Haiti and the devil (part 3)
“Think of our new village here as the home of Jesus Christ, not the scene of a disaster. Life is not a disaster. Life is joy! You don’t have food? Nourish yourself with the Lord. You don’t have water? Drink in the Spirit.” This was the Sunday message of Rev. Joseph Lejeune in Port-au-Prince, shouted over a loudspeaker to the grieving Haitians gathered around him. The New York Times recently described the vibrant evangelical community on the island, rallying their people in prayer and worship. Caught in one of the worst natural disasters in human history, they are seeking ways to glorify God and spread his grace.
Why did God allow this tragedy? As we noted in previous columns, the alleged 1791 pact with the devil stands on historical foundations which are ambiguous at best. But what about the larger theological question: does God use natural disasters to judge and punish sin? Whatever we believe about the 1791 revolution, should we see the January 12 earthquake as a manifestation of divine wrath?
I don’t think so, for three reasons.
First, divine judgment in Scripture is preceded by clear warnings. There is no question that God sometimes uses disasters to punish sin and accomplish his will. The Flood, the Exodus, and the plagues described in the Book of Revelation come immediately to mind. But each followed warnings to those who would face such judgment.
Noah was a “preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5) for the century it took him to build the ark, calling the people to repentance before it was too late. According to Jewish tradition, he told the people that he was making an ark to save himself from the coming flood, but the people “heeded not his words, they mocked at him, and used vile language; and Noah suffered violent persecution at their hands.”
Moses likewise forewarned Pharaoh about the coming plagues (Exodus 7-11); Revelation warns the world of the wrath to come at the end of history. I know of no one who claims that God sent specific prophetic warnings to the nation of Haiti preceding the January 12 earthquake.
Second, God judges sin when it happens, not two centuries later: “The soul who sins is the one who will die” (Ezekiel 18:4). There have been seven major earthquakes in Haiti preceding the January 12 disaster: in 1860, 1770, 1761, 1751, 1684, 1673 and 1618. Note that six of them came before the alleged 1791 pact with the devil. By contrast, God “saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become” (Genesis 6:5) and brought the Flood against them. The Exodus punished Pharaoh, not his descendants generations after his persecution of the Jews.
Last, theologians typically grant miraculous status only to events which defy natural explanation. The earthquake in Haiti was magnitude 7; there are 12 to 15 earthquakes of such power each year. The Haiti earthquake was caused by movement between the North American and Caribbean tectonic plates. By contrast, there is no natural explanation for the global Flood or the parting of the Red Sea as described in Scripture.
The crushing poverty which has plagued Haiti for centuries has clear natural causes. When Columbus established the first European colony in the New World, Old World diseases killed many of the Arawak Indians on the island. Others were enslaved or murdered, to be replaced by African slaves. By 1789, 32,000 whites ruled 500,000 slaves. A succession of despots, dictators, military coups and foreign interventions have plagued the nation ever since.
We can speculate about God’s role in allowing the earthquake in Haiti, but we cannot speculate about our role in responding. Paul instructs us to “mourn with those who mourn” (Romans 12:15). Scripture promises, “He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done” (Proverbs 19:17). John asks, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” (1 John 3:17).
There is a rabbinic story about a man who complains to God about the disasters and disease plaguing the world and asks, “Why don’t you do something about all the problems we’re facing?” God responds, “I was just about to ask you the same question.”
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at 1:47 PM
“We can speculate about God’s role in allowing the earthquake in Haiti….”
Isn’t that what Pat Robertson did? Why should we also speculate?
We seem to be speculating on the larger point of whether God brings natural disasters as divine judgment; or whether God causes or permits natural disasters; and if He does, how we square the excruciating suffering of poor Haitians with our knowledge of a loving, merciful God. Can we categorically say whether a natural disaster was — or was not — God’s judgment for something? Who is such a prophet?
Neither Mr. Robertson nor Mr. Denison’s words clear much up for me (except history). Pat Robertson does not seem to have a record of accurate forth-telling. And with all due respect, I am confused by Mr. Denison’s reasoning. For example, hasn’t God punished nations and peoples long after the fact? Isn’t that what He says in Revelation, and in the prophets? Even for individual sins, He is famously patient and long-suffering, choosing to act when He wills, in His sovereignty.
Slavery is certainly a plague on nations. But IF (not proven) a group HAD appealed by voodoo/pagan rites to serve a god in return for defeating oppressors, how does that put our God on the side of slavery? Was He on the side of jail when Paul was imprisoned, or murder when John was beheaded and Christ crucified? Maybe I misunderstand this argument.
“[D]ivine judgment in Scripture is preceded by clear warnings.” Is that true? (That’s a real question I’m asking as a lay person). Seems like those “with ears to hear” are usually warned, and the warnings are clearer in hindsight, but…. Second, as to Haiti, is it fact that no one has predicted divine judgment on Haiti? Did they have to predict this particular natural disaster, or just divine judgment? Third, not all natural disasters look inexplicable and miraculous, either to theologians or to regular people (e.g., locusts were “My great army which I sent among you” in Joel). Finally, hasn’t God sometimes used natural disasters as warnings? Earthquakes are included in signs of the end (Matt. 24:7) and preceding final judgment (Rev. 11:13). If we are going to opine on whether an earthquake is or is not God’s doing, wouldn’t it more likely be in His control than not, based on Scripture and our knowledge of Him?
But this leaves us with the terrible knowledge that God allows suffering — suffering on suffering — although He is a loving, compassionate, just God. And that He tells us that He has brought some natural disasters and will bring others.
Listen, I’m not defending Pat Robertson’s remarks. Haitians’ suffering, laid onto deep poverty, is unimaginable. The newscasts are unbelievably gruesome. Hopefully we’ve all donated in whatever measure and direction the Lord moves us, and continue in heartfelt prayer and grieving with the Haitians, not blaming them, leaving some mysteries to God.
In the words of Billy Graham following 9/11:
“I’ve been asked hundreds of times in my life why God allows tragedy and suffering. I have to confess that I really do not know the answer totally, even to my own satisfaction. I have to accept by faith that God is sovereign, and He’s a God of love and mercy and compassion in the midst of suffering.”