Disasters
Natural disasters usually inspire the most extreme apocalyptic scenarios. Maybe it's the enormity of damage it causes or the inexplicible horror it unleashes or the sense of complete helplessness it gives us. Or maybe it's a combination of all these factors. I don't know. I really don't think that any 'other-worldly' explanation is, altogether, sufficient or even necessary. Sometimes it may just seem rather callous and insensitive. However, as human beings we need explanations. We crave for it with the same passion with which we crave for food, water and companionship. We do so because we assume it will bring clarity to the muddlesome thoughts gathering in our head. We feel it will give us some degree of control over a situation that looks dangerously and morally confusing. We are convinced that only an explanation will elevate the situation and give it some kind of redemption.
The trouble is, sometimes, there are situations that defy explanations. Try as we may, we will never reach that 'answer' we are looking for because it is, usually, a futile exercise. In such cases, there are those who like to call such events 'an act of God' as if God was behind the unmitigated disaster and then there are those who argue against this explanation by saying that it cannot be an act of God because it is not God's nature to cause disasters. The sceptic, on the other hand, finds comfort in these arguments because it gives him a convenient handle to berate believers by asking them, 'if God is so good how could he allow this to happen?'
It's a good question to consider and we must not shy away from it. Can a good God really allow disasters to occur?
But to get an answer to that question, we need to first consider the nature of God and ask, is it in God's nature to unleash such horror? God is, after all, the Creator and the One who is the very epitome of love and goodness. Our faith and belief systems will corroborate this fact and the sermons in our churches as well as the songs of worship will attest the same. And yet, when we look at natural disasters there is a sense of disconnect for which no easy explanation seems helpful.
I don't claim to have any answers or explanations, and I am usually quite annoyed with terms like 'act of God' because they seem either blasphemous or just way off the mark. But at the same time, I don't like to ignore the possibility that certain situations are beyond my understanding and that a higher explanation is required. My experience of God has shown me that he is not a sadist but, rather, he loves us like a father loves his children. His love is not the lovey-dovey sentimental kind of love that ignores reality but it is a love that desires our good and seeks to see us evolve as mature men and women. Hence, the personal disasters in my life have not rattled me that much because I was able to place them in context with his love. Yes, I can't deny that they did shake me, confuse me and even made me question everything but they couldn't produce the kind of devastating seismic effect to nudge me towards unbelief because... I was able to remember his love.
So if we understand God in this context, it becomes a little less difficult for us to blame him for the natural disasters that we see all around us. We become aware that he is in the process of changing our lives and making us not just more mature but making us more and more in his image.
At the same time, it is necessary to understand that human beings have contributed immensely to ecological disasters. The so-called 'acts of God' have a more 'human' explanation. Rampant industrialisation among other things have played a role in global warming, desertification, depletion of the ozone, overpopulation, scarcity of resources and other calamities. Besides, human greed and corruption has given rise to poor building materials and construction of houses near disaster prone areas. And so, when natural disaster strikes the impact is catastrophic because irresponsible behaviour has made humanity more vulnerable. It won't be an exagerration to say that human beings have not exactly been good stewards of this earth.
Now I don't know if there would be fewer or no deaths if human beings were a little more responsible but this I do know and that is, we wouldn't be gambling with our lives and properties the way we do so now. We might just be a lot safer but then, again, I don't know.
The trouble is, sometimes, there are situations that defy explanations. Try as we may, we will never reach that 'answer' we are looking for because it is, usually, a futile exercise. In such cases, there are those who like to call such events 'an act of God' as if God was behind the unmitigated disaster and then there are those who argue against this explanation by saying that it cannot be an act of God because it is not God's nature to cause disasters. The sceptic, on the other hand, finds comfort in these arguments because it gives him a convenient handle to berate believers by asking them, 'if God is so good how could he allow this to happen?'
It's a good question to consider and we must not shy away from it. Can a good God really allow disasters to occur?
But to get an answer to that question, we need to first consider the nature of God and ask, is it in God's nature to unleash such horror? God is, after all, the Creator and the One who is the very epitome of love and goodness. Our faith and belief systems will corroborate this fact and the sermons in our churches as well as the songs of worship will attest the same. And yet, when we look at natural disasters there is a sense of disconnect for which no easy explanation seems helpful.
I don't claim to have any answers or explanations, and I am usually quite annoyed with terms like 'act of God' because they seem either blasphemous or just way off the mark. But at the same time, I don't like to ignore the possibility that certain situations are beyond my understanding and that a higher explanation is required. My experience of God has shown me that he is not a sadist but, rather, he loves us like a father loves his children. His love is not the lovey-dovey sentimental kind of love that ignores reality but it is a love that desires our good and seeks to see us evolve as mature men and women. Hence, the personal disasters in my life have not rattled me that much because I was able to place them in context with his love. Yes, I can't deny that they did shake me, confuse me and even made me question everything but they couldn't produce the kind of devastating seismic effect to nudge me towards unbelief because... I was able to remember his love.
So if we understand God in this context, it becomes a little less difficult for us to blame him for the natural disasters that we see all around us. We become aware that he is in the process of changing our lives and making us not just more mature but making us more and more in his image.
At the same time, it is necessary to understand that human beings have contributed immensely to ecological disasters. The so-called 'acts of God' have a more 'human' explanation. Rampant industrialisation among other things have played a role in global warming, desertification, depletion of the ozone, overpopulation, scarcity of resources and other calamities. Besides, human greed and corruption has given rise to poor building materials and construction of houses near disaster prone areas. And so, when natural disaster strikes the impact is catastrophic because irresponsible behaviour has made humanity more vulnerable. It won't be an exagerration to say that human beings have not exactly been good stewards of this earth.
Now I don't know if there would be fewer or no deaths if human beings were a little more responsible but this I do know and that is, we wouldn't be gambling with our lives and properties the way we do so now. We might just be a lot safer but then, again, I don't know.
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