Acts of God, or by God?

                                                                                 Photo: NASA.GOV.

"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

https://www.dmv.org/articles/acts-of-god-car-insurance-coverage/

https://www.livescience.com/39775-how-long-can-earth-support-life.html

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/geocolor-image-of-hurricane-irma