Old Joe,
Your beliefs are simply Deism.
Be careful if you want, but I have infinite authority right here.Isa 45:77 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.Amos 3:6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it?
You sound like you have a problem with believers dying.Isa 57:1 The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.
_________________Christopher
Hi RobertW (and Philologos),
Speaking of Philologos (Ron Bailey), he had written a very balanced tractate on this subject in the sermonindex forums. It is copied here:http://biblebasesecondthoughts.blogspot.com/2010/01/tsunamis-earthquakes-genocide-and-love.html
"The words of Jesus in Lukes gospel are an abiding warning against an understanding based on joining up the dots by the shortest possible route. The Luke 13 passage is instructive because it deals with both human culpability and natural disaster. In the first Pilate might have been blamed, in the second an earth tremor, but in both cases the Lord refuses to connect the disaster event with individual or group sin. This is important when we consider the 1986 Chernobyl Meltdown, the 2004 Tsunami or the 9/11 WTC implications. I will ask and answer my own question Do you suppose that the residents of Belorus and Ukraine, the Indian ocean seacoasts or the Haiti were sinners above all that they suffered such things? No, I dont. This may surprise and unsettle some of my friends but I am sure that these words in Luke are to prevent us making such connections. It is impossible to deduce cause from effect just by joining up the dots.Such a deduction would need revelation as well as information. Some will claim such revelation and quickly defend their opinions, but I have no such revelation and in the absence of plain New Testament teaching cannot submit to these conclusions."
And then, there are always man-made disasters.HAARP comes to mind and makes me a bit suspicious, regarding these hundreds of unprecedented tornadoes and what has happened in Japan. A777http://www.haarp.alaska.edu/http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/pandora/haarp.html
Rev 11:18 "And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which are destroy[ing] the earth." [Grk]When it comes to technology of that nature and others - most folks don't care to hear that Russia has us beat in that dept and being joint comrades with China [Rev 16:12] could be a threat to Japan and whomever else. The Revelation can only give symbolism to describe how these mentioned in the verse above are "destroying the earth".Some folks don't see Russia [or China] having any major role in these last days scenarios, but even after the millenial reign - there they are again in Rev 20:8.GOD knows who are "destroying the earth" and judgment is when He takes His Hand off of the world and let's satanically controled humans take over - until He Returns.But many have very different views on eschatology, but I for one cannot cross-out Rev 11:18 and research on technological possibilities of how these will accomplish this near total destruction of the earth and it's inhabitants - that unless those days be shortened, no flesh would survive.
If you say that you are 100% sure -- then I really don't know what to tell you.
Chris,You said
You do not KNOW for a certain that God superseded the order of natural weather that He designed and supernaturally created this tornado as an act of judgment (to kill and destroy as either an act of wrath or "mercy"). . .
This can be dangerous if what we proclaim is not founded upon the undeniable Truth of God's Word.
_________________Janice
@ twayneb: what about the lad born blind in John 9, wasn'it for a specific purpose, namely the Glory of God??
_________________Travis
I read every word of your excellent post, and was astonished by this one paragraph.
When these verses below (from The Revelation of Jesus Christ) are fulfilled are you still going to be claiming it was 'weather patterns?' I never could understand, until I read your posts, how the people in those revelations would not repent, now I believe they will not even know it was God slaying them - they will be saying the same thing you are saying. You said it yourself
Our hearts go out to those who lost thier lives and their homes in Joplin Missouri. There were innocent people that lost their lives, and there were many Christians that were protected. Many of the testimonies were on the national news. I do not believe that this was judgement against Joplin Misouri, but judgement against our nation. Brothers and sisters, we need to watch and pray. These tornadoes are only the tip of the iceburg to what is coming. No one will be able to explain it off to natural weather phenomonem.May the Lord raise up many intercessors that will stand in the gap, repent for our own sins and the sins of our nation, and cry out for mercy. Mike
_________________Mike