Tsunami Theology

Lots of newspaper, radio, and blog postings on God's role in the Tsunami. Did He cause it? Was He just "allow" it as a natural disaster? Could He not prevent it? Most Christians seem to go to Romans 8:28 and say that "God will make good to come from it."

Eric Evers has some useful thoughts:

"Trying to ask the "why" question is, simply, dangerous. It is to attempt
to peer into the hidden purposes of God. We lack the capacity to peel back
the surface of the world and discern God's intentions.We can, however, discern
God's revealed purposes. "What was God up to in the tsunami?" The
same thing God is always up to. The prologue to John's Gospel (John
1:1-18) was the assigned lectionary text for the second Sunday after Christmas
(Jan 2). In this beautiful poetry, we are told what God is up to.
God has given his word to us; indeed, he has given his Word to us. His
Word, his Son, is his pledge to save this fallen world. He "makes God
known" (literally, "exegetes" God)."

Polls are being taken. (Why are we surprised about that!) The most popular view seems to be that God didn't actually cause the Tsunami. See Jeff Jacoby's column about this.

Satan gets a lot of mileage persuading people with two lies: (1) God is only a God of Mercy, and not Justice. (2) The default state of mankind is that we go to heaven.

I'm grateful that people are wrestling with the question. May God work out better understanding of His sovereignty through this. May God's people be bold and believe what the Bible says, even when it is not popular theology. Stand firm, men.