God and Hurricanes...

The age-old questions of "Why do bad things happen to good people?" and "If God is good, why does God let things like hurricanes cause so much damage and kill people?" never get old, because this stuff does happen. Theologians call these the questions of theodicy. Is there a decent answer to either of these questions? Probably not one that is absolutely satisfying, especially to those who are victims, or who are in the path of destruction.

The Planet Earth is an amazing thing. I happen to believe a divine mind was involved in its creation, but am quite happy to let the scientists describe how it "came to be," how its evolutionary processes resulted in life as we know it--including our own--and so forth. Believing in a divine "spark" and/or divine, intelligent input to this creative process doesn't negate the efforts, observations, and findings of science, in my opinion, and believing in these scientific factors do not detract from my religious beliefs. This planet refreshes, replenishes, and "cleans" itself, using magnificent weather systems, air and water currents, thunderstorms, and even naturally occurring wildfires. If we weren't here, it would thrive quite nicely, thank you.

However we are hear. Again, I think this was intentional, and was planned by a benevolent creator. The Bible even says the Earth was made for its living, breathing life, including ours. Psalm 8 indicates that humanity was created "a little lower than God," or "a little higher than the angels," depending on which translation you read. Genesis even says we were to "have dominion" over the Earth, and to "subdue" it.

Boy, have we. If I were to look at the hurricane disasters (and we might include earthquakes, floods, and wildfires in this), I could say, very empirically, that we just "get in the way" of the processes that the planet uses to care for itself. Coastal lands are popular places for us to live because of the ocean tides, breezes, and sunshine. These are the same factors that give rise to hurricanes. We like the rugged, mountainous terrains as well, and so do the wildfires. And when we over-build or build shoddy structures in areas prone to earthquakes, well, you see where I'm going with this.

No, I don't believe God sends hurricanes, floods, fires, or earthquakes to smite us because of some doctrinal quirk or moral infringement. The Holy Spirit convicts us of these things and prompts us to get our act together, person to person. And I don't believe anyone--anyone---deserves to suffer at the hand of these naturally occurring events, but when we locate ourselves in their paths, we might.

I am NOT saying we aren't partly to blame for the severity of these events. Hurricanes are a natural phenomenon, as are rains which may bring flooding. However, the top climatologists among us say that our rapid pace of development of the lands, our years of spouting "greenhouse gases," and burning fossil fuels have warmed the world's oceans at an alarming rate--far faster than have ever been extrapolated from the evidence extracted from core samples of the poles and the fossil records of the land. And when the oceans warm, hurricanes are gluttonously fed "fuel" that turns them into super storms, and torrential rains and monster storm systems develop at a greatly accelerated pace. When a section of our nation sees two "500 year" storms in a single season, something is amiss. It's not God, it's us!

What if Planet Earth's evolutionary systems have detected our "sabotage" of these factors? Possibly, then, these systems are compensating by "punishing" us in such a way that we will be forced to work together to reverse the damage we have caused. If we want to keep our coastal properties and our chalets in the forests of the West, then we will need to be more gentle with the Earth and give it time to cleanse and heal itself while we stop mucking it up from our end. Just a thought...

Here's what I do know about these disasters: they do draw us together to help each other. Weren't we all touched to read about how people showed up with fishing boats to help rescue those stranded by the storms? Wasn't it a good thing that so many ways to help out--and places to send relief funds--were advanced by the media, Hollywood, the pro sports people, etc.? J.J. Watt, a star football player with the Houston Texans started a drive to raise $200,000 to help the folks around Houston, and the last I heard, over $30 million had been raised by his social media site. UMCOR donations at St. Paul's and other churches across our United Methodist connection have been pouring it to help. And, rather than being discouraged by these events, we are hearing faith stories and testimonies coming out of the storm zones.

I think God shows up when these things happen. Often, it is in the form of a great human chain of caring, but I believe God is at the center, prompting, encouraging, and triggering a generous and compassionate response from us. God comforts those who experience loss of loved ones and property, fostering the courage to recover and move on. God even works through government entities, as disaster response agencies like FEMA are learning how to efficiently and effectively intervene to help. I don't know why it often takes some kind of disaster to get us to work together, to reach out to help that neighbor in need, but I'm sure glad we do. Maybe that is OUR human systems and evolution kicking in that causes us to do so? And when we do step, we don't examine the color of the other person's skin, their social status, or their religion.

As has often been pointed out by poets, philosophers, and scientists alike, the Earth is all we've got. We're not moving to a new neighborhood any time soon. For now, between storms, may we recharge our energy and our tender hearts for loved ones, friends, neighbors, and Mother Earth. Shalom, Yinz...