# How does Calvinism view the Tsunami disaster?



## Ken S. (Mar 10, 2005)

In my limited observations, whoever said that the earth quake was a punishment or possibly a punishment triggered anger and vigorouse criticisms. Pastors or Christians saying so were usually blamed and viewed as no different from the Islamic fundamentalists. 

Would anyone tell me how Calvinism view the disaster? Thank you.


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## Ken S. (Mar 10, 2005)

In my limited observations, whoever said that the earth quake was a punishment or possibly a punishment triggered anger and vigorouse criticisms from both Christians and non-Christians. Pastors or Christians saying so were usually blamed and viewed as no different from the Islamic fundamentalists. 

Would anyone tell me how Calvinism view the disaster? Thank you.


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## JonathanHunt (Mar 10, 2005)

A good calvinistic sermon on the Tsunami is here:

http://www.metropolitantabernacle.org/Sound/SOUND A.html

JH


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## BlackCalvinist (Mar 10, 2005)

John Piper - Tsunami and Repentance

From pulpits to news programs, from the New York Times to the Wall Street Journal, the message of the tsunami was missed. It is a double grief when lives are lost and lessons are not learned. Every deadly calamity is a merciful call from God for the living to repent. "œWeep with those who weep," the Bible says. Yes, but let us also weep for our own rebellion against the living God. Lesson one: weep for the dead. Lesson two: weep for yourselves.

Every deadly calamity is a merciful call from God for the living to repent. That was Jesus´ stunning statement to those who brought him news of calamity. The tower of Siloam had fallen, and 18 people were crushed. What about this, Jesus? they asked. He answered, "œDo you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:4-5).

The point of every deadly calamity is this: Repent. Let our hearts be broken that God means so little to us. Grieve that he is a whipping boy to be blamed for pain, but not praised for pleasure. Lament that he makes headlines only when man mocks his power, but no headlines for ten thousand days of wrath withheld. Let us rend our hearts that we love life more than we love Jesus Christ. Let us cast ourselves on the mercy of our Maker. He offers it through the death and resurrection of his Son.

This is the point of all pleasure and all pain. Pleasure says: "œGod is like this, only better; don´t make an idol out of me. I only point." Pain says: "œWhat sin deserves is like this, only worse; don´t take offense at me. I am a merciful warning."

But the topless sunbathers amid the tsunami aftermath in Phuket, Thailand did not get the message. Neither did the man who barely escaped the mighty wave with the help of a jungle gym and palm-leaf roof. He concluded, "œI am left with an immense respect for the power of nature." He missed it. The point is: reverence for the Creator, not respect for creation.

Writing in the New York Times, David Brooks rightly scorns the celebration of nature´s might: "œWhen Thoreau [celebrates] savage wildness of nature, he sounds, this week, like a boy who has seen a war movie and thinks he has experienced the glory of combat." But Brooks sees no message in the calamity: "œThis is a moment to feel deeply bad, for the dead and for those of us who have no explanation."

David Hart, writing in the Wall Street Journal, goes beyond Brooks and pronounces: "œNo Christian is licensed to utter odious banalities about God´s inscrutable counsels or blasphemous suggestions that all this mysteriously serves God´s good ends."

These responses are foreseen in Scripture: "œI killed your young men with the sword . . . yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord" (Amos 4:10). "œThey cursedthe name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory" (Revelation 16:9).

Contrary to Hart´s pronouncement, the Christian Scriptures do indeed license us to speak of God´s "œinscrutable counsels" and how he works in all things for mysterious good ends. To call this banal and blasphemous is like a bird calling the wind under its wing wicked.

Jesus said that the minutest event in nature is under the control of God. "œAre not two sparrows sold for a penny?And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father" (Matthew 10:29). He said this to give hope to those who would be killed for his name.

He himself stood on the sea and stopped the waves with a single word (Mark 4:39). Even if Nature or Satan unleashed the deadly tidal wave, one word from Jesus would have stopped it. He did not speak it. This means there is design in this suffering. And all his designs are wise and just and good.

One of his designs is my repentance. Therefore I will not put God on trial. I am on trial. Only because of Christ will the waves that one day carry me away bring me safely to his side. Come. Repentance is a good place to be.


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## Anton Bruckner (Mar 10, 2005)

OS-X how come you aren't using the typical Dispensational line that Tsunamis, earthquakes etc are as per Matthew 24 signs of the times of the end and the rapture :bigsmile: I am looking out for a plethora of end times books this year and early next year.


ps. good sermon.


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## Puritan Sailor (Mar 10, 2005)

The will of God in natural disasters is multiple. For some victims, it was a judgment. For others it was a means to bring them to Christ. To believers, it was a means of trying their faith, and for some believers, the means to completing their sanctification and bringing them home.


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## BlackCalvinist (Mar 10, 2005)

I am (quoting Piper - it says John Piper at the top).....

that, and not all dispensationalists hold the view that you're lampooning  Keon.

Remember.... Gary North and several 'reformed' folks were in good company with all the Y2K nonsense 5 years ago.


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## Peter (Mar 10, 2005)

http://www.puritans.net/news/tsunamijournalism021405.htm

Free Presbyterian Magazine 
http://www.fpchurch.org.uk/EbBI/fpm/2005/pdf/February.pdf  p61
Notes and Comments
The Asian Tsunami - Rev John Macleod
"That so many of our fellow creatures "“ present estimates are more than 150 000 "“ should have perished in so short a time, and in so awful a fashion, was a divine visitation that ought to make men tremble the world over. To rule out the hand of God in this occurrence and explain it simply in terms of a natural phenomenon resulting from a movement in the earth´s crust, underneath the ocean floor, is to forget that He is in sovereign control of all events, whether we view them as important or unimportant. If the sparrow falling to the ground is an event noted, and ordered, by Him, how much is this the case when the souls of so many thousands are parted from their bodies... Why, if there is a God, does He permit such events, which entail so much human suffering and distress? ... The answer is that He has His own holy ends in view and "œHe doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?" We know that "œto every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven" and that "œHe does not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men". Does He not reveal the reason why, in the days of Noah, He brought in the flood upon "œthe world of the ungodly" and, later on, why He rained fire and brimstone from heaven upon Sodom, where they were "œwicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly"? Do not worldliness, materialism, hedonism, uncleanness and pleasure-seeking characterise our own generation to a great extent and does not this solemn visitation in providence remind us that He remains the same God still? "œNo calamity happens, except through God" is Calvin´s paraphrase of the scripture: "œShall there be evil in a city and the Lord has not done it?" He further adds, "œSo also here the Prophet teaches that men are chastised by God whenever anything adverse happens to them, as though He said that fortune rules not, as the world imagines, and
that things do not take place at random; but that God is at all times the judge of the world". In other words, He is no idle spectator of what is happening here in time and He treats men with "œsharpness and severity" in order that they "œmay know their vices". Some of the places most affected by this tsunami attracted pleasureseekers from all over the world. It has to be noted that the wave arrived on the Lord´s Day, the day that God has set apart to be observed the world over by a holy resting from all employments and recreations that are lawful on other days. We cannot but fear that it found multitudes unprepared for the eternity into which they were ushered so suddenly and without warning..."


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## Bladestunner316 (Mar 10, 2005)

Gods hand is in everything if its wasnt he would not be God. Its not that hard.


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## BlackCalvinist (Mar 10, 2005)

> _Originally posted by Bladestunner316_
> Gods hand is in everything if its wasnt he would not be God. Its not that hard.



*ding, ding, ding, ding!*

That's correct!

Tell him what he's won, Joshua!


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## BlackCalvinist (Mar 11, 2005)

Sorry Josh I wasn't iggin' you about the pic. I decided to go ahead and just do a new banner (is this one ok ?)

When I shrunk the old one down, it lost image quality and you couldn't read it, so I said I'd just use it on other boards.


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