Natural disasters – when they hit, christian world go wild. They file criminal cases on the God himself saying “Acts of God”. They have even printed in warranty cards of electronic equipments that the warranty does not include acts of God.
This has been a very disturbing idea ever since I started knowing God. It is because the picture that The Bible gives about God is entirely different from what our people say about God.
Why do people say that God is the one who is responsible for all these disasters? Usually, christians don’t say that God is the one who sends these disasters. They always make statements in a very decent manner; God allows; God permits. Can this be true?
Its very simple to answer. It can not be true. But, to understand this subject better, please read my article on God’s Will.
When God created the Earth, He created it for mankind. He gave it to man when he was placed in the Garden of Eden.
Genesis 1:26 (NKJV)
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Genesis 1:28 (NKJV)
28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
In the verses above, if you observe, The Bible uses two different verses, dominion and subdue. So, it is imperative that God wants to have complete control over everything; that includes nature!
So, Adam was supposed to have control over everything including nature! Shocking. right? Mind blowing to say that God asked man to have complete control over nature. Isn’t it? Yes, since birth we have been taught that we can not do anything against nature. We have been taught as if nature is above man. We were also taught that it is sin to go against it. But, the truth is God created man just below God; not below nature. That’s why He said “Have dominion over the earth and all of it”. Now, the million dollar question is how to have complete control over nature. As I said in the beginning of this article, you must read my article on God’s Will to understand this topic better. Here, just to have continuity of this article, I am going to make the point in one statement. But, you may not understand it completely until you finish reading the article, God’s Will.
God did not just give the authority to man to have control over nature, but He also gave power to do so; a special power only to man ie., sixth sense. When man fails to use this power over nature, then he is not able to stop nature coming against him. Moreover, when man fails to use his power, it also becomes a loophole for satan to destroy man. Then, nature becomes a tool for satan to use. So, it is only we give opportunity to satan. The other loophole is sin which The Bible talks about throughout. Because of sin we ourselves come out of the protection God has given. That’s why it says “Be vigilant”. Because, the devil can not do anything against a believer just like that. He simply roams around to find the right candidate to swallow.
1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV)
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
1 Peter 5:9 (NKJV)
9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
…which means that the devil can not swallow everyone. He is roaming around to find the one who is giving that opportunity for him to swallow. Because, in the very next verse, The Bible says that you can resist him with faith.
The reason for I say that we should use our sixth sense is that when God created the earth, He set various principles in motion. For example, gravitational force. The principle is that if you put anything from above the earth, it falls down to earth because of the gravitational force (which man did not create). Likewise, He set many other principles in motion for this earth to function properly. Only when man investigates those principles he can have complete control over the earth and use them for our benefit. First He gave the power to learn and asked the man to do so. We can observe this today. Man keeps learning something new everyday and through that knowledge man is able to control and use nature for our benefit. Sometimes when we get it wrong, we reap the consequences.
So, by now you will understand that the natural disasters are either because of man or devil. I don’t really understand where is God in this and moreover, why should God be involved in these activities when The Bible describes him as “God is love”. The verse does not say that God has love rather it says God is love.
Hence, I say that all these disasters are either Acts of Man or Acts of Devil and certainly, not Acts of God!