That's like someone saying that "It's exceedingly rare that home invaders have captured me and my family, r*ped my wife and daughters, etc.! I can count the number of times that that has happened on ONE hand!"
Good luck to them!
Or: "It is exceedingly rare that Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been nuked! It happened like, you know, only ONCE!"
So we might as well say that it actually happened ZERO times! / sarcasm
There have been numerous times in history that civilizations have been wiped out by natural catastrophes. Besides being ignorant of History, you are also suffering under Detection Bias (to be honest, large swathes of our society have fallen victim to it). Like asking, "Everyone who hasn't come to class today: Please raise your hand! Well, no one raised his hand, so I guess that everyone is here!"
Or: "I have never suffered a memory loss! I'm sure of it! I would remember it if I had!"
Next point:
cannot be a judgment due to sin (the Flood, Pompeii) by an omniscient being who knows every action of man, and his motives, and every single effect of man's actions, as well as His own
If God punished entire societies by wiping them out, then why stop there? Why not always stop, e.g., serial killers just as they are starting a killing spree? Some killers are never caught - some not even discovered (i.e., that serial murders have even taken place, and that people have disappeared, may not even be determined by the authorities). Why destroy, e.g., Pompeii - incl. innocent children - but not serial killers long before their crimes enter into the double-digits?
Would that somehow limit Man's highly touted "Free Will?" But somehow destroying entire cities like Pompeii and Herculaneum is permissible / doesn't abrogate our Free Will?!
Regards,
No, exceedingly rare mass extinctions are not like home invaders raping families (though still relatively rare among 8 billion people), not only in scope but that former are what you cited as being distinct from the acts of man. There have been numerous times in history that civilizations have been wiped out by natural catastrophes.... you are also suffering under Detection Bias
Still exceedingly rare in the span of human history (you are also suffering under Detection Bias), yet the main point was that you are simply in no position all all to assert such was needless, meaningless.
If God punished entire societies by wiping them out, then why stop there?
You really are asking, why does God act as He does, and use your own ignorance as an argument against an omniscient being. The answer to why my own father did things was not comprehended by me when I was young, only to be understood by me later on as wise. And the Bible both teaches that God judges sin, usually after much long-suffering, but that also He has a purpose in allowing it.
Which applies to America. As with Amorites of old, (Genesis 15:16) the the iniquity of the Americans is not yet full, as hard as that is for us to accept.
Why destroy, e.g., Pompeii - incl. innocent children - but not serial killers long before their crimes enter into the double-digits?
You mean why did He wait to destroy Pompeii, and thereby save innocent children from further abuse and becoming like their fathers? Or why did God not send down lightening strikes to just zap the wicked, and create a giant welfare system for the kids. Or do such acts of power that the wicked would be compelled to obey? And the list goes on.
I can provide reasonable answers, but once again, until you can accept that an omniscient being who knows all that can be known, past present and future, and in accordance with that has a purpose for all His actions and inaction, being able to make all to to ultimately work out for what is Good, then you are only going to continue in your what aboutisms.
Would that somehow limit Man's highly touted "Free Will?" But somehow destroying entire cities like Pompeii and Herculaneum is permissible / doesn't abrogate our Free Will?!
Nope, not at all. Free will (besides not meaning free from all motivating influences, but having the ability to make choices) has an expiration date.