The earthquake in Haiti has left hundreds of thousands dead. Many more have been left without running water. The transportation system has been severely damaged. The scope of this destruction has caused many people to ask the question, “Why?” Sometimes in the wake of a natural disaster there are those who say that the event was “divine retribution” for sin. I do not agree with this philosophy and I do not see it supported by the Bible as a whole.
Although in the Old Testament there are instances in which God punished sin through natural disasters, this perspective is neither supported by other portions of the Old Testament or by the New Testament. An earlier Old Testament idea implies that a Godly life prevents hardship. If a person is good, kind, loving, prayerful, and worshipful, then he or she will reap the blessings of God and nothing bad will happen to him or her. Most people remember Noah and the flood in Genesis. Noah, a righteous man, is told by God to build a boat that will save his family and the innocent species of the world from a flood sent to destroy the unrighteous people. This story and others similar to it lead people to conclude that natural disasters are God’s punishment for bad behavior, retribution for sin.
But look further in the Old Testament and we find that suffering comes to the righteous and unrighteous alike. The 73rd Psalm, and other similar Psalms, point out that righteousness does not protect one from disaster. In the book bearing his name, Job’s home is destroyed by a tornado yet the text says he was a “righteous man.” Job’s good behavior was not a shield from the natural calamities that affected the world around him.
In the New Testament, Matthew 5:45 [show]Matthew 5:45
so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (ESV)
states that God “makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends the rain on the just and the unjust.” Given these scriptures from the Old and New Testaments, it is hard to make the case that natural disasters are punishment for sin. With these words, Jesus seems to disconnect sin from the forces of nature. Jesus is describing that God and all that he created is present for the just and unjust alike. God’s love is not whimsical or conditional.
Though some may try to make the case that the earthquake was God’s judgment, I would like to think that there is another way to look at this tragedy altogether. When the apostle Paul was on a mission trip, he encountered a great earthquake (Acts 16:25-33 [show]Acts 16:25-33
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here." And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. (ESV)
) which destroyed the jail cell in which he was living. After the event, Paul’s jailer and the jailer’s entire family became Christians. Others became followers of the Christian way as well. The earthquake became an opportunity for him to witness to his faith in Christ. He took the terrible and turned it into a triumph, through Jesus Christ. Paul turned what is unquestionably an event that was tragic into an opportunity to share the love of God with others, inviting them to have the hope that God provides. Perhaps this earthquake will be an opportunity for contemporary Christians to share their faith as well. This will be a time when we will reveal our truest character through our words, prayers, and actions. We can respond with judgment. Or, we can be a Christian witness through mercy ministries, prayer, and finding ways to show God’s love. Which will it be?
