Vengeance via Weather is Mine, Saith the Lord
Raise your hand if you know someone who ever suggested or even truly believes Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for all the evil contained in New Orleans.
Mine’s raised. I know people who believe it.
Oh, and that Sodom and Gomorrah thing….that was a direct action of the Big Guy, too, wasn’t it?
<insert dripping sarcasm here>
I mean, after all, the Bible says it happened that way and we all know the Bible is absolutely historically accurate because it was written by God himself, right?
So my question today is if those cataclysmic natural disasters were God punishing his horribly disobedient children, what the hell did the eastern half of the United States do to make him mad enough to send 100+ massive tornadoes including the longest touchdown in recorded weather history?
I mean really now. Alabama is supposed to be the heart of God’s faithful. What could THEY possibly have done that was horrible enough to warrant a punishment like this?
It was a punishment, right? Because if Hurricane Katrina was a punishment for New Orleans, and fire and brimstone (likely a volcano, if in fact it really did happen) were punishment for Sodom and Gomorrah, then reason and logic would insist that this week’s horrific tornado event must also be some sort of punishment.
Ah….reason and logic.
Two of the greatest enemies of faith.
The same reason and logic that says if homosexuality is an abomination before God, then wearing clothing woven of two different types of fibers is, too.
Except it isn’t.
The same reason and logic that says the Bible is completely timeless and fully applicable to our lives today, except that part about performing miracles and women keeping their heads covered.
You see, here’s the deal…..
Either it is or it isn’t.
Either natural disasters are punishment for evil, or they aren’t.
Either the Bible is completely timeless and fully applicable to our lives today, or it isn’t.
You just don’t get to have it both ways.
So which is it?
Oh, and the fact that Amarillo got rain earlier this week and my town 50 miles south didn’t OBVIOUSLY means God likes people in Amarillo better than he likes us down here. After all, he answered their prayers. He is still ignoring us.
There’s some logic and reason for you.
I’m reminded of something I read in The Evolution of God, I think, where the example is set up about the Israelites and their One True God. Obviously, it was important that the scribes describe him as the strongest and biggest of all the gods (because, of course, Israel was rooted in a polytheistic culture for a long while). Anyway, when Israel would win a battle, they would celebrate. Great news their God was so strong. But what happened when they didn’t win? Well now, something had to be done to explain it, so here goes: “Our God is SO powerful that He MEANT for us to lose. We were sinning, and had to be punished.” So. God wins all around.
Your example is great for showing how crazy our thinking can become. We rationalize and blame, rather than accept the natural laws. We alienate each other, because someone must have done something wrong…somewhere. And I’m not minimizing what people have had to go through (no way!), because tragedies suck. They’re hard. They’re tough. They’re not fun.
Great post, Angie!
Funny thing is, I’d probably still be one of those suggesting catastrophe is punishment if I hadn’t begun to recognize the inconsistencies of the absolutes.
We can rationalize any situation that we choose. That we choose. That’s the big rub. Hopefully, someday, we will realize this and things will get better.
It seems as though we have a need to explain every action, event, and disaster and the only “logical” explanation is to credit God, even when it doesn’t make sense. It’s as if we are incapable of allowing something to just “be” for no reason.
Love your wit!!!
Thanks, Chris! Definitely one of the nicer things my sarcasm, resentment, hostility, and anger issues have been called. ;-)