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OCT 10 05 "So, how are Christ followers to respond? PDF Print E-mail
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Thursday, 17 November 2005
     Over the past couple of weeks there has been considerable local conversation about the presence of God as judge, jury, and executioner in the storms that have demolished lives, homes, and businesses along the Gulf Coast. The conversation is an important one, albeit a tad uncomfortable and a bit controversial. I have read reports of farfetched ideas from anti - abortion groups saying that just before Katrina hit South Louisiana the storm took on the form of a six - week old fetus. Their point being that God struck the city of New Orleans as punishment for having abortion clinics. I also read a quote from a Louisiana congressman, Richard Baker, that was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article, “ We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it, but God did. ”The point being, well, I’m not sure what his point was.
     Closer to home there has been a lot of press given to our State Senator Hank Erwin. Mr. Erwin pronounced that the sinful, idolatrous, gambling city of New Orleans simply got what it had coming to it from the hands of an angry God. And that, basically, it was too bad for all the innocent, God - fearing people who lived within hurricane destruction distance of New Orleans. Perhaps they should have known better than to live that close to ruination.
     I understand the attractiveness of such thinking. It’s brutally honest and savagely simple. We as humans do bad and God visits even worse upon us to teach us a lesson. The biggest problem with such thought is that it is contrary to the whole of biblical thought and the whole of Jesus’ work and ministry on earth as God incarnate. In other words, God in Jesus is neither brutal nor savage. God is not some vindictive, mean, gruesome swirling power that is waiting to demolish life and bring destruction upon creation. The God that we come to know throughout the whole of biblical thought, and particularly in the life and ministry of Jesus, is demonstrated in reconciling love and unconditional mercy for the purpose of reclaiming us and delivering us into a completed union with each other and with God. The ultimate word of judgment that God speaks is a word of mercy and grace, and it is spoken through the Word of God who came to save not kill, heal not wound, bind together not tear apart, deliver not destroy.
      So, how are Christ followers to respond? I put forward two options. We might want to begin by removing from our thoughts the idea that God purposely sends hurricanes, tsunamis, or earthquakes to specific places. Maybe the better response is holding firm to the faith that in these  natural disasters, which by the way strike places where there are no abortion clinics, casinos, or public housing, God is present. And, in the power of God at work through God’s people, good will come.  How will that unfold? What will the good look like? I don’t know. But, it will come. And, not because God has brought destruction, but because, in Christ, God has decided to bring salvation to the creation.  
     The other response, it seems to me, is to fall prey to embracing the idea of an angry God waiting to mete out the judgment that we deserve. In which case, I probably better run home and gather my family and my precious belongings – I know not all is pure and holy there – I suspect the same is true for you and your home. And for the city of Alabaster. And every other place in all of creation.

     I suggest that we read Romans chapter eight and then decide.  

    
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