John Hayward et al. on Earthquakes, Tsunamis and the Providence of God

Over at the Jubilee Centre, John Hayward posts some reflections on the recent earthquakes which have devastated areas of New Zealand and Japan.

He links to a 2009 article by Andrew Atherstone on divine retribution, which reflects theologically on responses to extreme flooding in Britain in 2007.

He also links to a 1993 Cambridge Paper by Mark Dever on providence, in which Dever identified five biblical principles to help us as we seek to find meaning in the events of the world around us:

1. God is sovereign, acting purposively in history

2. Ultimately, God will vindicate himself; evil will be punished

3. In the meantime, any adversity must be viewed in the light of the end

4. In the meantime, any good must be understood as God's gracious blessing

5. Full judgement and blessing will come only finally

While we’re on the topic, a 1999 article by Steven A. Austin and Mark L. Strauss challenges the view that Jesus promised a pronounced increase in the frequency and intensity of earthquakes immediately prior to his return. According to Austin and Strauss, if Matthew 24:4-14 is understood to refer to general signs of the present age, ‘earthquakes are seen as recurring catastrophic events common to the present age – events that must not be misinterpreted as “signs” of an immediate end’.

Gerald Murray on the Quake and Haitian Spirituality

It’s been a year since the earthquake that hit Haiti left more than 250,000 dead and 1.5 million others homeless.

Q Ideas carries a piece by Gerald Murray on ‘Haiti One Year Later: The Quake and Haitian Spirituality’.

He devotes some space to outlining the cultural and religious background, noting that Haiti has three main types of religious followers – Protestants, katolik fran (Catholics who do not mix their religious practices with other rituals), and konn sevi lwa (those who combine Catholic rites with rituals directed to other spiritual beings, many of them of African origin).

But, for all three groups, it is Bondye (the word for ‘God’ in the native language, derived from the French bon Dieu, ‘good God’), not angels or demons or other lesser spirits, who was responsible for the earthquake.

Murray writes:

‘It is true that God is good. He gives us our rain, our crops, our children. But God can also be tough and even violent for reasons known only to Him. He hits us with hurricanes, with floods, and now with this terrible earthquake. Why? Haitian popular theology answers: We do not know. Like Job, Haitians know that God exists outside of our control, beyond our predictions – and far above our right to criticize. Whatever He does, whether gentle or painful: Bondye bon [God is good].’