God and hurricanes pt.3

Now, one might object by asking: "Couldn’t God intervene whenever a major disaster is about to hit?” They might also ask: “Couldn’t God have created different physical laws, ones that wouldn’t result in so much devastation?”

To the first question we could respond that God would have to intervene in so widespread a manner that it would result in the suspension of the natural order with all its regularity of physical laws. But this would jeopardize responsible human action.

To the second question we could respond that the person asking the question simply has no idea what such a world would look like. If God were to modify one part of the natural system to prevent, say, earthquakes, for all we know He’d have to modify some other part of the natural system that may produce even more unpleasant results. Philosopher Ronald Nash points out that a “natural order is a system; even an apparently minor change in one part of the order would have to have repercussions throughout the system.”

The answers provided by the free will and natural law theodicies pave the way for the Soul-Making theodicy. In order to grow and become virtuous people, we must face certain challenges. Growth is difficult, if not impossible, in an environment that is free of any risk, danger or disappointment.

Some, maybe many, people won't be very satisfied with this response. Fair enough. But it's at least worth thinking about.

I’m certainly not qualified to write much more than this about this topic. For a fuller treatment, I recommend Part 4 of Ronald Nash’s book Faith and Reason: Searching for a Rational Faith (Zondervan, 1988).

Also worth a look is this article by William Lane Craig.

I honestly hope I do not ever go through a natural disaster. Like a lot of people, I’ve witnessed my share of suffering (family members dying of cancer or stroke or pneumonia, and family members being subjected to a repressive and deadly Communist regime). That's about all I can handle (and I wasn't even the one doing much of the suffering). The best that I can do is to trust that God has got it all under control (even if it seems like He doesn't). And to give to the Red Cross and Salvation Army.