Skip to main content

Why Does God Allow Disasters?

Another major earthquake has captured the attention of the world, and in times like these we always hear the question of, “How could a loving God allow this to happen?”

Before I attempt to give my two cents on this question, let me assure the reader that my heart hurts for the ones involved and my prayers are with them. This is a purely theological answer, absent the tact that would be used in a personal encounter with one of these victims.

To ask how a loving God could allow these tragedies to occur presupposes that God is acting in an unloving way, as if death were somehow reserved for the scumbags of society, the Hitlers and bin Ladens.

I have been asked why God would allow a man to die slowly over the course of weeks, and I have also been asked why God would take someone so suddenly in an accident. The reality is that death stinks no matter how it happens or how long it takes.

But death itself is a natural part of life, and God is not unloving for allowing it to happen. As John Greenleaf Whittier penned in The Eternal Goodness:

I know not what the future hath, of marvel or surprise,
Assured alone that life and death His mercy underlies.

This was not the way it was supposed to be, mind you. God’s original plan did not involve death, but in Adam’s original sin in the Garden a curse was put on this world. Romans 5:12 teaches that it was by this one man that sin entered into the world, and death came as a result of sin. Now death passes upon all men, for all have sinned.

The only guarantee of this life is that we will die. We cannot say that tomorrow we will go to work or go to the store; we will only do those things if the Lord allows it (James 4:14-15).

I say this, not to sound like the inappropriate leaders who rush to the TV cameras to announce God’s judgment on the world because of homosexuality, but to simply remind the reader that God is not unloving for allowing death to occur.

As Christians we are pilgrims passing through this life towards heaven (Hebrews 11:13), who never really die anyway, but simply pass from death to life with God (John 5:24/I John 3:14). When we get to heaven we aren’t going to wish we had more time on earth, but be glad that we have eternity with God.

We need to do all that we can to comfort and assist those who have lost loved ones, houses, and other things, but we do not need to point our finger of blame toward God.  
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To Save a Life

(Like my blog about the peace symbol, this blog was written as a default response to all the parents, students, and other people who are asking my opinion of To Save a Life.) By now you have probably heard of the movie To Save a Life, which opened nation-wide in theaters on January 22nd. The movie deals with so many issues that teens face today, like suicide, cutting, drinking, drugs, premarital sex, teen pregnancy, and abortion. At first glance this movie looks like an awesome resource that we should recommend for our teens, parents, youth pastors, and youth workers. But a closer look at the movie reveals a few disturbing things. For starters, according to pluggedin.com, there are 2 uses of the “A” word, 5 uses of hell (used as a curse word), and once the “D” word is used. There are other crude terms used to describe a girl, and crude terms for referring to sexual activity. There is also a bedroom scene that shows a girl removing a boy’s shirt, then afterwards the girl putting he...
38 comments
Read more

All Things To All Men

One of our favorite verses to use in our evangelism methods is where Paul said that he “becomes all things to all men” so that he might “by all means save some (I Corinthians 9:22).” This is certainly a good idea if we keep it in its proper context and application. For example, I remember a time in high school where I knew a kid that loved skateboarding. Being the chicken that I am, I was never a skateboarder. All he would talk about was skating, and I knew none of his lingo. But to help develop a relationship with him (he was new to our church and didn’t know many people), I brushed up on my skating lingo so I could ask if he had done any sick ollies lately (impressed?). This would be like Paul saying “to the skateboarder, I became a skateboarder.” This is effective and necessary. But then there are the people that use this verse to justify doing sinful things in the name of evangelism. The first one that comes to mind is about drinking. Some people will go into the bars to evan...
23 comments
Read more

What is a Curse Word?

I know. Stupid question, right? But lately I have heard Christians begin to debate what actually makes a word a curse word. Since the Bible never says, “Thou shalt not say the ‘s’ word,” how do we know that a word is bad? Because of this I have heard Christians justify cursing. The Bible gives a broad command for Christians to adhere to: let no corrupt word come out of your mouth (Ephesians 4:29). The word corrupt means rotten; therefore, we should never say a rotten word, whether it is on the list of curse words or not. First, we have to realize that there are curse words. On the night of Jesus’ arrest Peter was found guilty of using one himself. Matthew 26:74 tells us that when Peter denied knowing Jesus that he began “to curse and to swear.” This verse shows that there are curse words, and that they are wrong to use. I’m sure whatever words Peter said were not the same curse words that we have in our culture today. Here is the point: a curse word (or rotten word) is any wo...
18 comments
Read more