- Charles Henderson

Does God control natural disasters such as the devastating tsunami that may have killed as many as a quarter of a million people in South Asia? If God is behind such disasters, how can such a God be either just or loving? And, if God is not in control of such things, what is the faithful person to do or think in the face of such tragedy? These are questions that thoughtful Christians or people of any faith must address in the face of such tragedy.

There are plenty of Biblical passages that would suggest God does micromanage the forces of nature such as earthquakes, or the resulting waves that have caused such havoc lately. The prophet Ezekiel believed that God used the tremendous power of nature as a weapon to punish the unrighteous: "Thus says the Lord GOD: I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath; and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger." Likewise the Psalmist catalogues those elements of the natural world that follow God's commands: "fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling his command!" (Psalm 148)

The Majority View

From the perspective of a majority of people living in biblical times there was little doubt that God was responsible for every turn of events in the natural world, whether it be drought or flood, earthquake, wind or fire. Perhaps the ultimate example of how this "majority view" found itself even into the pages of the Bible is the story of the great flood in which every living creature on earth was annihilated, save those who were lucky enough to be gathered by Noah onto the ark. From this perspective, storms are thought of as punishment for bad behavior and favorable weather as a reward for faithfulness.

The same is true of any other natural disaster. Televangelist and former presidential candidate Pat Robertson was reinforcing this view of God when he warned a few years back that the city of Orlando might well face a direct hit by a hurricane because it permitted the display of rainbow flags out of respect for gay people. Said Robertson: "I would warn Orlando that you're right in the way of some serious hurricanes and I don't think I'd be waving those flags in God's face if I were you."

The Science

Since Biblical times we have come to see that there are other explanations for why a hurricane arises and other names for the forces that direct it. Hurricanes arrive, not because God has a habit of punishing "left-leaning East Coast liberals" every September, but because the prevailing winds, ocean currents and frontal zones combine in ways that make tropical storms more likely in late summer or early fall. The same is true of earthquakes, tornadoes, or floods.

Likewise, Asia's tsumani was caused, not because God wanted to punish people in that region of the world, but because of shifts in tectonic plates beneath the surface of the sea. The same forces could also cause devastating earthquakes in locations such as San Francisco or Seattle. This will have nothing to do with the changing mood of God.

All such events are directed by the forces of nature and can be explained by science. This is so in good times and bad and without respect to the moral climate or condition of the people who happen to be living in a region where disaster strikes.

If we truly believed that God micromanages the forces of nature -- and further that disasters were the just punishments meted out by an angry God -- governments would not be spending tax payer money so that earthquake and storm predicting equipment would be put in place to detect the liklihood of disaster. Instead they would be sending investigative reporters into the major population centers of the world to take the "moral temperature" of particular populations and in that way determine where God was most likely to strike next.

An emerging minority view.

Even within the pages of the Bible, there were those who challenged the majority opinion that every adverse condition of nature was an "act of God" targeted at people who had done wrong. Job, for example, was a good man who suffered greatly. And he argued with those who suggested that he had done something to deserve the wrath of God. "He crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause," Job insisted. And he went even further to challenge God's good judgment: "Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands, and favor the schemes of the wicked?"

An emerging minority view.

As one reads through the Bible one begins to see emerging a minority opinion that suggests one cannot draw a cause and effect relationship between the circumstances a person faces and whether that person has done evil or good. (With the resulting view that if a person suffers from misfortune, the suffering must be deserved.)

For example the prophet Isaiah comforts the people of his day and time with the assurance that far from seeing the hand of God in every misfortune, they could be assured of God's presence to guide them through the eye of any storm. "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you." (Isaiah 43:2)

Likewise, Jesus urged people to look beyond the surface of circumstance to find God even in the depths of suffering or pain. He communicated an understanding of God that is exactly the opposite of the majority view. In his famous "Sermon on the Mount," Jesus turned the conventional wisdom around 180°:

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

Here Jesus suggests not only that God does not target storm or rain as a punishment for evil, rather God "sends rain on the just and the unjust." But, even more remarkable, he uses the fact that natural events happen to the "just and the unjust" equally as the basis for urging his followers to love enemies and friends alike. Moreover, Jesus went out of his way to identify with lepers, the lame, the blind and other victims of tragic circumstance, insisting that far from deserving punishment, such persons were deserving of love and respect.

Unfortunately, Christians have not always been faithful to the minority opinion put forward by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, but have reverted to the majority view that poverty, for example, or disease, or natural calamity must be the just punishment of a righteous God. The majority view, even though it is echoed within the pages of the Bible, should be rejected by Christians, for it falls short of the good news that God loves and cares for all people. And it is the good news of God's love for the world that inspires Christians not to wonder what tsunami or hurricane victims may have done to bring the wrath of God upon themselves, but instead to join with others in bringing comfort and relief to the afflicted.

from http://christianity.about.com/od/adultchristianity/a/tsunami.htm