The Raging Winds

Oh, that I had wings like a dove!  I would fly away,

and be at rest; truly, I would flee far away; I would

lodge in the wilderness; I would hurry to find a 

shelter for myself from the raging wind and tempest.

Psalm 55:6-8

The monster EF5 tornado that ravaged Oklahoma on Monday left a trail of death and destruction in its wake.  The photographs are horrifying:  entire neighborhoods flattened to rubble; two schools reduced to piles of building material; the entire front of a hospital destroyed.  The death toll was 24 - 9 of them children.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Moore, Oklahoma and the surrounding communities who suffered such unbelievable loss.

Oklahoma lies in the geographical area known as "Tornado Alley" which stretches from South Dakota to Central Texas.  Three-quarters of the world's tornadoes occur in the United States because of its geography.  Warm, wet air blowing in from the Gulf of Mexico collides with cold, dry air coming from the Rocky Mountains, producing huge thunderstorms.  Weathermen have advance warning of the storms, but the pattern of how and when a tornado will form is very difficult to predict.  Many tornadoes last for only a few minutes.  The Oklahoma tornado was on the ground for 45 minutes, encompassing a path two miles wide.

There are those who will say that God "sends" such destructive weather as a judgment upon the sinful and guilty.  We always need someone to blame in great tragedies, and God is very convenient for a scapegoat - after all, He is not likely to pop down here and defend Himself.  But is God responsible?  When I typed that question into Google, up popped the Wiki Answers website, which said: God is not causing the earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, droughts, and volcanic eruptions that are so often in today's news. He is not using these to bring punishment on certain peoples. To a large extent, these are caused by natural forces that have been operating since the earth's creation.

Rachel Held Evans, in her thoughtful article, The Abusive Theology of "Deserved"  Tragedy, states:

While the world is still in shock, while we struggle to find the words to convey our grief and compassion and to weep with those who weep, [someone] jumps in with an explanation, and it’s always the same: Bad things happen because God is angry. This is God’ judgment on undeserving, sinful people. Repent. We brought this on ourselves.

There are those who will say exactly that.  But they could not be more wrong.  - to be continued