Are Natural Disasters Punishment From God?

[starlite]

God’s judgments as described in the Bible are quite different from natural disasters.
God is selective. The Bible says: “Man sees what appears to the eyes; but as for Jehovah, he sees what the heart is.”

1. Jehovah reads the hearts of individuals and destroys only those in opposition to him.—Genesis 18:23-32.
2. God sends warnings first, thereby giving those who listen to him the opportunity to escape. Examples: Lot and Noah

Natural disasters, on the other hand, strike with little or no warning, and they kill and maim indiscriminately. To some extent, mankind has made such disasters worse by damaging the natural environment and by building in areas prone to earthquakes, floods, and extreme weather.

 

[Quintessence]

Of course natural disasters aren't the product of the one-god. They're the product of my gods.

They're actually selective also, but not in the way that the one-god is alleged to be. Clearly Hurricane Spirit cannot touch the center of a continent given its intrinsic limitations. Nor can Tornado Spirit snag satellites out of orbit. They do give warnings... for those with the sensory acuity to notice. Humans are kind of dull without their fancy pants technology. And sometimes even then. >_>

 

[sojourner]

Not only "no," but "he11 no!"

 

[paarsurrey]

I think one has first to define as to what is "natural".

 

[Ashoka]

No, I don't believe God "punishes".

 

[McBell]

God’s judgments as described in the Bible are quite different from natural disasters.
God is selective. The Bible says: “Man sees what appears to the eyes; but as for Jehovah, he sees what the heart is.”

1. Jehovah reads the hearts of individuals and destroys only those in opposition to him.—Genesis 18:23-32.
2. God sends warnings first, thereby giving those who listen to him the opportunity to escape. Examples: Lot and Noah

Natural disasters, on the other hand, strike with little or no warning, and they kill and maim indiscriminately. To some extent, mankind has made such disasters worse by damaging the natural environment and by building in areas prone to earthquakes, floods, and extreme weather.

Depends upon which "God" you are asking about.

 

[crossfire]

Matt 5
Jesus said:

43 “You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.​

 

[Titanic]

God's may not even exist. As far as we know.

 

[Titanic]

No, I don't believe God "punishes".

Your avatar pic is sweet.

 

[freethinker44]

I think one has first to define as to what is "natural".

Really? Because there is a controversy brewing over what should be called a natural disaster as if it isn't something that is in nearly everyone's vocabulary (I say "nearly everyone" because until now I have never met anyone who didn't understand what was meant by the term "natural disaster", except of course small children who wouldn't be expected to know)?



Sorry if that seems a little harsh but I really, really hate arguing semantics.

 

[Titanic]

My point is that there may not be any deity's. If there is any they could all hate us or just not care. I am a agnostic so i do not claim too know.

 

[paarsurrey]

What would be an unnatural disaster then?

 

[Philomath]

I don't believe so. I think natural disasters are just that....natural. I believe god put natural laws in place and nature simply runs it's course.

 

[paarsurrey]

I don't believe so. I think natural disasters are just that....natural. I believe god put natural laws in place and nature simply runs it's course.

I agree with you.
Nature obeys the laws of one true God.

 

[Sand Dancer]

No. Not sure at this time what to attribute them to, but if God was going to punish people, I think we'd all be in for it.

 

[paarsurrey]

No. Not sure at this time what to attribute them to, but if God was going to punish people, I think we'd all be in for it.

We should seek His mercy.

 

[idav]

For any deity that has control over the weather and things like that then it would follow that they could stop any natural (non-manmade) destruction on major cities and villages. So they either don't care or can't control it but even then God could just say, build buildings like this, bridges like this etc. Seems it is meant for us to handle what we can.

 

[Ingledsva]

God’s judgments as described in the Bible are quite different from natural disasters.

God is selective. The Bible says: “Man sees what appears to the eyes; but as for Jehovah, he sees what the heart is.”

1. Jehovah reads the hearts of individuals and destroys only those in opposition to him.—Genesis 18:23-32.
2. God sends warnings first, thereby giving those who listen to him the opportunity to escape. Examples: Lot and Noah

Natural disasters, on the other hand, strike with little or no warning, and they kill and maim indiscriminately. To some extent, mankind has made such disasters worse by damaging the natural environment and by building in areas prone to earthquakes, floods, and extreme weather.

Obviously not. We seem to forget that a "so-called" natural disaster is only a "disaster" to humans that put themselves in it's path. Volcanoes, tsunamis, floods, hurricanes, prairie fires, etc, have been happening since the creation of the earth. Humans term them as "disasters." The earth continues on.

 

[Red Panda]

What would be an unnatural disaster then?

A power plant exploding, a plane crash, a train derailing, eg any disaster caused by man instead of the natural environment.

 

[paarsurrey]

A power plant exploding, a plane crash, a train derailing, eg any disaster caused by man instead of the natural environment.

Humans make mistakes; it is very natural for them to make mistakes of omission and commission; so the cause in all the above has an element of natural in them; if seen another perspective.

Of course there will be probe for the above that the human element is eliminated; if they could do it possibly.

They say sometime that every accident is psychological.