Why do events like this happen?
We live in a materialistic world, a world in which people seek materialistic explanations. In this case, people are attributing the storm to El Niño raising the water temperature a few degrees and tipping the event over the edge into something far more devastating than it would have been otherwise.
In truth, science cannot know for certain. Weather is extremely complicated, with an untold number of factors involved. There is a reason why the weathermen are so often wrong in their forecasts. To understand causes to the extent that they could actually do something about them, particularly to prevent such disasters, is several steps beyond their capacity.
The fact remains, though, that a purely materialistic view of such events fails to provide satisfying explanations. Climatic catastrophes tend to defy only materialistic reasons.
If you have not studied into what the Bible says on the subject, you should. Scripture has much to say about weather and about climatic disasters. There is a lot about the disasters we see in the world around us, explaining why they happen—and even revealing our part in their happening.
If you accept the biblical explanation, then you must acknowledge that there AREman-made causes for these tragedies.
The Bible plainly reveals how God is in control of these powerfully destructive forces. He doesn’t necessarily cause catastrophes like hurricanes. There are biblical examples where He did, but there are also biblical examples where He didn’t.
However, even in those cases where God doesn’t cause it, He does allow it.
And that raises some difficult questions—questions that a lot of people don’t really want to face.
WHY would God allow a destructive hurricane to devastate the lives of thousands of people? What kind of God would let such things happen?
These are important questions that people don’t ask enough. Most people put them out of their minds—or if they do consider them, they do so only for a moment and then quickly move on.
But it is important for us to ask WHY would God allow this! We need to pay attentionwhen terrifying disasters wreak such havoc on so many. Such events should rouse us from our bubble of self-concern and cause us to sit up and take notice. They should raise questions that challenge our assumptions about the world—and about God.
If you want to pursue answers to these difficult questions, read our booklet Why ‘Natural’ Disasters? It directly addresses these issues: What is wrong with the weather? Why does God allow suffering? It even puts recent disasters in their context: Are these signs of the end of the world? This booklet brings a lot of clarity to this crucial subject.
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