NOM

For Come Follow Me, Lesson 34, Aug 24-30, 2020, Helaman 7-12

If I wanted to encourage thought and try to understand devout believers better, I might ask:
“Do you think God actually causes natural disasters?”

See the Things to consider for this lesson.

And, here’s a list of some other observations about this lesson’s reading.

Enjoy!
A-Bom

As always, thank you for your contributions to the discussion.

This is a really tough question. Either God causes disasters or he doesn't. I guess bad things just happen sometimes, but God keeps a few really nasty ones in his pocket for when people are particularly naughty? He certainly took advantage of that option in the Old Testament and when Jesus visited the Nephites. When the rare Utah tornado damaged The Sun tavern (gay bar) I heard many members jump immediately to the conclusion that it was God's work. Meanwhile the only person actually killed was an out-of-stater who was here for the outdoor retailers show. Maybe God's aim isn't so good?

If God really is the author of disasters, from the Mormon point of view, we should see a significant bias toward church members being spared and apostates and critics being smitten.

Southern preachers were calling the southern storms and western fires acts of God sent to punish the wicked, while local survivors of those same events were praising God for delivering them. I'm always kind of amazed when a plane crashes or a building burns killing almost everyone inside, but then you hear one of the few survivors thanking God for his mercy and calling it a miracle. How do the families of all of those who weren't so lucky feel about the miracle?

I chalk it up, these days, to convoluted thinking............it is, without question.....inane.

If you believe in a literal Bible or a literal Book of Mormon, then you have to say that yes, God does cause natural disasters. God rained fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah. God sent those ten plagues/bad things to the Egyptians. And in 3 Nephi, God gets really ruthless and destroys tons of cities with floods and fires and moving mountains around before the arrival of Jesus Christ.

My answer is, (and I'm Catholic now) God causes natural disasters sometimes with his permissive will, and sometimes with his positive will. Also, He created the world and the ecosystem and He got the planets spinning and everything, so, yeah, God causes natural disasters.