Typhoon Haiyan, struck the eastern islands of the Philippines on Friday. Wind gusts over 195 mph made one of the strongest typhoons in the history of that area. A wall of water swept and destroyed many coastal cities and islands. Officials have an early death toll of 1,774, but fear that number will rise to over 10,000 based on the lack of reports from areas that appear completely devastated.
Daniel Burke asks where God is during storms like Haiyan.
“For many Americans, a paradox sits at the heart of their thinking about natural disasters. According to a survey taken after 2011's earthquake and tsunami in Japan, most Americans (56%) believe that God is control of everything.
But more Americans blame hurricanes, earthquakes and other storms on global warming (58%) than on an angry and punishing deity (38%), according to a 2011 poll by the Public Religion Research Institute.
“These kind of questions about God being in control and there simultaneously being suffering are the kind of things that keep seminarians up at night," institute CEO Robert P. Jones said in 2011.
"They’re thorny theological issues."
The Bible's Psalm 107 says that “For (God) commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves thereof. ... He turns rivers into a wilderness, and the water springs into dry ground."
But, as the poll shows, most Americans have moved past the idea that God causes natural disasters, wrote Stephen Prothero, a frequent CNN contributor, in a 2011 column.
"When it comes to earthquakes and hurricanes, our authorities are geologists and meteorologists," Prothero said as he rode out Hurricane Irene on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. "Most of us interpret these events not through the rumblings of the biblical prophet Jeremiah or the poetry of the Book of Revelation but through the scientific truths of air pressure and tectonic plates."
For atheists, storms like Haiyan are proof that God doesn't exist, author and activist Sam Harris said.
"Either God can do nothing to stop catastrophes like this, or he doesn’t care to, or he doesn’t exist. God is either impotent, evil or imaginary," Harris said after Japan's tsunami. "Take your pick, and choose wisely."
God may or may not be in withering storms, but many religious leaders say they sense a divine presence in the aftermath, as people across the world mobilize to lend a hand.”
(read the entire blog at http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/11/11/where-was-god-in-the-philippines/)
Should we be glad God is not blamed or saddened that God is not believed?
The Bible says that God causes all things.
Matthew 5:45
“ that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
When the world became broken as the result of sin, bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. God is not evil, nor impotent, nor imaginary.
Where was God during the typhoon?
God was suffering along with each person affected by Haiyan.
Pray for the people in the Philippine’s recovering from this terrible typhoon.
Daniel Burke asks where God is during storms like Haiyan.
“For many Americans, a paradox sits at the heart of their thinking about natural disasters. According to a survey taken after 2011's earthquake and tsunami in Japan, most Americans (56%) believe that God is control of everything.
But more Americans blame hurricanes, earthquakes and other storms on global warming (58%) than on an angry and punishing deity (38%), according to a 2011 poll by the Public Religion Research Institute.
“These kind of questions about God being in control and there simultaneously being suffering are the kind of things that keep seminarians up at night," institute CEO Robert P. Jones said in 2011.
"They’re thorny theological issues."
The Bible's Psalm 107 says that “For (God) commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves thereof. ... He turns rivers into a wilderness, and the water springs into dry ground."
But, as the poll shows, most Americans have moved past the idea that God causes natural disasters, wrote Stephen Prothero, a frequent CNN contributor, in a 2011 column.
"When it comes to earthquakes and hurricanes, our authorities are geologists and meteorologists," Prothero said as he rode out Hurricane Irene on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. "Most of us interpret these events not through the rumblings of the biblical prophet Jeremiah or the poetry of the Book of Revelation but through the scientific truths of air pressure and tectonic plates."
For atheists, storms like Haiyan are proof that God doesn't exist, author and activist Sam Harris said.
"Either God can do nothing to stop catastrophes like this, or he doesn’t care to, or he doesn’t exist. God is either impotent, evil or imaginary," Harris said after Japan's tsunami. "Take your pick, and choose wisely."
God may or may not be in withering storms, but many religious leaders say they sense a divine presence in the aftermath, as people across the world mobilize to lend a hand.”
(read the entire blog at http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/11/11/where-was-god-in-the-philippines/)
Should we be glad God is not blamed or saddened that God is not believed?
The Bible says that God causes all things.
Matthew 5:45
“ that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
When the world became broken as the result of sin, bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. God is not evil, nor impotent, nor imaginary.
Where was God during the typhoon?
God was suffering along with each person affected by Haiyan.
Pray for the people in the Philippine’s recovering from this terrible typhoon.
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