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I've tried to stay out of religion arguments on FR, but this and some of the posts in response are just appalling.

Of course, if God is all-powerful and all-knowing, then he "permitted" this to happen. But neither you nor I nor this idiot nor the posters who like this junk know why God permitted it. That's what it means to say we live by faith in a God who brought good out of the worst thing that ever happened, the crucifixion of his Son.

The problem with these people is that they want to make God's judgment for him. Something bad has happened and they really, really want it to be God finally settling scores with all the people they resent. God didn't tell them that; they are connecting the tragedy with their favorite parts of Scripture (with other parts carefully ignored) to get a result that is emotionally satisfying to them. As though God gave us the Bible so we could know when he is judging other people!

Yes, God will judge the whole earth. "But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father (Matthew 24:36). We have nothing but their say-so that it started last Tuesday.

Yes, the Bible tells of God permitting Israel to suffer in order to bring about repentance. But we have only their say-so that this is a case of the same thing. In the New Testament, "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Rev. 19:10), not obsessive ramblings about how other people are getting what's coming to them.

Here's another way the Bible talks about suffering (I think it's the one Sinkspur has referred to, only he misremembered the ailment):

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him,"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." John 9:1-5.

I take that to mean that the meaning of human suffering is found in the mercy of the God who heals our wounds.

Jesus also explicitly denied that the people on whom a disaster came were "worse sinners" than others. The only "message" he saw in the disaster was that everyone needs to repent, not just those people. See Luke 13:4-5.

It's hard enough to have to defend our country's honor from all the Blame America First posters on here lately. It's a bit thick to have to defend God from people who think he's a cosmic terrorist.

BTW before their was Reagan, Rush, Newt, Pat,ect. Their was the Reverand Jerry Falwell. He was fighting the Liberal establishment with the Moral Majority when their were NO CONSERVATIVE LEADERS. This is a man of courage and honor without whom there would have been no Reagan revolution.

You conservatives better learn your history and back the man up.-MM

It's hard enough to have to defend our country's honor from all the Blame America First posters on here lately. It's a bit thick to have to defend God from people who think he's a cosmic terrorist.

I salute you. Especially for using the Jean Kirkpatrick line "the blame America First crowd" it's so true..

I think what you are all missing is that God deals with individuals and God deals with nations. The two are not mutually exclusive, nor is the latter only an Old Testament occurence. IF God does rule (deal with?) the nations, is it not pertinent, to ask....if.....perhaps.....God's judgment had anything to do with this?

Those who are unwilling to ask, will certainly never find the answer.