The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum God's Omnipotence

1. I suppose there are myriad reasons why Compolo and such as hold to that view believe what they do. However, the main reason is, of course, that they reject the testimony of Scripture in which God has revealed much of His being, sovereignty and providence over His creation.

2. As to God's purpose in sending such "natural disasters", it cannot be denied that one of the reasons for doing so is to punish those who walk after their own ways and refuse to subject themselves to the everlasting and thrice holy God according to His law and righteousness; i.e., to bow before the Lord Christ and cast all their hope and dependence upon Him. Throughout the O.T. we read of God's wrath being poured out upon the nations for their wickedness and especially upon Israel for their apostasy and idolatry. On the other hand, such calamities can be the means by which some are called to repentance. And lastly, it is in such events that the elect are taken home should they die.

From a general perspective, it is surely the sovereign Creator Who brings ALL THINGS to pass according to His eternal counsel and for His own pleasure (glory), as Robin pointed out. Consider, for example, a passage that speaks to this matter more than clearly:

Isaiah 45:5-7 (ASV) I am Jehovah, and there is none else; besides me there is no God. I will gird thee, though thou hast not known me; that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me: I am Jehovah, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil (Heb = calamity, disaster, affliction, misery, etc.). I am Jehovah, that doeth all these things."

To deny that God is directly responsible for such things is to deny His deity and godhead, which is clearly manifested in those things which are clearly seen in the creation itself. (cf. Isa 46:9, 10; Jer 31:35; Ezek 32:8; Nahum 1:8; Rom 1:18-20) Is this truth not manifestly known in the book of Job?

In His grace,