The Real Tragedy In Disasters

Someone will always ask, “Why did a loving God allow so many innocent people to die?”

The Real Tragedy In Disasters

Disasters, both natural and man-caused, occur all of the time and they attract only passing attention. A natural disaster like the one in Turkey several years ago was soon forgotten even though it killed 17,000 innocent people in one day. 1 But a man-caused disaster, like the attack on the Twin Towers in New York on September 11, 2001, is still attracting attention because it was an act of war that resulted in an unprecedented loss of life in one day. “More people were killed ... than the number of American soldiers killed in the entire American revolution, or at Antietam, the bloodiest one-day battle of the Civil War, or at Pearl Harbor, or on D-Day – and those were soldiers.” 2 Whenever disasters occur, someone will always ask, “Why did a loving God allow so many innocent people to die?”

Common Wrong Answers
There are several common answers to this question and they are all wrong! Atheists would say, “See it just proves there is no God!” This kind of wrong thinking is thousands of years old. God’s reply is, “The fool says ... there is no God” (Ps. 14:1 NIV). Some might say, “Those who died were more wicked.” Others might say, “God is punishing the nation where the disaster occurred.” Let’s consider these latter replies.

Are Those Who Die More Wicked?
About 3,000 died in the Twin Towers disaster in New York, but roughly 90% of the 50,000 who work there got out alive.3 Are those who died more wicked than those who lived? The wrong idea that they are more wicked is at least 2,000 years old! In Jesus' day, the tower of Siloam fell and killed a number of people. Jesus said, “Do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem, I tell you, no!” (Lk. 13:4-5). Nor are those who die in modern disasters more sinful. Some were undoubtedly devout Christians!

Are Disasters Punishment Of The Nation?
Some correctly say that our society is wicked – full of abortion, homosexuality, materialism, godlessness, etc.4,5 But they err in interpreting Scripture addressed to Israel as being addressed to the USA. God did not make a covenant with the USA, but with Israel! Scripture says that it is Israel which “out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen” (Dt. 14:2). And it is Israel who is warned that if they do not keep that covenant “the Lord will send fearful ... harsh and prolonged disasters” (Dt. 28:59). It is incorrect to think of so-called “Christian nations” as being “the people of God,” because collectively they are not! Nevertheless, no nation is immune to God's judgment!

Who Are God’s People Today?
No nation today can be called the Lord’s people, as Israel has been set aside during this Church age (Rom. 11:7-32). But He does have a people – those who believe in Him – in every nation! Our Lord “gave Himself for us ... to purify for Himself a people that are His very own” (Tit. 2:14). Being the Lord’s people does not exempt them from suffering. God tells us not to be surprised when “painful trials” come upon us. (1 Pet. 4:12). And when disasters occur, His people are to regard them as something God allows for their good – to learn the lesson He is trying to teach. We are told to “endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons” (Heb. 12:7).

Disasters, if they lead to corrective self-judgment, can also bring a blessing to the Church collectively. Each group tends to have the viewpoint that there is no evil among them! But, if we look carefully, we will see that behaviors in the Church, that are against God’s Word, are often allowed to go unchallenged except in a general way.

Are Those Who Die Innocent?
Man’s view is that those who die in disasters are “innocent,” but what does God say? He says that “all have sinned.” He also says that the penalty for sin is death, and that “death came to all men because all sinned” (Rom. 3:23; 6:23; 5:12). But there is good news too! “God pardons sin and forgives transgression” (Mic. 7:18). Thus there are guilty people, and guilty people whom God has pardoned – but none who are innocent!

How Could A Loving God Allow This?
What an awful question! It is blasphemy, for it suggests that God is not a loving God. It totally ignores the fact that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” so that the guilty could be pardoned (Jn. 3:16). “Christ was sacrificed ... to take away the sins of many people” (Heb. 9:28), and as a result, “whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16). We see love in the promise of our Lord: “He who hears My word and believes ... does not come into judgment” (Jn. 5:24).

Therefore, because of what God in His love has done, death in a disaster is neither a tragedy for a believer who dies in it nor for believers who lose loved ones! Those who died are now “away from the body” and “at home with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8), and believers who have lost loved ones know that “to depart and be with Christ ... is better by far” (Phil. 1:23).

What Is The Real Tragedy?
For the unbeliever and his or her loved ones death is a very real tragedy. The Lord Jesus says that the believer “does not come into judgment” (Jn. 5:24), but God tells the unbeliever that “man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment” (Heb. 9:27). When unbelievers die they “go into prison” there to await trial – that is, God’s judgment and punishment. They know that they are guilty and that when He judges them they will be sentenced to what He calls “the second death” (Rev. 20:14). And what is the second death? It is an eternal existence so horrible, so painful that it is likened to being in a “lake of burning sulfur,” there to “be tormented ... forever and ever” (Rev. 20:10).

Thus every disaster is a major tragedy – because many who perish in the first death, will also perish in the second death. One might ask, “Why did God not give them more time to repent?” The question is flawed in that it ignores the fact that God “is patient ... not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). Hence, if there were the slightest possibility that those who perish in a disaster would repent, God would have given them a second chance! It is a great tragedy when even one person dies without repenting. How much greater the tragedy then when so many die without repenting!

Can Blessing Come Out Of Disaster?
A major disaster can actually be a blessing! If you are a believer it can be a blessing by leading to self-judgment, and thus to “a harvest of righteousness and peace” (Heb. 12:11). If you are an unbeliever it can be a blessing if it awakens you to your need for a Savior, and moves you to accept His offer: “Whoever hears My word and believes ... does not come into judgment” (Jn. 5:24). But if you are an unbeliever and die unrepentant, that is a most terrible tragedy. No one should unwittingly choose eternal damnation instead of the eternal life offered by a loving God.

END NOTES
1. Newsweek, (Oct. 8, 2001), p. 59
2. Newsweek, (Sept. 24, 2001), pp. 26, 34
3. Newsweek, (Sept. 24, 2001), p. 47
4. Cal Thomas, The Express, Lock Haven, Pa., (Sept. 19, 2001), p. 4
5. The Express, (Sept. 22, 2001), p. 4

By Alan Crosby