Coincidence, Calamity, and the Judgment of God

Does God still use natural disaster as a means of judgment? After the strange meteorological display in downtown Minneapolis last week, some are revisiting that question.

Reporter Jan Markell, in a piece entitled, Was God in the Whirlwind?, chronicles what happened:

Wednesday, August 19, was an average day. It was cool with not enough humidity to stir up a storm. No unusual weather patterns were forecast in the Twin Cities’ metro area. As I was out driving, there were no tornado sirens. It was going to be a memorable day, nonetheless.

During the week, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) was holding its annual convention in downtown Minneapolis. Attendees were using the facilities of the Minneapolis Convention Center and Central Lutheran Church which is directly across the street.  At this year’s convention, a blatant pro-homosexual position validating “chaste” same-sex relationships was to be voted on.  It was to be voted on at 2 PM on Wednesday, August 19.

Then for the first time in decades, a tornado touched down in downtown Minneapolis at, you guessed it, 2 pm. The tornado went through the western section of downtown, causing damage to the Central Lutheran Church building, which was being used as a central meeting place for the convention.  There was extensive roof damage at the Minneapolis Convention Center where the actual conference was assembled as well as votes on same-sex issues were actually cast. The church steeple on top of Central Lutheran Church was struck and split in two. It was left hanging upside down. The church was built in 1929 and certainly has had no tornado activity near it to date.

Meteorologists agree that such activity in a downtown area is extremely rare.

Coincidence? Or did God steer that twister toward those wayward Lutherans?

Perhaps the most notable proponent of that latter theory is John Piper, prolific author and pastor who claimed the tornado was a “warning” from God.

But that position — namely the one that attributes natural disaster and calamity to God’s judgment — is beset with problems.

The problem is not whether God can and does use Mother Nature for His purposes. One cannot read the Bible and not come to the conclusion that God is the God of nature, and can use it to do His bidding. Earthquakes, floods, and famines are clearly at God’s disposal. So the issue is not whether God can and does use natural disasters, but knowing when said catastrophes are direct judgments from God. I mean, is every fire, every volcanic eruption, every typhoon a heavenly rebuke?

Christians are notorious for claiming this knowledge. For instance, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson famously proclaimed that 9/11 was God’s judgment against America. Likewise, many saw Katrina as the hand of God against a debauched, decadent city. Well, could those events really have been signs of judgment? Absolutely. Were they? Who knows?

Complicating the issue is this — if 9/11 or Katrina were judgments from God, why were so many Christians affected? In the Old Testament, God spared His people from wrath (the plagues of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, Sodom and Gomorrah, etc.). So why would God judge America by letting so many of His children be pulverized in the Twin Towers? Were they just collateral damage?

The danger in attributing natural calamities to the judgment of God is not in associating God’s judgment with said calamities, but in claiming to know what specific calamities are or are not part of that judgment. Were the recent California wildfires part of the judgment of God? The Thailand tsunami or the Chinese earthquake? The truth is, we just don’t know. At the least, events like this should humble us, remind us of our own frailty, and reawaken our need for God.

So could the twister in downtown Minneapolis have been a warning from God? Absolutely. The best stance for the Christian, however, is not to proclaim as much, but to help with the clean-up and pray for those mixed-up Lutherans.

And keep watching the skies.