Bible question and the Thailand catastrophe

[deepsouthpapist]

I have a question regarding the Bible story of Sodom and Gomorrah. I know the Bible says the Lord spoke before he destroyed the city. My question relates to the catastrophe in Thailand where more than 200,000 people were killed several years ago. I want to be careful here and clearly make the point that I am in no way suggesting that God brought his wrath upon Thailand. This questions related specifically to the Bible and how it was written

How do we know there was not a similar catastrophe in Biblical times and the writer(s) of the Bible did not simply tell us a parable using God to illuminate the story?

It would be easy for me to use the Thailand example as a basis for a story I might pass down to my children. In that story I might use Thailand as my example to help steer them away from sin and toward Christ, and the story would probably have a profound effect.

However, God did not speak to me before, during or after the disaster, therefore my story would at best be a parable.

Is it not logical to conclude that this type of scenario happened prior to the Bible being written and the story is simply a parable?

 

[Thoma25]

I don’t believe so. Scripture is Inspired and without error; we can’t approach it as though it were merely another historical document. The events in Scripture must be interpreted according to the plain meaning of the text, unless it were to result in an absurdity or major contradiction. It is also Infallible, especially when teaching religious or moral precepts. Since the account of Sodom and Gemorrah is concerning the consequences of sin, it wouldn’t make sense for the writers to overlap an unrelated historical occurrence with a moral parable. That would mean that the town wasn’t destroyed for its sin, but was merely engulfed in a natural catastrophe. That would mean that the Scriptures taught an error, which is impossible.

The Scriptures teach that Sodom and Gemorrah was destroyed according to Divine Justice, not a natural occurrence, and to interpret it otherwise would undermine its authority.

 

[Vince1022]

I have a question regarding the Bible story of Sodom and Gomorrah. I know the Bible says the Lord spoke before he destroyed the city. My question relates to the catastrophe in Thailand where more than 200,000 people were killed several years ago. I want to be careful here and clearly make the point that I am in no way suggesting that God brought his wrath upon Thailand. This questions related specifically to the Bible and how it was written

How do we know there was not a similar catastrophe in Biblical times and the writer(s) of the Bible did not simply tell us a parable using God to illuminate the story?

It would be easy for me to use the Thailand example as a basis for a story I might pass down to my children. In that story I might use Thailand as my example to help steer them away from sin and toward Christ, and the story would probably have a profound effect.

However, God did not speak to me before, during or after the disaster, therefore my story would at best be a parable.

Is it not logical to conclude that this type of scenario happened prior to the Bible being written and the story is simply a parable?

Maybe. Maybe not. We have no way of knowing whether a similar catastrophe happened prior the written Bible.