catastrophe Archives - DOES GOD EXIST? TODAY

Some people try to tell us that tornadoes are God’s retaliation against humans for not obeying Him. Atheists and skeptics often say that disasters disprove the existence of a loving and all-powerful God. Now, we are seeing some preachers and religious periodicals saying that God is spiteful and taking it out on humans. This is not only a denial of scientific fact, but it contradicts the nature of God as revealed in the Bible. Catastrophes such as tornadoes are not the wrath of God.

The science behind tornadoes is well understood. They are a natural response to Earth’s changes and human abuse of what God has given us. A tornado happens when hot air becomes trapped under a layer of cold air. Hot air rises, and the Coriolis Effect of the Earth’s spin causes the rising column of air to spin as well.

How can hot air get under cold air? There are several causes, but the main one is the Sun heating Earth’s surface. Dark surfaces can get very hot. Several years ago in Oklahoma, I saw a weatherperson fry an egg on the hood of her car on a scorching day. Hundreds of square miles of blacktoped parking lots and plowed-up land guarantee rising air masses. Older native Americans who lived in Tornado Alley told me that they had never seen a tornado as a child, and their native language had no word for it, although they did have a word for dust devils.

The Bible clarifies that Jesus does not bring destruction, and tornadoes are not the wrath of God. Peter tells us God “..is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9 ). Repentance is simply thinking differently. It does not always mean we must confess some great sin–although that could be the case. “Repent and be baptized” in Acts 2:38 means thinking differently, and Peter spoke those words to a large crowd. Romans 8:28 says, “In all things, God works for the good of those who love Him.” James 1:13 tells us that God tempts no one with evil.

If God zapped us every time we made a mistake, the planet would have no humans in a matter of minutes. Tornadoes are not the wrath of God. They are mainly a product of human abuse and carelessness. Building flimsy structures in areas prone to tornadoes is asking for trouble. Not managing the use of what God has given us has caused catastrophic damage and loss of life. Let us work on using the things God gave us more intelligently as we understand that God is a God of love (1 John 4:16) and forgiveness (John 3:16).

Evolution makes a very large number of assumptions. One of those assumptions called uniformitarianism is the belief that no process has ever operated in the past that is not going on today. Believing in uniformitarianism gives some answers, but it raises many questions.

Today we know how glaciers work and how volcanoes form and shape the land. We are aware of all of the various forms of erosion and the chemical processes that alter materials of the Earth. When we look at something like the Grand Canyon, we assume that those same processes deposited the rocks and shaped the canyon. There are places high in the canyon where there are beach deposits that look like the beaches we see along the shores of Lake Michigan. That leads us to believe that at one time there was a lake in what is now the canyon. When we look at the Coconino sandstone in the Grand Canyon, we see the remains of sand dunes that look like the ones I see out the window of my house. The angles of the dune faces, the frosting of the sand grains, and the footprints of lizards that sink deep into the dune faces all cause us to rule out a flood as the cause of the Coconino sandstone.

At the same time, processes going on today don’t explain catastrophic events that seem to have happened in the past. In the 1980s scientists found evidence suggesting that an asteroid struck the Earth and altered the history of our planet. Some scientists expressed strong resistance to the asteroid proposal and gave all kinds of alternative explanations. If an astronomical event of that magnitude took place wiping out a majority of land species, the evolutionary theories of that day would have to be modified or discarded. This gave support for proposals like punctuated equilibrium, but it also caused many people in the scientific community to reject the asteroid as a possible cause. Those believing in uniformitarianism and naturalism resisted any attempt to suggest that catastrophic events may have shaped the Earth’s history.

From a biblical standpoint, we see that there have been catastrophic events in the past that are not happening today. The flood of Noah, the crossing of the Red Sea, the deaths of the firstborn in Egypt, and all the miracles the Bible describes are not happening today and thus are not uniformitarian. These, however, are rare and are the exception to what happens on a daily basis.

New evidence shows that believing in uniformitarianism as the single cause of the Earth’s history is not valid. Evidence shows that about 12,800 years ago there was a very rapid cooling of the Earth called the Younger Dryas. One proposal is that a massive pulse of cold freshwater from glaciers flooded the ocean cooling the planet. Another suggestion is that a comet exploded in the atmosphere triggering wildfires which produced enough soot to block the Sun and cool the planet. In 1908 in Tunguska, Siberia, an event like that occurred when a meteoroid exploded producing as much energy as 1000 Hiroshima bombs and gave support to the idea that astronomical catastrophes caused some structures on Earth.

Scientific literature is full of current research reports supporting catastrophic change in the Earth’s history. Scientists will continue this debate, and new finds will establish support for various theories. It remains clear that believing in uniformitarianism and naturalism to explain the total history of our planet is on shaky ground.
–John N. Clayton © 2018
Reference: Science News, July 7, 2018, P 18.

Tag: catastrophe

Tornadoes Are Not the Wrath of God

Believing in Uniformitarianism Raises Questions