The Wrath of God

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20) 

          Yesterday morning, I woke up with news that the eye of hurricane Irma passed over the town I’m moving to in 18 days. All the people who stay there all year were well. Dad and I were waiting to hear whether his motorhome fared as well, and this passage came up as the passage to be discussed next. Three weeks ago, my dog was diagnosed with Lyme disease and less than two weeks ago, a friend’s husband had a heart attack before she finished radiation treatments for breast cancer. He went through triple bypass surgery, the tough kind. There are people who view natural disasters, illness and infirmity as expressions of God’s wrath. 

          They’re right, and they’re wrong. According to Genesis, the world changed when Adam sinned. I don’t know if hurricanes could not have existed in that other world, or whether the residents of that world would have seen them as minor inconveniences (I’m not sure how that would work) or whether those residents would just have been protected. I suspect they didn’t exist. It really doesn’t matter because Adam did sin. 

          Thus, death entered the world, but God mitigated it. Adam and Eve did not instantly, physically die. They had kids. The kids didn’t instantly die. Death lurked. It probably took plants before it took the first human. It did take animals before it took the first human. Some of the manifestations of God’s wrath are more dramatic than others. Things that had been meant to benefit mankind became punishments.
          A hurricane is a means by which the heat of the seas at the equator is mitigated. I don’t know for certain that it makes life on earth possible, but it draws energy from the ocean and circulates the atmosphere. I’ve heard that more hurricanes never touch land than those that do. I can’t verify that at the moment, but it’s worth noting that prior to Harvey, there would have been seven storms named as having at least the potential to turn into hurricanes. 

          So, are hurricanes manifestations of the wrath of God? Or, are they mechanisms by which life is preserved in which sometimes humans (especially those who are unwise enough to live in warmer climates, at or near the coast, in areas that are at or near sea level, in homes that aren’t designed to withstand them) choose to risk their lives? Similarly, why in the world would someone live in a mobile home in Tornado Alley? I believe they are both.

          Now we get to the heart of the matter. “What about all the nice people who are just living their lives? What about all the innocent kids? What about all the good people who get hurt or killed?” This brings us back to the second paragraph, above. We are after the Fall. “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) No one is righteous. No one is undeserving of wrath…even kids. That any of them were permitted to live at all is mitigation of the wrath of God. Every second of every day that you are alive is mitigation of God’s righteous judgment for things that you have done. Christians are no less guilty, no less deserving of death for the sins they commit. Jesus stepped up to take the punishment for the crimes of both. The only difference between the Christian and the non-Christian in this regard is that the Christian accepts that arrangement, with its conditions, and the non-Christian doesn’t. They choose to live on the spiritual warmer climates, on the spiritual coast, at or below the spiritual sea level in buildings (bodies) that aren’t designed to withstand the storm. And some wander out from the shore as the sea pulls back then wonder why the sea and sky come crashing down on them.