Natural disasters - Punishment from God?
- Thread starter Pink Spider
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Most of what you have written I'd agree with. But am I right in thinking you think God is somehow not involved with any of it? Does he reign over all of it, i.e. have the wherewithal to move it as he sees fit? If he does, then in essence he either passively or actively causes it.
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lesliedellow
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That is something present day Christins have trouble with, but it is not something the biblical authors had trouble with - i.e. Isaiah 45.7. They were quite prepared to accept that God's lordship over all things means what it says.
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Matariki
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Greetings!
I have often heard Christians say that one or the
other natural catastrophe was/is punishment
from God.
By natural disaster I mean:
Earthquakes, Flooding, Tsunami's, Hurricanes,
Droughts, Hailstorms, Epidemics etc.
Is that true? What is your opinion (especially in
respect and compared to Biblical disasters)?
For the 99.9% of the equation, No, natural disasters are not a punishment from God. Its the result of the earth functioning as it should. And what we view to be natural disasters, aren't disasters until humans find themselves stuck in the middle of them. Otherwise besides that, they're actually very important for the functioning of the earth. Without them we would have problems such as the earth exploding, no livable landmass, not enough drinkable water, lack of nutrient distribution and weak immune systems (or an overcrowding of the earth). The problem is that most people like to focus on the negative aspects of how the earth functions, which leads to ignorance of the positives.
As for the flood or any other natural disaster account that occurs in the bible being the result of God's judgement, I think one ought to be careful when reading books like Genesis as we are dealing with a much older and different culture to what we are currently living in. Although it is very possible for God to use a natural disaster for whatever purpose he had in mind, this still doesn't mean that we ought to take claims at face value without first investigating into them.
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Obviously, I agree 100%. Your comment is concise
and rational and very well written (better than I
could do it)
I agree!
I am tempted to agree with the first part of
your sentence.
I 100% agree with the second part.
______________________________________
Your post/comment is excellently written - thank
you for posting.
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No.
That is not the criteria God uses.
Not everyone that dies in a disaster had all the opportunities they needed to accept or reject Gods charity. From my understanding these individual would go on to heaven without obtaining Godly type Love, but would only have a strong child for wonderful parent type Love and might need everlasting protection and preserving from those with Godly type Love in heaven.
The fear of tragedies does bring mature adults to their senses, but that does not mean it automatically converts them. It has to do with the sincerity of their belief and not just what they verbally express under stress.
Yes! Humbly accepting Gods Love (Charity) in the form of accepting Gods forgiveness is your primary objective. You start out though having: 1. to come to your senses enough, 2. to realize where you are, 3. how you got there, 4. where you are going and 5. Want to change.
By realizing how bad you have it and how much you need to be forgiven of, allows you to realize how much God has forgiven you of, so as Jesus taught (and you should know from experience) he that is forgiven much will Love much That unbelievable huge Love (Godly Love) comes from being forgiven of an unbelievable huge amount of sin debt.
Not really. Experiencing Gods Love being given/shown through true Christians can allow you to desire such selfless Love or reject that selfless Love. God is Love so humbly accepting Godly type Love is accepting God.
Soldiers that have gone into battle together seem to form lasting relationships. You are right to suggest just helping people that need big time help at the time do not necessarily become brothers working for the same cause. The person being helped at least has the opportunity to experience what Godly type Love is and decide if that Love is what they desire in their life.
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I see.
That makes sense.
You can't be serious...
I agree.
I agree.
I beg to disagree. The main goal and basic
objective is and was from the dawn of mankind
to our times to survive.
Ok - that makes sense as far as I understand it.
In my experience: He that is forgiven much will
soon forget.
No offense or blasphemy intended!
So it's quid pro quo after all?
I can not make out whether that is true or not.
I am not a Christian.
That is true.
OK.
The person being helped has IMHO first to thank
the person(s) that helped her/him.
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New replies to this thread will be answered tomorrow!
Sorry for the inconvenience!
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4christ88
Angel in training
Greetings!
I have often heard Christians say that one or the
other natural catastrophe was/is punishment
from God.
By natural disaster I mean:
Earthquakes, Flooding, Tsunami's, Hurricanes,
Droughts, Hailstorms, Epidemics etc.
Is that true? What is your opinion (especially in
respect and compared to Biblical disasters)?
From the geography classes I took in High School, i learnt about plate tectonics and their movements which case earthquakes, tsunami's, volcanoes and so on...
So the people who says God is using natural disasters as a punishment probably didn't take a single geography class *shrug* besides the term itself "natural disaster" is pretty self explanatory.
What God caused in the bible, let's say Egypt during the whole "let my people go" era, it was beyond ordinary...it had to be so that pharoah could be convinced that it was really God demanding him to free the Israelites, the plagues caused was not something his bunch of wizards could perform with a wave of their sticks.
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4christ88
Angel in training
Hey there pink spider...hmm totally curious about your name cuz making a spider pink wouldnt endear me anymore to the spider species no matter how sparkingly coolly coloured it appears haha
anyways, back to what I originally intended to say in reply to your statement:
God is LOVE, you (NOT) believing in him or his love towards you does not change the fact that you have God's love. Me receiving someone's act of love and knowing nothing about it does not negate the fact that I have received that person's love
Sorry just thought I should chip that in!
I know you'll totally reject what I said but I had to say it 
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I actually agree with you to some extent.
All human have a natural survival instinct that gives value for their own life and makes eternal life desirable. People need this instinct.
Unbelievers controlled by their instincts will not know of any other objective.
The objective while here on earth is to become like God himself and not just survive as a human. God is wanting us to be just like he is in that we have this all powerful controlling Love that compels God to do all God does. We do this by not doing something, but by just allowing God to do stuff for us.
So what does a person need to help them allow God to help them?
The problem is; we protect our egos by reasoning: we were really not forgiven of that much, those doing the forgiving really got something personally out of it, we deserved to be forgiven, or we can pay the forgiving person back some way so it is more a loan.
All this "logic" avoids acceptance of the forgiveness as pure charity.
The helper should say: Do not thank me, I would have never personally helped you, but since Christ Loves me and I cannot do anything for Him directly I help you, since that is what he wants, so thank Christ.
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Hello!
I'll PM you and then you'll know how
I got my name...
Good point btw.!
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Ha, ha
I'll PM you and then you'll know how I got my name...
Hmmm - in a way I reckon that's true.God is LOVE, you (NOT) believing in him or his love towards you does not change the fact that you have God's love. Me receiving someone's act of love and knowing nothing about it does not negate the fact that I have received that person's love
Good point btw.!
Thanks for that.Sorry just thought I should chip that in!
Not at all, I assure you.I know you'll totally reject what I said but I had to say it
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Hello again! Thank you for your reply!
every human being.
'Eternal life' - that's a totally different thing.
If you'd ask me whether I want to live forever:
I had to say: No.
that a person may have without believing in
God.
For example:
- Be useful
- Help those in need
- Work hard
- Accomplish something that endures
- Get the best education you can get
- Learn as much as you can
- Avoid ignorance and narrow mindedness
etc.
Unbelievers are NOT solely controlled by
their instincts...
god, no?
do that because I feel compelled to do it.
There is the very important 'concept' of honor,
you know.
Yes - the survival instinct is at the very core of
every human being.
'Eternal life' - that's a totally different thing.
If you'd ask me whether I want to live forever:
I had to say: No.
I don't agree. There are a lot of other objectives
that a person may have without believing in
God.
For example:
- Be useful
- Help those in need
- Work hard
- Accomplish something that endures
- Get the best education you can get
- Learn as much as you can
- Avoid ignorance and narrow mindedness
etc.
Unbelievers are NOT solely controlled by
their instincts...
But humans can never become 100% like
god, no?
Uhmm - OK.
I do not really understand, sorry.
Yes that would be the crucial question, no?
That makes sense.
Again, I'm afraid I do not understand.
As good as that sounds - when helping others I
do that because I feel compelled to do it.
There is the very important 'concept' of honor,
you know.
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