"In
insurance circles, an act of God is defined as any accident or event not
influenced by man. They are accidents caused by nature. Hurricanes, floods,
hail, tsunamis, wildfires, earthquakes and tornados are all considered acts of
God (www.dmv.org)."
Acts of God! So, even the insurance companies call them acts
of God. How do we really know these catastrophic events are acts of God, and by
God? Has anyone ever actually spoken to God, and God responded with a “yes.” I
can actually visualize someone asking, and having God respond by saying: “yep,
that was me!” Of course, it is really not so funny because people are dying because
of these events such as hurricanes Maria or Irma, and the earthquake that
recently took place in Mexico. The magnitude of these events has many
questioning if this is the apocalypse.
And, some may think it's probably the end of days, but I say
we probably haven’t seen anything yet. Well, what if insurance companies started
going bankrupt because of these catastrophes, one after another, and one had no
one to go to for assistance and repairs from damages. In my mind, I even
recently pictured Joel Osteen saying to himself: man, I've been teaching these
people for years and they still can't think positive enough to keep this
hurricane Harvey out of Houston. Of course, I really don’t know what Mr. Osteen
was thinking, and Harvey was a tropical storm by the time it actually hit
Houston; however, it sure caused a lot of flooding and damage. The question
still remains, are we in the last days? Well, that is a difficult question to answer.
According to livescience.com, "Earth could continue to host life for at
least another 1.75 billion years, as long as nuclear holocaust, an errant
asteroid or some other disaster doesn't intervene, a new study calculates (www.livescience.com)." So, we get
an estimated guess from them, but no definite answers. There is nothing wrong
with asking questions.
I say, ask the hard questions, I don't think it's heretical
to try to talk to God and ask the hard questions. My question for many people
is, however, what makes them so certain that because they believe or think they
know something that makes it true? If you know you have empirical evidence for
something, it is believed to be factual. However, having faith in something
does not make something a fact, although it provides us with hope. Faith is
wonderful because it has always given us hope, and answers to the hard
questions, which still remain unanswered in the same way they have remained unanswered
since humans have been asking them. The Scriptures provide us with hope, but
that is all we get from them. The thing is that in these United States which
was the breeding ground for Post-Reformation Sola Scriptura thought, some
people think they know all the answers because they know the word or the
Scriptures. But, as I heard someone say once, “the Bible is the word of God,
but it isn't necessarily the words of God."
Regardless of what I think, I think the Scriptures do reveal
something about these catastrophic events like hurricanes and earthquakes. In
the Book of Genesis, God allows the flood that wiped out every living being
except for those on Noah’s Ark, it seems. In the Book of Job, God allows Satan
to torment Job. The Scriptures provide a rationale for both foregoing instances,
although that doesn’t mean we have to understand. Personally, I do not fully
understand even if both outcomes were seemingly positive, because I always end
up questioning in all cases, BUT WHY? In my opinion, I think that true humility
is also often admitting that we don't have all the answers, especially in
understanding the Scriptures. In fact, making the assumption that one fully
understands the Bible often leads to fundamentalism. One could write almost
endlessly on this subject, and still wind up where one began. So, to not go on
forever, I want to close with two verses from the Bible that sound comforting
in these times of uncertainty.
“…So
it is not the will of your [a] Father in heaven that one of these little ones
should be lost (Matthew 18:14, NRSV).”
“Even
though I walk through the darkest valley, [a] I fear no evil; for you are with
me; your rod and your staff—they comfort me (Psalm 23: 4, NRSV).”
Blessings and I hope you enjoyed reading!
References:
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), Bible