I'll add my own two cents. All the nautral disasters can be explained without god and everyone knows it... Come on... I can't believe people are still bringing this up in this day and age. I could have imagined ancient people doing this but to bring this up now? That just boggles my mind. Come on... That's just nonsense.

*sigh* An all powerful being who told US "thou shall not kill" who uses his power to one: tell people to kill, and two: make nature kill. Can someone tell me how this makes sense? A perfect being, who is also a hypocrite? Not buying it, I hope YOU aren't either.

It's completely understandable why people would think that god would create catastrophies as a sign to warn, or as a punishment to man since "god is the creator of all things". However, the way I understand it from my study of the bible and from the teachings of many theological scholars, once god finished creating the universe and all that is in it, he rested and in the beginning, man was given authority, but with responsibility. God also gave mankind dominion over the earth and finally gave man free will to love or hate and do as he pleased. So in reality, god created all things good.

"God saw that creation was good." "And God saw that it was good." "God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good."

http://www.seekerschurch.org/sermons/19980419.htm

Why would god, the perfect almighty being, the creator of all that is good, want to destroy it all. He wouldn't. God allows "bad" things to happen; God does not cause them to happen. Most "bad" things which happen do so because God gives a radical freedom to God's people; we are free people, not puppets on a string.

"Therefore, we might best respond by saying that God does not Will "bad" things to happen in life. Rather, "bad" things happen in the freedom that comes with the gift of life. When "bad" things happen to any of God's children, God is grieved and suffers with us, experienced most vividly in the hurt and suffering of Jesus the Christ for all humanity. Any "bad" thing which happens is never the last word. Rather, God is the deepest and last word, and that word is love and eternal life with God."

--The Rev. Dr. Douglass M. Bailey

All of this being said, the true question here should be this; Why does god allow bad things to happen?, or why doesn't he stop them? I mean, doesn't it seem to stand to reason that the perfect, almighty being would want to stop bad things from happening.

It's true. Nothing would make god happier than to put an end to evil and suffering. However, if he did such a thing, wouldn't he be breaking his promise to man? He most certainly would. Here's why. It all boils down to the god given free will that we all enjoy so much. The freedom thay many of us would fight and die for, and many of us have. It is that freedom which causes everything on earth to happen the way that it does. God does not take pleasure in it yet he is fulfilling his promise to us and to himself.

What good is there and what pleasure can there really be in making everyone do "what is right"? Can you make someone love you? Can you beat them into submission to do what's right? No you can't? They will do and feel as they will, otherwise it's just not real!

In closing I'd just like to say that it is because of this freedom of choice that the world is in the shape that it is in today. You know as well as I do that man caused pollution and the climate change that ultimately is causing many of the natural disasters including the sunami of Thailand.

Here are a few more links where I obtained a few quotes to support my opinions and so that you may further investigate for yourselves that these are not just opinions of my own but they are truly rational and believable conclusions and teachings of many.

http://www.explorefaith.org/world.html

http://lookinguntojesus.net/ata20060312.htm

http://www.pennyparker2.com/godgaveman.html

Dominus

This post has been edited by Dominus: Aug 10 2007, 08:50 PM

I don't know much about the god aspect, I mean it's a bit like the american/indians (so you know I don't mean India, indians), they just danced till it rained.......

We know it's most likely going to rain, some time or another, and we also know natural disasters happen one time or another, so anyone can say it's some message, or special power.

But it's not really that important as to why it happened, unless the frequency of these events kick up, then you need to wonder lol.

well...I believe that natural disasters are some sort of signals from God. disasterz happen to remind us that we all are mortal and we have to go back to Our God and we are answerable for our good and bad deeds.so yes .... tsunami and other disasters are happen to remind us that we are nothing but a human created by God and we could have juzz died in this disaster so we should start preparing for hereafter and should not forget asking forgiveness from God.

Those that say God plays a role in natural disasters are assuming God was made in our image and likeness and not the other way around. In other words, they assume God has human characteristics and, if that is so, a natural disaster would be God's way of showing both His displeasure with us, as well as His might and power. A little vain don't you think? I believe that God has a master plan and He had put that plan in motion in the very beginning. Natural disasters may be a warning to us that things are not unfolding as they should. God is not taking an active role in these disasters but He is not going to save us from suffering the consequences of our actions. The biggest disaster of all is the mess we have made of the home He has given us. We have cut down forests too numberous to count and wonder why there are mudslides. We have burned fossil fuels for centuries and wonder why our air is polluted. We have hunted animals to extinction and over-fished the oceans, lakes and rivers. We have reproduced at an alarming rate without any thought of the poor quality of life that will be faced by future generations. Does God need to have a hand in the creation of natural disasters? Certainly no, we are creating them oursleves.

CaptainCanuck