6 other calamities blamed on divine retribution – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs

You step into dangerous territory when you think you can speak for God like this. Abraham Lincoln is the only one on the list here that I think may have had a reasonable thought. But with the others, we always need to keep in mind that when disaster strikes, it shows no partiality to the faithful or unfaithful, Christian or atheist. What speaks more of a deep faith is when we respond with compassion, prayers and generosity in the face of tragedy. We can not be like Job's "friends" who had to try to find something wrong with Job in order to make logical sense out of his tragic circumstances. God rebuked them for their foolish thinking. God would not allow Job or his friends to so easily box Him into simple categories that their finite minds could understand. Life, plain and simple, just doesn't make sense sometimes. But even in the face of disaster, we are called to be the light of the world, the hands and feet of Christ, the salt of the earth. Compassion will draw people closer to God, condemnation will only push them farther away, and may even expose our own blind spot in thinking that we speak for God, when he has already left the building.

6 other calamities blamed on divine retribution – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs