. Its no good blaming the drinking water near Three Mile Island for being poisonous when it was human beings who caused the pollution of the water. Human responsibility for human ills is again and again insisted on in the Bible. Indeed, the primeval stories in Genesis 1-2 tell us that the Fall, which led to disease, decay, death, suffering, sin and sorrow in the world can be traced back to human causation, human sin. According to Genesis, it did not have to be that way, but we screwed up. In other words the primeval story is about prime evil, and we, and not just the snake, are responsible.
3) Compassion Fatigue. Haiti has been a disaster happening and waiting to happen for ever. Had most of the buildings in Port au Prince been strengthened or rebuilt to withstand such disasters, literally millions of people would have been less likely to be harmed in that city by what has just happened. And we have known about these problems in our own backyard for decades. For decades now the U.S. would rather throw good money after bad on military adventures in the Middle East and elsewhere when in fact with a fraction of what we have spent in the last decade on war the entire country of Haiti could have been rebuilt and given decent housing!! Yes its true. And these are our backdoor neighbors. But of course they do not have oil and other commodities to offer us, so we as a nation have largely ignored them and their cries for help, hoping that the piecemeal efforts of small U.N. and Christian agencies would pick up the slack - which they have been unable to do, so overwhelmed have they been by the grinding indigenous poverty and needs of that whole country, not to mention governmental corruption over many decades. [16]
Conclusion
Earthquake, volcanic eruptions and hurricanes all occur as extreme expressions of Earth's natural processes, but disasters occur when human beings fail to prepare for these inevitable events. The human factor is a huge contributing factor in turning an earthquake into a major disaster, for it is not the shock wave of energy that causes most deaths and injuries, but collapsing buildings. In other words, earthquakes don't kill people. Buildings kill people.
Quite simply we cannot lay everything at God's door.
Here are some example,
Earthquakes
While we cannot control them, we can control their damage to humanity, which is really where the suffering comes in. Yet, most suffering from earthquakes can be prevented. Consider:
1906 San Francisco earthquake: thousands of people died. Dr. T. Nakamura, sent by the Japanese government went to investigate the earthquake. His prognosis: "Dishonest mortar was responsible for nearly all the earthquake damage". (Gaukroger 1995:22)
1935 Quetta, Pakistan earthquake: where many again died. The reason similarly was the poor constructional quality of the buildings. Those buildings which survived all had good cement, so that their chimneys still remained intact (Gaukroger 1995:23)!
1985 Mexico City earthquake: again culpability was put on second-rate workmanship and the skimping on construction materials.
So for 80 years we knew how to minimize earthquake damage, yet we still had not learned the lesson. While many people shook their fist at God, they chose to ignore the guilt which was lurking in their own back yard.
Now let's take the example of Kobe, Japan, in 1995. There was billions of yen in damage, but little loss of life because of the lessons learned from San Francisco, Quetta and Mexico. Only the older buildings, which had not applied this new technology were destroyed. Would those who had earlier blamed God for the former earthquakes, have credited Him for the few who were killed in the Kobe earthquake? Certainly not!
It was the engineers who had learned from past experience and applied what they knew who were credited with the success at Kobe; and any good humanist would agree. Then, to be consistent, these same humanists shouldn't have been so quick to blame God for the deaths in San Francisco, Quetta and Mexico. Let's put blame where blame is due. [17]
Famines
The 1985 Ethiopian famine was devastating, yet two years earlier relief agencies working in Ethiopia had warned the government that it was coming. Instead of alleviating the problem, the government spent $200 million on celebrating the independence of the communist takeover.
Interestingly, most famines can be avoided, and are not the result of natural occurrences, but are primarily caused by man.
1985 Ethiopian famine was devastating, yet two years earlier relief agencies working in Ethiopia had warned the government that it was coming. Instead of alleviating the problem, the government spent $200 million on celebrating the independence of the communist takeover.
Deforestation in Senegal: All our neighbours used firewood rather than gas, though everyone knew (by TV adverts) that wood-burning caused deforestation, and heats up the atmosphere dissipating clouds, which retards rain. Knowing the devastation they were causing they continued to use wood, because "it was what they had used since they were children". Should God be blamed for the resulting famines? [18]
Volcanoes
While no-one can control volcanoes, today the suffering which they cause is now at a minimum. Most are carefully watched by scientists, and there is enough forewarning from technology to get humans out of dangers way (i.e. Mt. St. Helens, and the 12 who disregarded the warnings). Thus, except for lost property which can be replaced, there are few who suffer from volcanoes anymore. [19]
Storm Surges
Take New Orleans for example. It is built in a low-lying, flood-prone area. The loss of coastal marshlands that buffer New Orleans from flooding and storm surges may have worsened the impact of Hurricane Katrina. Hurricanes quickly lose force when they hit land, but New Orleans is now vulnerable to violent storms because the land around it has been rapidly disappearing. A crucial buffer zone that once protected the area from hurricanes has all but disappeared.
America's Wetland, a Baton Rouge organization, estimates that More than 1,900 square miles of the Louisiana have disappeared since the 1930s due to development and the construction of levees and canals. This, coupled with the loss of barrier islands and stands of natural vegetation has made the New Orleans area more susceptible to storm surges. Sharon Begley, a science columnist for The Wall Street Journal, notes that studies have shown that for every square mile of wetlands lost, storm surges rise by one foot. [20]
USA Today reported that "long-standing warnings" were either ignored or "met with a halfhearted response". In fact not only did the levee system lead to the rapid decay of the wetlands, but much of the widespread loss of life was due to the fact that nearly every levee in metro New Orleans was breached.
John N. Clayton sums it up perfectly,
Frequently human actions are the cause of things that are blamed on God. It is a major irritation to me to hear the news media refer to a flood as "an act of God." The problem is that almost all floods are due to the acts of man. It is man who has paved thousands of acres of dirt preventing rain water from soaking in. It is man who has drained wetlands, straightened rivers, and built shoddy containment structures that fail.
There are many other areas where human acts are the cause, or at least the catalyst, of things that bring huge pain and problems to mankind. Cancer is caused to a large extent by man-made carcinogens in the environment. These same agents are a major cause of birth defects. Alcohol, smoking, and drug use are major contributors to mental problems and physical problems in children.
Even man's behavior is a major cause of pain to mankind as a whole. In 41 years of teaching, I worked with many children who had severe behavioral problems, and a large percentage of them were kids who had sexual abuse, neglect, and verbal abuse at home. There can be no question but that sexual abuse is a major contributor to aberrant sexual behavior. "Why did God make me this way?" is a question I have heard many times in working with people who have behavioral problems. Almost universally it has become obvious that the problems are a product of human activity, not God's creation.
Human actions also contribute to global human suffering issues. It is a sad fact that much of the world's population goes to bed hungry every night. The problem is not that a deficiency in the earth's design produces a shortage of food. If the money spent on military preparation by all countries of the earth for one week was put into the production of potable water for the earth's people, the food shortage would be over. Once again it is man with his greed, selfishness, desire for political power, and stupidity that is the cause of hunger -- not the failure of God's system. [21]
Disasters Sometimes Serve As A Wake Up Call
What is true is that "Disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruption, tornados, and hurricanes can have a sobering effect upon the human mind. They can challenge complacent, self-centered, and self-sufficient people to acknowledge their finiteness and helplessness and thus to seek God"
Disasters often serve as a wake up call to repentance. When a war breaks out, an earthquake destroys countless lives and property, a drought burns the crops and dries up the water supply, or a disease victimizes millions of persons, many people will call out to God either in curse or prayer. C. S. Lewis wrote that "pain is God's megaphone to a deaf world."
It was the earthquake which marked the death of Christ that led the centurion and his soldiers to confess, "Truly this was the Son of God" (Matt 27:54).
It was an earthquake that caused the jailer at Philippi to exclaim: "Men, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30). It was a famine that sent King Ahab searching everywhere for the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 18:10).
It was a plague that brought Pharoah to his knees, confessing before Moses: "I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. Now therefore, forgive my sin, I pray you, only this once, and entreat the Lord your God only to remove this death from me" (Ex 10:16-17). [22]
I do not know whether there is actually a high school in California that has posted a sign which reads: "In the event of an earthquake, the Supreme Court ruling against prayers in school will be temporarily suspended". What I am reasonably certain of is, in case of an earthquake, the Supreme Court’s ruling will be largely ignored.
Escalation of Disasters in The End Times:
The period of time preceding Jesus' return and the establishment of the messianic Kingdom will be a time of escalating disasters, which will be what Jesus called "but the beginning of the sufferings" (Matthew 24:8; Mark 13:8). Jesus' use of the phrase "the beginning of the sufferings" implies that that they will intensify as the end approaches leaving little doubt that there will be more and worse disasters in the future.
These natural disasters are but a sign of the final judgment to come, and a warning to man that he needs to repent and be saved. As the end times progress, conditions get progressively worse until this earth arrives at the period during which God will pour out His wrath on the earth. This Jesus called the great tribulation. As He said...
if those days had not been shortened, no human being would be saved" (Matthew 24:22; Mark 13:20).
Paul made the point that we can recognize the season of the Lord's return.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6 he stated that even though the day of the Lord will come like "a thief in the night," that day should not overtake believers, unforeseen or unexpected, because we are "children of light," and we should "watch and be sober".
Similarly the author of Hebrews states that we are to "encourage one another" as we see the Day of Judgment drawing near (Hebrews 10:25).
However the prophet Daniel warned centuries ago that only the 'wise' would be able to understand the prophecies. In this the 21st century, many of the Biblical signs of the end times are not only in abundance but as plain as day. However to the spiritually un-discerning the signs mean nothing.
(See The Signs Of The Times and The Wrath of God)
But have natural disasters already increased? Many say yes - other are in disagreement. However when they undeniably start escalating it will be on a scale that will leave no one in any doubt.
According to the United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) Earthquake Hazards Program
"Although it may seem that we are having more earthquakes, earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or greater have remained fairly constant.
A partial explanation may lie in the fact that in the last twenty years, we have definitely had an increase in the number of earthquakes we have been able to locate each year. This is because of the tremendous increase in the number of seismograph stations in the world and the many improvements in global communications. In 1931, there were about 350 stations operating in the world; today, there are more than 8,000 stations and the data now comes in rapidly from these stations by electronic mail, internet and satellite.
According to long-term records (since about 1900), we expect about 17 major earthquakes (7.0 - 7.9) and one great earthquake (8.0 or above) in any given year."
Atheism Has No Answers
The problem of evil is a problem for both Christians and atheists. Non believers may scoff and sneer at Christianity, but do not have any of the answers. The difference is, the Christian world view has an answer for the human tragedy in Haiti.
Atheism does not.
The humanist cannot explain where the pain and suffering really came from and has no hope that it will ever go away. He can not blame it on God as that would necessitate admitting that God exists. He lives his life hoping that tragedy will not befall him but, even if he manages to escape serious affliction, all he has to eventually look forward to is a cold dark grave - the biggest tragedy of all.
But The Bible Promises The Redemption of Creation
The Scriptures tell us that one day sin will be removed and His creation restored to its original state. While we have no idea what God plans to do with tectonic plates, I do know that …
The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent's food. They will do no evil or harm on all My holy mountain,” says the LORD. (Isaiah 65:25 NASB)
While the fall of humanity into sin affected everything, including the physical world, Paul explains in the book of Romans that creation itself is in bondage, but will be set free
For the eagerly awaiting creation waits for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:19-21 NASB)
The Bible is the story about the Creator's plan to deal with evil itself and to put the world to rights.
What and Where is Heaven?
Christians who believe they will spend an eternity in "heaven" seem to have little or no idea where this heaven is, what it will look like, or what they will do there. Either they have fleeting, half formed ideas about some ethereal place 'out there', or resort to pious phrases that amount to little more than spiritual gobbledy gook. If this is the best we can do then then it is little wonder that atheists and non Christians are not in the slightest bit interested in our "heaven", and Christians themselves so rarely seem to look forward to the coming of the day of God. Luckily the Bible isn't at all silent on on where "heaven" is and, even more importantly, what it will be like.
In fact, the Bible's description of the coming kingdom is far, far, more practical, and a lot less sanctimonious, than that of our theologians. Besides which, many Christians, unfortunately have the idea that since all our sins have been forgiven, our works cannot possibly be considered at some future time. Not true according to I Corinthians 3:9-13. Apparently there are those that will make it to heaven, but who have earned few, if any, additional rewards.
Footnote I - Christian Religious Leaders Are Not The Only Ones Pointing Fingers
The December 26th 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami even caused some Muslim imams in Saudi Arabia to preach that
The killer wave that swallowed tens of thousands of Muslims was an act of Allah designed to punish the Christians… Saudi cleric Muhammad Al-Munajiid explained God's tsunami punishment of Christians stemmed from "the Christian holidays [that] are accompanied by forbidden things, by immorality, abomination, adultery, alcohol, drunken dancing and revelry". [23]
The massive 8.3 earthquake on the Bihar - Nepal border caused Mahatma Gandhi to state that perhaps the earthquake was a punishment for the sin of untouchability. [24]
Actress Sharon Stone, voiced the opinion that the devastating earthquake in China in May 2008 might have been "karma" for the Communist nation's treatment of Tibet and the Dalai Lama. [25]
End Notes
[01] http://www.livescience.com/history/080506-natural-disasters.html
[02] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_natural_disasters
[03] Joe Brown. Religious conservatives claim Katrina was God's omen, punishment for the United States.
https://www.mediamatters.org/hurricanes/religious-conservatives-claim-katrina-was-gods-omen-punishment-united-states
[04] Frank James. Pat Robertson Blames Haitian Devil Pact For Earthquake.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2010/01/pat_robertson_blames_haitian_d.html
[05] https://www.beliefnet.com/news/2005/09/katrina-gods-judgment-on-america.aspx
[06] Albert Mohler. Does God Hate Haiti? http://www.albertmohler.com/2010/01/14/does-god-hate-haiti/
[07] ibid.
[08] Richmond Church of Christ https://www.richmondcc.org/intermediate-christian-evidences-correspondence-course-6
[09] Frederica Mathewes-Green. Let's Create a Perfect World. https://pravoslavie.ru/44885.html
[10] Bert Thompson, Ph.D. Do Natural Disasters Negate Divine Benevolence?
[11] Hugh Ross, “Hurricanes Bring More Than Destruction,” Facts & Faith 12 (1998), pp.4-5. As Quoted in Good God, Cruel World by Krista Bontrager. http://www.reasons.org/evil-suffering/natural-disasters/good-god-cruel-world
[12] Dr. Brad Strait https://bradstrait.com/2020/06/25/why-we-need-natural-disasters/
[13] Ben Witherington Haiti - Where Was God?
http://blog.beliefnet.com/bibleandculture/2010/01/haiti---a-case-study-for-theodicy.html
[14] Scientists: Natural Disasters Becoming More Common. By Ker Than, LiveScience Staff Writer.
https://www.livescience.com/414-scientists-natural-disasters-common.html
[15] ibid.
[16] Ben Witherington. Haiti - Where Was God?
https://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/bibleandculture/2010/01/haiti---a-case-study-for-theodicy.html
[17] Jay Smith. Why Is There Suffering? http://debate.org.uk/topics/apolog/suffer.htm
[18] ibid.
[19] ibid.
[20] Rhett A. Butler. Environmental problems worsened Hurricane Katrina's impact. August 31, 2005
http://news.mongabay.com/2005/0831-new_orleans_wetlands.html
[21] John N. Clayton. Do Natural Disasters Disprove God's Existence? http://www.whypain.org/natural_disasters.html
[22] Samuele Bacchiocchi, Ph. D., Retired Professor of Theology and Church History, Andrews University. "God and Tsunami: What is the Lord Telling Us?"
https://clubadventist.com/forums/topic/1683-religious-leaders-debate-gods-role-in-the-tsunami/
[23] Allah off the Richter scale. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2005/jan/09/20050109-102911-9121r/
[24] http://www.gandhifoundation.net/articles/g_moral.htm. (Link is no longer viable)
[25] Stone apologises for China quake remark
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-05-29/stone-apologises-for-china-quake-remark/2453440
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