Has anyone read the article in the January 2012 issue of The Lutheran Witness "God Creates Calamity" by Larry Vogel?
What did you think of it?
Vogel begins the article with Isaiah 45:5-7.
He then states, "How dare you say You create calamity, God!" We think. "Take it back, or we may lose faith." But He won't take it back. He quotes Isaiah 45:5-7 again and says "Deal with it."
Vogel goes on to say that God created the universe with all its majesty and beauty, but we have corrupted it and twisted it and ourselves into a human race that despises God.
So God does what Martin Luther called an alien work of God. He lays waste to us and to all that we have placed before Him seeking to save us.
He said that wars, floods, famine, unemployment, tragic death, pain, disease, etc. are God's alien work.
Vogel stated that God is so righteous and truthful that He will not stand by as we build up false hopes, false dreams, and false security. He will demolish all of that even it if takes a calamity to do it.
Vogel further stated that the God of salvation is the one who is at work in every calamity not to "willingingly afflict or grieve the children of man" (Lamentations 3:3) but to set us free from falsehoods that would destroy us. He is working His just and saving love even in calamity - no, especially there.
The front page of the articles states "discover why God allows violence, evil, and calamity to draw us closer to Him."
I think I understand what he's saying about what I call the left hand of God, but violence, evil, and calamity often draws people away from God.
For instance, when Steve Jobs was 13 years old, he asked his Lutheran Church Missouri Synod pastor if God knew about the people suffering in Africa. The pastor replied, "Yes." Steve Jobs then left the church and never returned. He could not worship a God who allows that kind of suffering.
There are many people who have witnessed and or experienced violence, evil, and calamity, and they are scarred for years or even for life.
I've survived the 1974 superoutbreak of tornadoes and in 1993, I survived a hostage situation and shooting at my office, and all I got out of the latter was post traumatic stress.
What did you think of it?
Vogel begins the article with Isaiah 45:5-7.
He then states, "How dare you say You create calamity, God!" We think. "Take it back, or we may lose faith." But He won't take it back. He quotes Isaiah 45:5-7 again and says "Deal with it."
Vogel goes on to say that God created the universe with all its majesty and beauty, but we have corrupted it and twisted it and ourselves into a human race that despises God.
So God does what Martin Luther called an alien work of God. He lays waste to us and to all that we have placed before Him seeking to save us.
He said that wars, floods, famine, unemployment, tragic death, pain, disease, etc. are God's alien work.
Vogel stated that God is so righteous and truthful that He will not stand by as we build up false hopes, false dreams, and false security. He will demolish all of that even it if takes a calamity to do it.
Vogel further stated that the God of salvation is the one who is at work in every calamity not to "willingingly afflict or grieve the children of man" (Lamentations 3:3) but to set us free from falsehoods that would destroy us. He is working His just and saving love even in calamity - no, especially there.
The front page of the articles states "discover why God allows violence, evil, and calamity to draw us closer to Him."
I think I understand what he's saying about what I call the left hand of God, but violence, evil, and calamity often draws people away from God.
For instance, when Steve Jobs was 13 years old, he asked his Lutheran Church Missouri Synod pastor if God knew about the people suffering in Africa. The pastor replied, "Yes." Steve Jobs then left the church and never returned. He could not worship a God who allows that kind of suffering.
There are many people who have witnessed and or experienced violence, evil, and calamity, and they are scarred for years or even for life.
I've survived the 1974 superoutbreak of tornadoes and in 1993, I survived a hostage situation and shooting at my office, and all I got out of the latter was post traumatic stress.
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