Katrina - Random Act or Wrath of God?

[James_Newman]

There are different opinions on the subject. I for one have no problem with seeing this act as a judgment upon New Orleans, and a wakeup call for the rest of this nation. Some might say that such a storm is just part of how God set things up, but this seems a little bit deistic to me. Did God not wind up Katrina Himself and direct it where He desired? If so, what is the message that we should be getting from such an act?

 

[Craigbythesea]

Originally posted by James_Newman:
There are different opinions on the subject. I for one have no problem with seeing this act as a judgment upon New Orleans, and a wakeup call for the rest of this nation. Some might say that such a storm is just part of how God set things up, but this seems a little bit deistic to me. Did God not wind up Katrina Himself and direct it where He desired? If so, what is the message that we should be getting from such an act?

Katrina is just one of millions of hurricanes that have come ashore during the past several hundred million years. Unfortunately, New Orleans is below sea level. This is not the judgment of God—it is the judgment of common sense!

 

[James_Newman]

Well obviously we are stupid to try to build cities on the sides of volcanoes and such like. But can you really deny the express work of the Lord in this matter?

Job 36
26 Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out.
27 For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof:
28 Which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly.
29 Also can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, or the noise of his tabernacle?
30 Behold, he spreadeth his light upon it, and covereth the bottom of the sea.
31 For by them judgeth he the people; he giveth meat in abundance.
32 With clouds he covereth the light; and commandeth it not to shine by the cloud that cometh betwixt.
33 The noise thereof sheweth concerning it, the cattle also concerning the vapour.
Job 37
1 At this also my heart trembleth, and is moved out of his place.
2 Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goeth out of his mouth.
3 He directeth it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth.
4 After it a voice roareth: he thundereth with the voice of his excellency; and he will not stay them when his voice is heard.
5 God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.
6 For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.
7 He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work.
8 Then the beasts go into dens, and remain in their places.
9 Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north.
10 By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened.
11 Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud:
12 And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth.
13 He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy.

As for the last several hundred million years:
Job 38:4
4 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

 

[Soulman]

Be careful....Remember Jerry Falwell and 9/11. If it is God's judgement, most will not recognize it. If it isn't, just sit back and watch how poorly we handle the crisis concerning the poorest and most helpless among us.

 

[Bluefalcon]

Hey, James,

I don't know, but it seems if God was directing Katrina directly at New Orleans, he missed it by 150 miles. And in fact it hit on the east side which caused less amounts of water than if it had hit on the west side. And Mississippi is arguably one of the most conservative States in the nation, and it got hit pretty bad. We're just not sure which sins bring what judgments, but in my own mind, America has enough sins on its list that just about any disaster against American interests might be referred to as the wrath of God, the removal of his protection and blessing, etc.

 

[Bluefalcon]

God could have prevented the storm, but he didn't. He made nature, and allows it to operate. Now I'm sure about the laws of nature and storm making, but gravity is pretty certain. God usually doesn't suspend the laws of gravity. Is it any more or less of a request to ask him to suspend or deflect the laws he put in place for storm making? Just thinking out loud here.

 

[HankD]

No one (with a few exceptions) gets out alive, the mortality rate is still 100%.

It's the law of sin and death.

HankD

 

[Bible Believing Bill]

We will never know until we get to Heaven and then we really won't care for we will be in the presence of the LORD.

If it was punishment from God it was just, because he is a just. If it was a random act of nature, then it was simply bad luck for the people in the effected areas.


We shold be more concerned with how we react and what we do to help the people in the effected areas than with why it happened.

There was a radio discussion about the price of gas, and some one called in and put it all in persepctive. He said "The spike in gas prices is being caused by damage from Katrina, and I would be willing to bet that the people from that region would gladly trade places with us and not complain about the price of gas."

Bill

 

[4His_glory]

God always has a purpose and His purpose is that He will be glorified in all He does. We don't always know or understand why God brings certian disasters upon people, but we do know He will always be glorifed some how.

Often times in situations like this tragedy, people ask "Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?"

I think though in light of what God tells us about the awefullness of mankind and his depraved state of sin, the question that should be asked each day is "Why do good things happen to bad people?"

 

[Trotter]

Random act? No. God knew all about it.

Wrath of God? No. The result of sin ientering the world.

In Christ,
Trotter

 

[just-want-peace]

The dogmatic statements of some that "This was merely an act of nature, & 'God was not judging!'" is just as stupid as the statement "This WAS God's judgement!"

Unless you have some DIRECT revelation from God as to the nature of the disaster, you don't know squat whether this was a normal calamity from nature OR whether God directed it to NO!

Either is a distinct possibility, and certainly there's no harm to attribute it to a judgement of God and we just may get some insight from that belief.

IMNSHO, those that are so sure that there is no judgement here are simply scared to death of what the truth MIGHT be and are trying to salve their own fears of what it might mean to them IF it is a judgement.

 

[El_Guero]

James,

A call to repentance: Definitely.

A God sized Judgement: Katrina was probably not the big hurricane (*) that everyone has been predicting for New Orleans. So, I personally doubt that God was directly "judging" the people through this storm.

Is a Judgement deserved by our land? We deserve much more worse than we are getting.

(*) Once every 200 years or so New Orleans is supposed to take a direct hit from a big Cat 5

 

[FundamentalDan]

Amen, brother. God is mercy as well. Thank Him for that puff of dry wind before Katy hit ground.

 

[bruren777]

Amen, God did Not cause the hurricane He allowed it to happen for only reasons He knows. It was a result of meteorological events.

God could have prevented 9/11, it occured as result of evil and hatred. He allowed it to happen for reasons only he knows.

 

[CYBERDOVE]

I think GOD has start to back off HIS supernatural protection of the U.S.! We will never know [on this side of eternity] how many times HE has actuarally saved us from many horrible trageties. We do not know how many times have terrorist actually tried to pull off a 9/11 type of attack and HE stopped them dead in their track?. I wonder how many times has those same levies would have broke and HE stayed it from happeining? I believe that GOD is starting to move HIS MIGHTY HAND away from the U.S. more often than HE has done in the past and let nature and other events take their course. We are moving further and further away from GOD as a nation. When a child is disobedient you do not reward him or her, sometimes the parent must step back and let their child or children experience the results of their disobedience. In this case, unfortuantly the innocent are also suffering. Please pray for all those affected, especially the little children--they are sick and dying--some are already dead. ---yours in Christ

 

[superdave]

A result of the curse of sin, no specific judgment on N.O. can be dogmatically stated.

Read the book of Job, its not always judgement for sin when bad things happen. It is however, tied to God's purposes somehow.

 

[Helen]

If Katrina is not an example of God's judgment on New Orleans and other towns, then what is? We recognize that judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah, but not New Orleans, the capital of voodoo (in the USA), the Mardi Gras, and public corruption (and often the murder capital of the USA)?

If New Orleans were God-fearing the way Job was, maybe the parallel would be applicable. As it is, it is not.

 

[Joman]

If New Orleans and ther other towns were located in another geographical zone (not hurricane path) do you think Katrina will pass thru them anyway?

 

[Askjo]

I received a copy of the quotation from someone in my church today. Let it says:

August 2005 - The Bush Administration brings pressure on Isreal to remove , by force, settlers in the Gaza Strip and giving the land to the Palestinians in order to establish peace.

August 29, 2005 - Hurricane Katrina crashes into the Gulf coast of the United States. Over 100 billion dollars in estimated destruction. This was the worst catatrophe in the history of the nation. Now thousands people dead in one county alone. The effects on the economy for the future are staggering.

Please don't touch Israel because God said:

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Genesis 12:3 (KJV)

To understand what God said is that He is jealous over His land and His people.

 

[Helen]

Excellent point, Askjo.

Joman, maybe not a hurricane, but perhaps some other disaster? Still, New Orleans was what it was and was where it was.