I have been hearing over and over again how these natural disasters are God's Wrath for humanity. And I have to say it's hard not to think that at times. I was raised in a strict Jehovah's Witness family and when I see things like this the first thing that comes to mind is their teaching that Natural Disasters "one after another" will usher in "the end." But then I think, this happens EVERY YEAR and it has been happening every year for MILLIONS of years!
On average, 1000 tornadoes hit the US yearly. Although records for tornadoes only go back to 1950, we have enough data to understand that the numbers aren't growing in any significant way as to predict any "end." It's also worth noting that there is an average of only 60 deaths per year from Tornadoes in the US. And I have to guess that if God were to use natural disasters to assert his power and wrath over humanity, there would be quite a few more deaths than 60...
But what about the Earthquakes? Floods? Hurricanes? Wild Fires??? Again, if you do even the slightest amount of research on the numbers you'd see there were over 21,000 Earthquakes last year, only a fraction of those were even able to be felt by the general population, let alone strong enough to cause damage. In fact out of those 20,400+ earthquakes in 2010 there were less than 200 that were even above a 6.0 Magnitude. And if you were to compare the numbers over the last decade you'd see that the numbers are NOT growing, but actually staying about the same, with an overall average of 26,250 earthquakes a year...
The pattern is nearly identical for Hurricanes. However, I will say that the number of Floods and Wildfires IS growing. But it's easy to see why, and it has nothing to do with God or his wrath, it's more likely to have to do with Man and his greed! It's been purely inconceivable to human kind for the last 300 years that they should put the earth first. We have gone as far as to redirect rivers, clear entire forests and literally hollow out mountains in our search for the bigger and better life. At this point we should all know that when we fight Mother Nature, we force her to fight back...
I also like to think that Natural Disasters are the Gods way of bringing us together. Natural Disasters are exactly that, Natural and Disasters... Death and Destruction from the hand of Gaia. But are these disasters always horrid? Well, yes, of course they are for those who lose loved ones. BUT, lets think for a moment what these disasters do long term. They create stronger bonds in families, friends and communities. They impress upon us exactly how much we need to care for our Earth Mama and get more and more people and companies on board with a natural lifestyle. And of course they bring the best out in all of us. Simply put, they remind us all how sacred and fragile life truly is, and they bring us together on the side of life, love and nature in ways that nothing else can. So while it's easy to see that these Disasters are not proof of any "Wrath" of the Gods, maybe they are in fact the Gods way of helping us, help each other... Blessings often come in strange bundles!
I do understand where that point of view comes from but I am also a believe in sience and understand that the Earth's crust has to move around and causes earthquakes and that hot and cold air makes storms and so on and so on. But I also beleive that Mother Earth has to take care of herself and if she believes that we are not taking care of her the way that we should be that she will teach us a lesson.
ReplyDeleteTo me, science is the tool the gods use to do what they do. I mean, we know WHY earthquakes happen, but who is to say that the Gods don't trigger when. Tornadoes are the same way, science knows HOW they work, but they still don't know what why one storm creates them and an identical storm wont. To me, the difference between one and another is what the Gods choose for it.
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