Eternal Perspectives

The following posts originally appeared at World Magazine’s Theologica, where I am e pluribus unum. Although it may seem that this is a dead horse, I can assure you that – to the thousands of people still trying to fathom (absolutely no pun intended) what happened to them – this is still an important issue. Further, this is not the last disaster that will prompt such statements or raise questions. I would encourage you to read the related posts over at Theologica by some of the other contributors and commenters, as their insights and different perspectives are quite heuristic.

Why Katrina Was Not God’s Judgment

As is typically the case following any disaster – man-made or otherwise – there is no lack of voices declaring that Hurricane Katrina was God’s judgment upon New Orleans. The Crescent City has a well-earned reputation for debauchery and ribald behavior, it is argued, and God decided to wipe them out just like He wiped out Sodom some four thousand years ago.

Well, unless someone has new revelation to the contrary, I don’t see how Katrina could have been an act of God’s judgment. Here’s why I believe that, and how you can figure out for yourself if it’s a judgment of God the next time some tragedy like this occurs.

Throughout the Bible, in both testaments, there is a pattern to God’s judgment that seems consistent enough to be a general principle: there may be exceptions, but usually not. Here are a sampling of verses to whet your appetite:

Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. Then the LORD said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time.” – Gen 6.13, 7.1

Abraham came near and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?”

So the LORD said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account.” – Gen 18.23-26

. . . and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men . . . – 2 Pet 2.6-7

“Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it and cut off from it both man and beast, even though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only deliver themselves,” declares the Lord GOD. – Ezek 14.13-14

For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? AND IF IT IS WITH DIFFICULTY THAT THE RIGHTEOUS IS SAVED, WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE GODLESS MAN AND THE SINNER? – 1 Pet 4.17-18

The clearest and most powerful illustration of this principle is found in the Book of Exodus during the plagues that fell upon the Egyptians because of Pharoah’s refusal to let Israel leave the land. In at least three instances – the pestilence upon livestock, hail that destroyed the crops, and the angel of death who visited the firstborn – Egypt was afficted but Israel was not.

More examples could be adduced, but the pattern seems pretty clear: whenever God judges, the righteous are saved. The means of their deliverance may vary – saved out of, in the midst of, or through – but God spares the righteous when He judges evil. He doesn’t seem to allow the unrighteous to escape or the righteous to perish: God accomplishes His purposes in His judgments.

Clearly Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans – indeed, its devastation of a huge swath of the Gulf Coast – was not an act of Yahweh’s judgment, unless He suddenly became reckless or sloppy! Not all who escaped were righteous; not all who perished were unrighteous. It obviously was not God’s judgment.

If it wasn’t God’s judgment, then what was it? It was a disaster – an unnatural disaster – caused by the fallen condition of the world. People, animals, and nature are other than they might have been because of the Fall. It is profitable to distinguish between “Sin” – a state or condition of people, nations, and nature – and “sins,” which are specific manifestations of the reality of Sin. Hurricane Katrina was the result of Sin, but it was not a judgment on sins.

Jesus acknowledged this reality when He said to the people,

Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” – Lk 13.1-5

In the present world, there have been and always will be disasters. People will die; some unrighteous people will die and some of the righteous – positionally and forensically – will die. Such disasters and deaths are not evidence of the judgment of God; they are evidence of a fallen world, out which Jesus Christ endeavors to save us.

Thus, the next time a disaster strikes, ask yourself these questions: Were the righteous delivered and spared? Did any unrighteous people escape? Unless the answers are “Yes” and “No,” respectively, then it is probably the case that it was a manifestation of Sin and not a judgment upon sins.

My earlier post stating that it was improbable that Hurricance Katrina was a judgment of God elicited some interesting comments and questions, some of which I want to respond to here. Before doing so, I want to make sure that everyone understands that I am not claiming to have the final word or definitive answer to this issue. At least not yet. But I still stand by my earlier comments.

Bill, you asked (rhetorically, I assume),

“when we say that disasters are “evidence of a fallen world” but not the judgment of God are we not denying the very statement of Jesus in your Luke example, “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”? Is not every evil thing that happens in this “fallen world” part of either the judgment of God or a situation orchestrated for his purpose? (John 9:1-2)”

Not necessarily.

Because we live in a fallen, sinful world there are natural consequences that occur. One of those consequences of Sin (as a principle, not sins as specific deeds) are so-called natural disasters. I don’t think God supernaturally intervened in history via Hurricane Katrina, but He did indirectly “cause” Katrina by establishing consequences for Sin (and Adam’s sin in particular). Jesus’ warning, in this light, is a statement about Sin, not sins, and the natural consquence of perishing if there is no repentance.

Arch’s observations and objections are a bit more involved, as you might expect coming from him. After citing some acts of judgments wherein righteous people may have died, he asks rhetorically (again with the rhetorical questions!),

“Would it not be better to distinguish between God’s Special Acts of Judgment wherein we know the reasons for God’s actions and His General Acts of Judgment which serve as wake up calls for repentance (cf. Rev. 9:20-21)?”

We certainly could create additonal categories for God’s judgments, but a name doesn’t necessarily change the haphazard nature of the “General Acts of Judgment.” I would prefer, instead, to call it simply a natural consequence – established by God in the ordering of the creation – of Sin. Rev 9.20-21 (for those of you who don’t have it committed to memory) says:

“The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.”

The context is the sounding of the sixth trumpet during the tribulation period. But since the tribulation is a specific act of judgment upon the entire earth, I don’t see how it can be a general act.

We cannot say with absolute certainty that no righteous people died in the judgments Arch mentions – but we cannot say they did, either. It must be kept in mind, too, that it is not always forensic or eternal salvation that is in view in the judgments: sometimes it is behavioral righteousness. If the people in Jerusalem had heeded the preaching of Jeremiah, for example, they would have escaped with their lives. I’m not saying that everyone who died went to hell; I am saying that those who listened to the warning and repented were saved, at least temporally.

In response to Peter, Bill asked,

“Do you have timeframe for sequential incidents to assume they are connected? ”

Yes: anything less than six days. If God can create the world in six days, then He should have no problem whipping up another hurricane or shaking an earthquake loose in the same amount of time.

David T certainly raises some interesting (albeit unconvincing to me) points, but a point-by-point refutation or response would be a bit long for this post. I’ll either do it in a separate post, respond to it on my own site, or ignore it. If the latter, it’s nothing personal, David. Just busy.