The clergy conference for the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama was scheduled to start this past Wednesday. We saw the dire predictions of the weather reporters and decided that we would proceed, hoping their warnings were exaggerated. As it turned out, with at least 300 killed, many more injured and incredible damage to homes and property, the forecast fell short of the reality. We cut the conference short and went back to work Thursday afternoon, many of us to communities and neighborhoods that are picking up the pieces.
On the way to Camp McDowell, Bishop Henry Parsley and several priests saw a tornado. I saw one years ago in the Mississippi Delta -- terrible and beautiful in its own way, and destructive beyond comprehension. The huge tornado that cut an ugly swath through Tuscaloosa and into North Birmingham was off our scales to measure the power and intensity of such events; now we are measuring it by human loss and suffering. There are no scales for that, just people grieving and coping the best they can.
Now faithful people need to make it make sense. Now preachers will start to tell us God is punishing us for our faithlessness and sinfulness. I want it to make sense, too, but it doesn't, not like that: I can't believe that our loving heavenly Father is so cruel or indifferent.
We are thankful for the gift of Creation, and surely nature created by God sustains our lives. I understand (a little, but enough) about weather fronts and barometric pressure, but that's no consolation to a neighbor who's lost a family member or a home. We can be with them, giving them food, clothing and shelter, offering our prayers and support, and -- best of all -- our hope in the love of God in Jesus Christ. After Good Friday comes Easter.
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Adam Hamilton: Faith, God and Tornadoes
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If you believe God created everything then you have to accept that he created all natural disasters: tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, earthquake, tsunami, drought and disease. If he is omniscient, he knows when and where they are going to happen and to whom.
The only sense to make of it is that there is no God to blame. Weather, disease and disaster are just natural events on a complex planet in a complex universe.
CS Lewis "A grief observed".
Sorry, but for someone responding to other people's grief you seem to have a low tolerance for it. Grief isn't lessened by sticking a happy face on it.
"Keep the faith and know God is there, and He utmost does care..."
--Quote by Princess Kelly
Yet, here we are.
escape the righteous judgment of God, not even me. No Nation on earth will escape it. For God said: On the day of MY wrath I AM gathering ALL Nations and ALL Leaders of Nations for the great battle of the Lord.
God knows all truths, our very thoughts our pure intentions and no one will be able to lie, in the present of God, for all will know only truth, for God is all truth. God is not of the -Tree of Good and Evil,- truths mixed with lies to deceive others. For God is ALL Truths only. Are we not all eating from this Tree of good and evil today? Accepting others words as truth and not God's Word as truth?
God in other words I believe will not be asking for our birth certificates either, for we are all created born of God, in his image. Those who God choose to serve him, were all chosen from all walks of live, all skin tones, all races. For all came from God. Yet we pray to God , judge others, thinking we are sinless,thinking we know the mind of God, would be saying we are greater then God or equal to God. Failing to understand they to will be judge according to how they have judge others, by the very laws of God, they pick and choose their sins only to persecute others, failing to ever mention the very sins or laws they break. They themselves are not of the Laws of God either. Serve their flesh first, not God. Their own egos, vanity, pride, boasting of self righteousness, claiming themselves to be of more value over another, measuring by their own false scales.
Yes praying to God for help while denying the rights given by God to all, for the safety, freedom of all God's children. They also fail I believe to realize they themselves are doing battle, persecuting , fighting against the very God they profess to Love. Those who only use God, his name, to glorify themselves yet breaking all laws themselves. God said: Break even the smallest tittle of the Law, one has broken ALL the Laws. There can be no perfection, or all good.
They are truly persecuting God himself. Some I believe think they are doing battle for God, sadly they are battling themselves against the very God they profess. We pray for peace, protection, our needs, yet do we not destroy the peace, freedom, protection, righteousness, which is the equality rights of all? God had no problem choosing Abraham who came from Africa, Ethiopia which is written over 3,500 times in OT, nor asked for his birth certificate did he? Abraham would be the Father of all Nations?
it always baffles me how people come on here to reject God and religion...
what is the point? does it make you feel better?
how about next time you just don't post any comment....
“I pray daily for all on earth, for myself also, for I am dung on the ground, have sinned broken the Laws of God myself. No man will escape the righteous judgment of God, “
You think you are dung because you aren’t worthy of this God? This same God that advocated dashing infants against rocks, arbitrarily destroying cities and slaughtering thousands even the innocents there to punish them? Killing the first born of the Egyptians, flooding the whole earth in a fit of pique? The God that will condemn you to everlasting torture and misery, if you don’t love him, and for any infraction of his despotic rules? This is the psychotic, schizophrenic, vicious God that you believe in? This is your loving, righteous God to worship? This to me is a sickness, beyond sickness, a delusion beyond delusion.
A God like this is not only not worthy of worship, but of any thought or consideration as a God. What a poor excuse for a God…Spare me your platitudinous reasoning. This to me is not a worshipful God, or a righteous God, it is evil.
God did not create wars man did, man created weapons, man creates unrighteous laws, man creates greed, which greed creates poverty, greed then has the power to maintain that poverty. Man create all this, not God.
God needs not gold or silver, for the earth is his foot stool. Interesting we turn to God, come to our common sense, speak more about God openly pray, etc, when bad horrible things happen, when all is taken away from us.
Failing to know that God gave us all that we do have, need, provided all that was good to exist. If God removed the air, that we breath were would we be? yet man destroys the very good air God gives, and then we pray to God do something? We reject all the Ten Commandments, Holy Feast Days of God that bring us all great Blessings.
God's laws were given- not to punish- us, but to protect us. God gives his LAWS OF CURSES if we do not obey God's Righteous Laws . God just removes himself from us, leaves us to our own making and destruction. God wants to protect us, from the evil ones in this dark world, but do we not reject God? We trust in ourselves, and trust in what is made by mans hands instead. Weapons thinking they will save us, bring us peace.
There has been no peace in this world for over 6,000 years, why still wars today. Told why all great empires fell since the beginning of time, was because they forgot God was first in ALL things, mans greed, boasting, their unjust wars, jealousy. Greed has destroyed more Nations, life, innocent suffering, great sorrows, destruction of Nature, then all wars put together since the beginning of time. I pray God's mercy grace forgives us all. I to created my own sins, repent in asking God I return to you, return to me.
We say we believe, we pray to God, but fail to hear God nor obey God' His Government Laws for HIS Kingdom, Laws of Righteous -Ten Commandments, Laws of Order for all Nations needs Laws for order, God's Holy Feast Days, which are not heavy at all, or burden some, to be found pleasing to God, who is all good, all truth, ALL Holy. So God leaves us to our own making, our own God given Free Will, which is not forced upon no one. God said What does good and evil have in common? God said: Nothing. God does not join himself to evil, for then God would not be ALL HOLY, ALL righteous, ALL Truth, ALL pure LOVE.
God does not eat from the Tree of Good and Evil does HE? For God is not half good and half evil God is ONE. Not lukewarm - God said: How I wish you were Hot or Cold, but YOU are lukewarm, good for nothing, there forth I will spit you out of my mouth. We all came from Love, to become Love, to serve Love as LOVE has served and provided all good for us FREELY-the most greatest treasure wealth given by God is God's sacred Gift of Life, more valuable then all gold and silver in this dark world.
God's Laws were not meant to punish us, But God's laws of righteousness was given to protect us all. Giving equality rights freedom for all. Like any good Father gives his own children laws, to protect them, for their own safety, to care for them that they will live a long peaceful health life, in joy of giving love to one another.
grow up, you're adults!
Genesis 28:15(NIV) - I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.
- www.deathandlife.org/protection.html
- www.deathandlife.org/god.html
What was their sin? Wrath of God? NO. This world is not God's World, God's World will come. All who suffer are really God's chosen ones, none got rich in materialism did they? They all suffer by the powers that are over them, holding them in bondage. Greed creates poverty and greed has the power to maintain the poverty.
Like Christ said. I AM the Truth, the Way, Light in Darkness (this world of darkness) God had a plan for our salvation right in the beginning, because man did not accept God's Word as Truth. Man choose the Liar, ate from the Tree of Good and Evil. A Tree of truth mixed together with lies. Are we still eating from that Tree today? I believe we are. God said: Look up, seek what is above, NOT below.
Christ came to begin God's World, God's Government (laws of order,righteousness) God's Kingdom, God's Church, in this dark world. Christ was the First Light in Darkness, spark. We to are all called once again to believe the Truth, let God live in you. Each one to become a Light of God, doing so, their will be NO darkness. We slowly become Billions of "Lampstands" That removes, unrighteousness, ungodly, lawless ones (those who disobey the Commandments, unfair, unbalance laws, that those only create knowing fully well, their laws of unrighteousness serves for the benefit of the few.
Even though, God's divine protection is available to everyone, that is born again from spiritual death to spiritual life by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, whenever we are not living right or acting contrary to God's word, God's power cannot operate in our lives. God never coexists with unrighteousness. Whenever evil walks in, God walks out, just as light and darkness can never be in the same place at the same time. Whenever one walks in the other must leave. So, in times when our fellowship or relationship is interrupted, we become vulnerable to the Devil's endless attacks on humanity. The following are just a few examples of imperfect Biblical characters or heroes, which you claimed were innocent of any wrong doing -
Job 42:6 - Job repents! Why?
Genesis 9:21 - Noah got drunk and naked?
Genesis 16:2 - Abraham had sex with his maid and bore a child?
Genesis 19:36 - Lot got drunk and engaged in incest with his two daughters?
Matthew 26:69-75 - Peter denied knowing Jesus three times.
Do you find it frustrating that the survivors of the tornado probably have no idea what bad behavior their communities were engaged in to make God kill them?
Tornadoes are actually very common in the bible belt of the US. Maybe all the Christians in the bible belt better figure out what they are doing wrong to bring about God's wrath over and over again. Canada doesn't get tornadoes. They must be acting more Christlike up there.
no one is saying that would be a miracle....we don't have answers to why a lone survivor in a plane crash is alive.....nor do we claim to say it was a miracle..
the fact that you are conscious itself is a miracle....i would think you would have better things to worry about...
Jesus's face on toast is also, apparently, a miracle.
Now you are saying conscious itself is a miracle.
I'll one-up you: Trees are miracles! Sunshine is a miracle! My wife's pulled-pork is a miracle!
Now when the Whole Bible Belt has been repeatedly battered by natural disasters where is Pat Robertson's reasoning