Tornadoes and God – Part 2

On Friday May 2nd, violent weather once again ripped through 4 states with up to 25 tornados touching down leaving destruction in their wake. This time 7 died in Arkansas. Were these people worst sinners than those people in VA who suffered destruction and injury but no deaths?

Surprising, the Bible asks a similar question for the tragedies of its time:

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:1-5)

Jesus answers the question by telling those who asked it that they were essentially asking the wrong question. The correct question was: “Why haven’t you perished too?” Wonderful! Repent or you too will die.

One Christian site says that the real reason for natural disasters is: “Yet, there remains another possibility—one that many do not want to hear: that these incredibly destructive storms are punishment from the hand of a loving God who is trying to get a nation’s attention. Throughout the Bible, God warned that punishment would come upon the peoples descended from the patriarch Israel in the “latter days,” due to their stubborn rebellion and breaking of is Law.” (http://www.realtruth.org/articles/362-advgs.html)

Now any reasonable person can see that a loving god naturally punishes his creation and teaches them eternal lessons by death and destruction. Right?

Let’s put this in perspective. A loving father kills one of his children to teach his other children a valuable lesson. He beats another and destroys all their possessions. Lesson learned? Loving father? I think not and I don’t think any judge in the country would say that this was a loving thing to do. But God gets away with it. God gets a pass that no human would. Is this love or just a temper filled maniac that thinks death and destruction are valid methods of discipline and punishment?

This is just another reason showing the implausibility of God and that the Christian concept of God is simply barbaric.