We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

Colorado_RECT

A Natural Disaster With No One to Blame

In a recent article from Relevant Magazine, Denver Pastor Michael Hidalgo asks, “why are the leaders who claim that God acts through natural disasters so quiet all of a sudden?”

These leaders who have seemed to be so quick to say, for example, the destruction in Haiti was God’s punishment for their ungodliness seem to be less enthusiastic to claim God’s judgment upon Colorado Springs, CO–a nexus of home bases for several Christian organizations.

Hidalgo goes on:

It seems the only thing these leaders who blame others for natural disasters have admitted is they believe God can’t possibly put up with others who are not like them. While they seem to enjoy the opportunity to blame and level accusation, they forget God is not the one who is called “the accuser.”

Check out the full article here.

You can read Greg’s own past reflections on this subject through the links below:

 


Photo from Relevant Magazine.

 

 

 

Related Reading

If God Can’t Control, How Can I Trust Him?

Question: If God can’t always answer our prayers for healing, for example (and I completely understand why—free will etc), then HOW can he promise to bring good out of the bad things that happen? Surely he is powerless to do that too? And if he can bring good why can’t he therefore heal in the…

“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled…”

“…was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” ~Verbal Kint, The Usual Suspects Roger Olson reflected a few days ago on the curious absence of any discussion of Satan in modern theology. He even speculated: I suspect that one reason Greg Boyd, a brilliant theologian, is not taken as seriously as he should be by many…

6 Things the Church Fathers Can Teach Us about Spiritual Warfare

Image by Christina Saint Marche via Flickr Unlike our thinking today about the source of good and evil in the world, the early church fathers, including Irenaus, Athenagorus, Origen, and others before Augustine, possessed a warfare worldview. Here are 6 ideas that are common in their writings: The Reality of the “World-in-Between” The church fathers assumed…

Henry’s Mom: Did God Author This?

Many of you were touched last month when we featured some reflections on little Henry’s death. Well, Henry’s mother Jess has started a blog to process through some of her thoughts and we wanted to share this amazing piece with all of you. Jess thinks ahead to the time when her two-year-old daughter will start…

God Does Not Always Get What He Wants

One of the ways the Bible makes it clear that humans have free will and that God doesn’t predetermine human decisions is found in the responses God has toward human choices. Scripture consistently depicts God as being frustrated by the way his people obstinately resist his plans and Scripture often depicts God’s heart as breaking…

When Prayers Go Unanswered

Recently Frank Viola published a free e-book where 21 Christian leaders responded to the following question: Why is it that God doesn’t often answer the desperate prayers of His people for deliverance, protection, healing, etc.? You can download the free ebook by clicking here. The following excerpt is Greg’s contribution to this book: _____________________ Two very ill children are…