Sin, suffering, tragedies and how we view them...is our view correct?

[tossolul]

Why does it seem that many people think God would not cause any suffering, or tragedies in this world? I’ve read, and heard many people say that He would never do that, because He is a God of love. That we are His children and He would never do anything like that to hurt us. If we are His children, and He does truely love us…I believe this is exactly what He has done to teach us. How can we forget that God controls all that happens in this world? It seems like people are trying to throw God out of this equation of destruction, for the main fact that they don’t want to admit how badly our world has fallen out of line with God. I don’t know if I’m correct in my thinking. I welcome any feedback as to how off I may be.

Many times when I think of God, I think of Him as my Father(parent), and I relate my relationship with Him, and learning with Him to my immediate family in many ways. When we are children and we disobey our parents…IF they love us, they will punish us so that we will know that behaviour is wrong and will not do it any more. If they didn’t love us, and want us to be better people, they wouldn’t.

Many people have said that God wouldn’t cause a tsunami, or Earthquake, or Hurricane to destroy cities, and people. I say why wouldn’t He?? Our world has drifted so far from God’s will, that I believe IF He loves us, He will continue (because He has no other choice) but to send his Judgement on us.

We have had warnings. we have bibles that tell us how we are to live. We’ve had apparitions telling us of what will come if we do not change our ways. Why do so many people in this world choose to ignore the tools God has given us to help us find our way?

I believe that these many changes/tragedies that are taking place in our world within the last year or so are from God. I don’t see it as Him condemning the people, but instead the sins…I sincerely think we need to look at this from a different perspective than so many feel comfortable with.

I’m not referring to anyone in particular…It is just a consensus that I feel when I hear others talk about these things.

 

[YinYangMom]

i get stuck in the old testament…there are so many stories where it specifically says God, out of anger, brought on these ‘natural’ calamities on the people…

flood
fire/brimstone
plagues
famine

So, yeah, if His hand was in those natural events as a means to reach the people in order to get them to snap out of it…why wouldn’t or couldn’t He continue to use the same means to reach us - once again, drifting away from Him just like our ancestors did?

And yet, I do understand the logic of man being responsible for his own destruction through the choices he makes (personally, communally, governmentally) - Pharoah had multiple opportunities to avoid God’s wrath but ‘chose’ not to…The people of Sodom & Gomorrah had warning, angels were sent…and the flood, I’d consider a neighbor building this huge arc in the middle of the desert for years ample warning.

Anyway, from that the reasoning becomes natural events are just ‘natural’ - any destruction and loss of life as a result is a matter of man having chosen to place roots in the path of a flood plain, on cliffs, in the tornado alley, on or near earthquake faults, and man not being good stewards to the enviroment thus eliminating the natural barriers which otherwise would have protected a community…these decisions to develop and mistreat the environment all driven by greed.

Follow that with examples of impending natural disasters which should take a huge toll on humanity ending up destroying property and minimizing loss of life - due to the intercession of prayer and you can make the case that the natural occurences are natural, the devastation as a result can be minimized through God’s intervention, so that the occurrence itself is not God’s wrath, but the sparing of life/property is God’s mercy.

And yet, that seems to miss the mark for me. Did the people in the surrounding regions of Sodom and Gomorrah just treat that destruction as natural and therefore not take to heart the underlying message? What if the Israelites took the same approach? Would we be where we are today? It seems too easy to take the position that our choices to not heed God’s message - through the resurrected Christ - to live life for God in love and mercy have no affect on humanity overall.

When I think of all the ways humanity has continued to turn away from God’s call since the Resurrection it seems wrong to say we ‘got away’ with that destruction scott free. That just doesn’t seem like the God I’m reading about through scripture.

 

[tossolul]

Yin Yang Mom-
Thank you for your post. I always enjoy reading what you have to say.

 

[YinYangMom]

I’m surprised no one else has an opinion…
I though it was a good question.