The question of why a merciful God allows disasters has been one of the most vexing questions for thousands of years. Any answer to such a profound question in so short a space is going to feel either inadequate or cold, but in maintaining the spirit of these short posts, I will do my best to answer concisely.
God is, in the Christian and Jewish understanding, all powerful and all loving. In the beginning God, loving us so much, created us to be like Him with a free will. But a free will presupposes that humans can disobey. The biblical account of the Garden of Eden tells us that humans did just that, choosing their own will over God’s. Theologians call this original sin the occasion of the Fall. Thereafter human nature was bent, predisposed to evil. In this Fall, all of creation came under the curse. So in the biblical understanding it is human rebellion that has brought about both manmade and natural disasters and catastrophes.
But why would God not intervene to prevent 9/11 or Katrina? Because to do so, that is to erase the consequences of human disobedience, would effectively take away free will. The good news is that God has acted, however, to overcome the consequences of the Fall by sending His Son to die on the cross for the sins of mankind. All humans are, therefore, invited to share in Christ’s redemption and be restored to a loving relationship with our Creator.
If this is a difficult explanation, the only alternative is that we live in a random meaningless universe, in which case we suffer evil without a purpose or hope. God is untenable.
The Christian believes always in God’s promise of redemption and of a new kingdom to come in which such suffering and disasters will no longer exist.
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