Faithfully yours - Why God allows disasters — one possible answer

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Published on Sunday, October 22, 2017

Neil Strohschein
Neepawa Banner & Press 

Another of the questions Larry Powell asked in his recent letter (Sept. 29 edition of the Neepawa Banner), has baffled theologians for decades. It is also a question to which we often give a less than adequate answer.

The question is this—How can a loving God allow wars, famines, and other natural disasters to bring such harm upon and cause so much physical and emotional pain to people on earth?

Since no one (especially me) really knows the mind of God, the best I can offer is a suggestion that comes from a lifetime of study, reading and reflection. It may not be the right answer. It’s certainly not the only answer. But I hope it will provide you with some food for thought.

About six months ago, I decided to spend some time reflecting on the relationship between faith and science. My conclusions will be shared in a future column.

As part of the process, I took a fresh look at the creation narrative found in the first two chapters of Genesis. This time, I saw something I hadn’t seen before. The narrative focuses on the relationships between day and night, water and land, plants and animals, humans and all of the above, humans and their creator.

The second thing I noticed was that humans were placed on this planet to: “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it and have dominion over it.” (Genesis 1:28) We were never permitted to abuse the planet or exploit its resources for excess profits. We are to nurture the earth and use its resources to feed and care for everyone who lives here, wherever on earth he or she may live.

But to do this effectively, we need to understand how this planet functions and what happens when we upset the balance that God has established. That is where scientists can help us. Thanks to their research and discoveries, we have more knowledge about this earth and how it functions than we have ever had. We are also aware of the dangers of improper land use, deforestation, and greenhouse gas emissions; to name but a few.

This information has come from God who has used people that he called and gifted to discover it and share it with us. He expects us to listen to what they have to say and heed their warnings.

So, do we listen? Some of us do—but many more do not. So a loving God does with us what a loving parent does with a child who repeatedly breaks the rules at home. He allows us to experience the legitimate consequences of our actions; some of which are hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts and floods that are becoming more frequent and more intense than they were years ago.

God doesn’t send these disasters. They happen on their own. He doesn’t target one group of people or single them out for punishment. They may suffer the most inconvenience, but we all wind up paying the price—through increased taxes to cover disaster relief, increased costs for goods and services and increased premiums for insurance on our homes and belongings.

Does God enjoy watching these things happen? No—his heart breaks when he sees them. Could he keep them from happening? Yes. But he allows them to happen, hoping that we will see the error of our ways, listen to the warnings we have been given, acknowledge the wrong we have done, seek his forgiveness and begin to take better care of this planet and treat its people with dignity and respect.

Next week—praying when facing disasters