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Is all this flooding God's judgement? One perspective:
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Toronto Today:
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Another perspective:
As is the case with any natural disaster – there are always some who turn their attention to blaming God and declaring this as one of His great acts of judgement on His wayward people.
I personally have a real problem with people who attribute such natural disasters to the vitriolic nature of God.
Thankfully God promised after the great flood of Noah to never again use floodwaters to judge human kind. Since then floods have symbolized God’s merciful kindness in delivering us from the devastating effects of drought.
He promises to open the heavens and to pour floods upon the dry ground.
The current floods will redeem our land from barrenness and drought which has plagued us for over a decade.
It is not God’s fault that we have developed our towns in flood plains.
It is not God’s fault that we have had ineffective Governments who refuse to tackle the big issues of putting dams where such waters flow.
It is not God’s fault that we refuse to embrace such deluges as a merciful act – instead of complaining that it has spoilt a few weeks of holidays over the Christmas break.
I am very mindful of the depth of pain inflicted upon our friends who have been directly affected by these devastating flood waters and our hearts go out to them at this time.
However – once we have helped our friends recover, we must look beyond the immediate to see a far brighter picture for the future.
I for one believe that floods upon a drought ridden land may well be the most remedial acts of nature we have seen for a long time.
Consider the fact that the deep artesian water supplies beneath our land are being restocked from the heavens and our natural resources balanced again.
Consider that the great Murray river which for over twenty years has been a trickle of it’s former flow, is once again flowing and bringing joy to all who share it’s water.
I actually think God may be using the floods as a prophetic sign to declare that He is about to pour out His Spirit upon us once again in great measure.
Perhaps we should all take a moment to turn our hearts toward God and thank Him for His loving kindness toward us, and for His ability to see beyond the immediate and provide for the natural needs of this great land He has given to us.Comment
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Calamities and God’s JudgmentWhat Can We Learn From Natural Disasters?
“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” (Luke 21:25, 26)“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.” (Matthew 24:7, 8)
The Tsunami caught the world’s attention. Most recently major hurricanes have filled the news. These natural disasters have raised a question in the minds of many Christians—“Is this God’s judgment?” This is a simple question; the answer is complex. In order to understand the relationship of calamities in history to God’s wrath against sin, we need to first establish some important categories by searching the Scriptures. Specifically we need to distinguish between general revelation and specific revelation and between God’s moral will and His providential will. Furthermore we need to understand the difference between exemplary judgment and the direct outpouring of God’s wrath against the whole world at the end of the age.
From this study we will conclude that the hurricanes that have ravaged parts of America show us that we are living in the end times, we are weak, vulnerable creatures, and we need to repent because these are merely birth pangs that precede the future outpouring of wrath predicted in the Bible. However, the hurricanes themselves are not God’s direct judgment on cities or nations for particular sins. I have two reasons for saying this: 1) there are no inerrant, authoritative prophets to tell us this and 2) they do not fit the pattern of exemplary judgments in the Bible because the righteous were not spared.
Lots More: http://cicministry.org/commentary/is...m#.UdtjKju1GSoNatural disasters are not God’s direct, full judgment on sin. If they were, God would spare the righteous. God has occasionally brought exemplary judgment such as the Flood, the destruction of Sodom, and the plagues on Egypt. Such judgments were accompanied by special revelation and in those judgments, the righteous were spared. The calamities that have been coming upon the world in recent years, including the tsunami and the hurricanes hitting America do not fit the category of exemplary judgment because there was no special revelation about them and the righteous were not spared. These were calamities that God providentially allowed for purposes we only partly know. The part we know is what the Bible says about such happenings.We know that Jesus said, “Unless you repent you shall all likewise perish.” This means that we are warned that we better be right with God now, because tomorrow we might be swept away from the scene of history—then it will then be too late.
We also know that world history is running on borrowed time. Jesus said, “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.” The delivery is going to be the great tribulation, seven years in which the wicked world system will be allowed to have the leader it wants (antichrist), the unity it wants, and will be deluded into thinking it can do all this in rebellion against God. But this short lived “peace and safety” is delusional: “While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape” (1Thessalonians 5:3). God’s wrath will be poured out as described in the Book of Revelation. No one will escape other than those whose names are in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Natural calamities such as mentioned by Jesus warn us that time is running out.
We learn something else from calamities. We learn that we are finite and weak, and that we are not the masters of our own destiny. Sin deludes us into thinking we can solve all our own problems. God providentially sends reminders that we cannot. Seeing our weakness and helplessness should point us to the need for the gospel.
Jesus gave a message to believers: “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28). The time is soon coming when we will no longer be vexed by the fact that God allows the wicked world to persecute the righteous. But we must remember what Peter told us as we wait—the delay is caused by God’s mercy because there are yet others who will repent. Let us be committed to gospel preaching so that those others may be rescued before it is too late.Comment
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study meteorology instead of a book written by bronze age superstitious tribes
Stalled high pressure system -- a ‘firehose of moisture’ -- caused floods in Calgary
EDMONTON - A massive high pressure system held in place by a loop in the jet stream is what’s behind both the Calgary floods and balmy temperatures in the Yukon.
“It doesn’t let systems through,” said Chris Scott, chief meteorologist at the Weather Network. He watched as what would otherwise be just a simple spring storm got stuck west of Calgary.
The weather system came over the mountains from the Pacific. As it spun and stalled over the foothills, it pulled in moisture from Saskatchewan, the United States and the Gulf of Mexico. Starting Wednesday around suppertime, it poured for 15 to 18 hours straight across most of southwest Alberta.
“It was like this firehose of moisture,” Scott said. “(The weather system) just kept slamming this moisture into the mountains.”
One spot at the Three Sisters Dam in Kananaskis got 220 millimetres of water in 36 hours, which is “nearly half of the total annual precipitation for that area.”
Meteorology and climatology explains rains and floods.Comment
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