Hurricanes, tsunamis and other serious natural disaster always bring up the question of why God, who is all good and all powerful, would allow this kind of suffering, commonly called natural evil.
My own take is that we can provide models for how it might be possible for a good and powerful God to allow evil, without going to the point of saying that the model explains with absolute certainty how God would allow evil. Perhaps the models are not completely accurate, but if we mere, finite humans can come up with possible reasons for why God would allow various types of evil, then surely god himself has a reason. These models are commonly called theodicies. A theodicy is any justification of God’s goodness and power in the face of evil.
Most people are familiar with the Free Will theodicy, namely, human beings freely make certain choices, some of which result in evil, commonly called moral evil. God’s purpose in allowing moral evil to exist is to bring about certain greater goods. These would include the existence of moral goods like love, generosity, compassion. Free moral agents are needed for moral good.
I don’t know if philosophers use the term theodicy to express the idea that we know exactly how God would allow evil. If so that seems a bit presumptuous. I think I prefer the term Free Will Response to the problem of evil. But I’ll just use the term theodicy for now.
The natural law theodicy says that an orderly created world is necessary for moral agents to act responsibly. Moral order requires physical order. If natural objects were to behave unpredictably, deliberate action by humans would be made difficult, if not impossible. We need to know what the effects of our actions will be, and for this we need nature to behave in regular ways.
For example, we need to know that pushing your little brother off the fifth floor balcony, or that pushing your little brother’s head underwater for too long, or pointing a loaded gun at someone and firing has serious consequences. Our knowledge of the predictable effects of gravity, for example, keep us (or at least should keep us) from acting in irresponsible ways.
These same physical laws are the things that cause hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. And these laws are capable of producing both harmful and beneficial effects. The water you drink is the same water that can drown you. The knife you use to cut your food is the same knife that can seriously hurt you.
Though it’s difficult to accept if you’ve gone through one of these disasters, scientists point out that hurricanes and earthquakes are required for life to exist on earth. Christian physicist Hugh Ross (in Facts & Faith, 1998, vol.12, No.4) points out that:
“[H]urricanes…play a vital role in sustaining the right range of temperatures for life. On the one hand, they counterbalance the ocean's tendency to leach carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This leaching, if unchecked, would result in a catastrophic cooling of the planet. On the other hand, hurricanes prevent the oceans from trapping too much of the sun's heat. They help circulate greenhouse gases globally as they shade the ocean (reflecting solar radiation) locally, preventing heat from building up too dramatically for the safety of certain sea creatures. During the summer of 1995, three hurricanes over the Sargasso Sea increased the flow of carbon dioxide from the water to the atmosphere by more than fifty percent. At the same time, each hurricane cooled the sea water (near the surface) by 7°F (4°C) for two to three weeks at a time.
Meteorologists affirm that too many or too few hurricanes would spell disaster for advanced life on Earth. The fact that their frequency and intensity fall into precisely the right range for life support provides one more piece of evidence that God carefully designed Earth with the necessities of life in mind.”
Elsewhere he write:
“The apologetics question about earthquakes I hear most often is "Why would a loving God allow us to experience the horrors of earthquakes?" I can give one answer from my limited human understanding, and that has to do with His provision for man's food needs.
Without earthquakes, nutrients essential for land life would erode off the continents and accumulate in the oceans. In a relatively brief time, land creatures, at least the advanced species, would starve. But, thanks to tectonic plate movements (the movements that generate earthquakes), nutrients eroded into the oceans are recycled back to the continents.
If the number and intensity of earthquakes on planet Earth were any smaller, the rate of nutrient recycling would be insufficient to support land-based life.
If the number and intensity of earthquakes were any greater, human civilization, certainly, urbanization, would be impossible. The rate of earthquake activity is just right. The next time you feel an earthquake, try thanking God for His perfect providence.
In the case of other disasters, too, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and blizzards, you may be comforted to learn that here again the number and intensity are ideal for sustaining the best conditions for life on Earth. Though it is painful to suffer or see others suffer through these disasters, we can acknowledge that they are, on a grand scale, a manifestation of God's care.”
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