Lizard Breath writes:
quote:
The Tsunami leaves tremendous room for interpretation from the purly natural perspective as to why it happened and the spiritual perspective via Biblical reference. Was this part of God's judgement against man as some are saying?
Is there some room for a natural interpretation? If the answer is Yes, then this was not a judgement from God but merely another physical expression of a broken Earth. If the answer is no, then this thread would not exist. The event explainable by physics, the cause explainable by past events in the Garden.
Those are very good points.
While any natural diasaster involving the loss of life is tragic and tends to cause serious reflection, catastrophic disasters like the Indian Ocean earthquake of December 26, 2004 or the Great Lisbon Earthquake of November 1, 1755 plus its resulting tsunami do much more: They strip us--nations and individuals--bare. They show, demonstrate, reveal just how powerless and fragile we are (though we possess an astonishing amount of scientific knowledge and applications of that knowledge). It's almost instinctive to ask for God. Science takes fourth place, and religion, more precisely, God, takes first, second, and third. So one of the hard lessons we are being forced to at least pay close attention to is, humility. Correct me if I'm wrong or off base here.
Was the Indian Ocean disaster God's judgement or wrath? Was it Satan's power at work? Fast forward 250 years to the year 2255 and those questions will still be debated and struggled with. (Will the numerous articles published on this subject and the postings in this forum still exist?) When links to tsunami photo galleries were being exchanged and posted (circa early January 2005 and onward) one from a Bible website was posted that was quite interesting. Turns out it was the link to part 1 (January 3) of a series of photo essays collectively called "
The Great Earthquake and Catastrophic Tsunami of 2004" (
http://ChamorroBible.org/...Catastrophic-Tsunami-of-2004.htm). Although all the essays are interesting, the title to part 2 (January 4) really sticks with me: "God Still Remains In Control of the Earth". And in the final analysis (or as close as one can get to finality) that may be all we can say--in humility.
This message has been edited by NaturePower, 09 March 2005 12:38 AM
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