Natural Disasters And A Christian God

Stephen Prothero’s “God Is Not One” is a survey of world religions, comprising vital information on a vast array of different sets of belief. As someone who has never studied religion before, nor belongs to a particular faith, the variability within these religions is staggering. One might be satisfied to define religion as “how a person goes about believing in God,” but soon finds that even that definition has its holes. Thankfully, “God Is Not One” does an amazing job of cluing its reader into the nuances that are sometimes forgotten about the religions it approaches.

Almost every religion in the world has a story about the “Great Flood” which destroys the earth, and each teaches its followers a different story about this disaster. While the Babylonians have the story of Utnapishtim from the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Judeo Christians have Noah from the Bible. Both men save a few people and many animals. In these stories, Noah and Utnapishtim seem to have similar situations, but a further analysis shows how truly different the two stories are.

Mircea Eliade’s The Sacred and the Profane analyzes a wide variety of components that are found within various world religions. Eliade uses the history of religion to support his ideas as the the book itself is a brief introduction to religion as a whole, particulary the religions of primitive societies. Nonetheless, when looking to the past one can see that mankind’s desire to associate itself with the sacred has been occuring for thousands of years. From temples to passages of intiation, religious man is a unique microcosm that follows and repeats the structure of the religious macrocosm, the creation of the cosmos. One can conclude that Eliade views religion as the “paradigmatic solution for every existential crisis.” (p210) and

Over the course of humanity, one thing has stayed fairly consistent, and that is the devastation which water is capable of. In his sermon, Edward’s explains how God can use the power of water to harm and cause trauma in people’s lives. Edward’s was explaining the growing temper God had with humanity when he lectured, “The wrath of God is like great waters that are damned for the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course, when once it is let loose” (Edwards 2). People didn’t believe that their God would ever do anything to cause them harm, but Edwards believes that God will one day become fed up and lose his

Religion is a species-specific human universal phenomenon, complex, full of paradoxes, and found in all cultures. Social scientists and anthropologists since the late 17th century have attempted to rationally answer questions about religion, and while we can't evaluate the veracity of religion’s claims, we can attempt to understand its functions.

Religion has influenced an entire range of changes in the elongated history of the world. The alterations that have taken place in the past are clear and concise evidence that the underlying and ultimate influence is religion. Religion has been apart of a plethora number of events in the past because, religion gives humans a clear source of origin of the universe, and carries an everlasting assurance that provides protection and happiness among the permutations in life. Religion also served its purpose in all aspects of life, especially during the events between the 1600’s and 1800’s.

Religion plays a vital role in everyone’s life one way or another. Whether it be a small influence for major decisions or influence for even the most mundane tasks. Religion can be used as an excuse for certain actions, whether good or bad, and can spark hate amongst people who do not share their beliefs. Religion is a powerful thing. However, when left open to interpretation can cause a dangerous impact to everyone around.

In relation to 911/tragedy and the Tsunami of 2004, people are foreseen as a human entity of life, compared to animals. Of course, animals are here on Earth and are usually affected by human lifestyles (i.e., environmental pollutions); however, according to the Bible man was set aside to monitor and experiment on animals. Moreover, the tragedies were considered a method to humble people on Earth, but some deny its effect of their religion. According to certain studies, people began seeking out religion AGAIN after the bombings and cries began to not cease. Also, religious burnings took place (for some reason). Those particular deeds are serious enough to not overlook and should be considered as evil and a violation of peace. Sincerely

“Who Sent the Earthquake and the Tsunami?”, is a manuscript written by Mr. Nollie Malabuyo. In this manuscript Mr. Malabuyo ask the question, “why do disasters Happen”, and “If God is a good God, why is there suffering in the world?”. Through several different Bible verses Mr. Malabuyo defends his belief, that God controls all things that happen, man-made or natural. He also uses Bible verses to explain why he believes God doesn’t interfere with world suffering.

Theodicy attempts to explain why evil and suffering persists in the world. There are multiple theodicies ranging, from Augustine’s free will defense to Maimonides rejection of human suffering altogether as a state of mind. However, a simpler and perhaps easier stance to hold is that, evil and suffering exist and that there is no God that responsible for it, since no God exists. Christopher Hitchens would use Occam’s razor and conclude that his answer is most likely to be correct due to its simplicity (Hitchens 87). Theodicies while often eloquent, are often long-winded, complex and always leave some questions unanswered. The Irenaean theodicy as outlined by John Hick explains that suffering experienced by humanity is a way that humanity is molded and shaped towards perfection (Hick 44). The Irenaean theodicy fails at explaining great calamities and assumes too optimistically that humanity can learn from their suffering. In fact, great suffering is perhaps even more capable of destroying character than building it. In times of disaster, desperation sets in and humans act more selfishly, causing looting and crime to skyrocket. In the interest of national security, we have deployed nuclear weapons and napalm and employed torture and extrajudicial executions of US citizens. Sometimes in response to human evil we

Romans 8:19-23 is one of the most profound New Testament expressions of God’s plan for nature. It powerfully depicts the apocalyptic expectation that at the end of history God will reverse the damage from the Fall not only to humanity, but even to nature itself. There is a popular misperception that apocalypses are world-denying and pessimistic about nature. For the average person, the word “apocalypse” brings to mind the end of the world. It is true that most early Jewish and Christian apocalypses have a dualistic or two age view of history.

The Gods and humankind have not a very good relationship. “‘The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the babel.’ So the gods agreed to exterminate mankind….” (95). The gods caused the great flood.

Global floods have been a shared part of human culture and religion for thousands of years. A majority of the global flood stories share the same basic framework which consists of a hero, a means of salvation, and a blessing. The two most popular flood accounts are the Biblical flood of Noah and the Babylonian “Epic of Gilgamesh.”. These two ancient flood accounts share various topics and ideas throughout both storylines such as the reason for the flood, a warning that the flood will happen, the use of birds, blessings from a god, and an offering given. However, neither Christian scholars nor secular scholars can determine if the Biblical flood or the Epic of Gilgamesh share a common link.

Death, war and anger are all results of sin. Human nature cannot stand against these horrible things and question God’s control over the world. A common question that people struggle to understand is “Why would God allow sin to happen?” Even people long ago essentially asked these questions from time to time. Two famous poets from the past even referenced God’s creation and how it behaves today. Even so, a unique way to give an answer to these thoughts is to learn something from them by being aware of how things are today, knowing how sin affected earth, and acknowledging that God is in control of what happens on earth.

Natural disasters have never been an issue for me in the twenty years I have been living in Florida. There have always been the threats of dangerous hurricanes living near the coast, but I never took them seriously. I always thought " they're just little storms, what's the worst that could happen?". I was so naive to think that way.