Tsunamis

I cannot get that huge wave out of my mind. I have seen the footage of the tidal waves rushing over land, buildings, and people. But there is that one still picture of a solid wall of gray water about thirty feet high, poised to devour anything and everything in its path. By now we have all been drawn into the pain and suffering that has been visited upon the millions along the shorelines of South and Southeast Asia. Disasters are not respecters of persons. Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, and Christians have experienced devastating losses. The problems of evil have also rolled in with the waves. There is the immediate, experiential problem of evil that wells up in the heart of a brother whose sister has been swept away into a watery grave. There is the problem of evil as an intellectual puzzle. Why is there evil in this world? There is the problem of evil people preying upon the hurting in humanitarian scams and child kidnapping. There is the problem of natural evil. What is wrong with nature? How did it get this way? As one journalist has said, “Why us? Why here? Why now?”

Interviews have been conducted to elicit explanations from those of various faiths and philosophies regarding the human tragedy of killer tsunamis. Hindus speak of the power and capricious nature of the gods. These angry gods must be placated. Buddhists talk in terms of karma and the necessity of generating “good merit that can be transferred to the deceased as a positive force in their next lifetime.” This would seem to mean that if enough good is done in this life, you won’t live in a fishing village on the Indian Ocean in the next life. The Muslim interprets the destructive tsunami as the will of Allah giving the survivors an opportunity to gain merit for the judgment day to come. Interestingly, there is a rumor passing through Muslim communities that the deadly tsunami was a judgment on Muslims and infidels for moral compromises. Some Muslims are even saying that the earthquake that triggered the tidal waves was due to a joint American and Israeli nuclear test.

Jesus Christ was interviewed by some of His contemporaries regarding two incidents of disaster and death (Luke 13:1-5). The first was the slaughter by Pilate’s soldiers of innocent Galilean worshipers. The second was that of a tower that fell killing eighteen people. The implication was that the victims deserved their death due to some sin they had committed. “Did God judge them for excessive sin?” Jesus’ answer is most illuminating. The death of anyone reveals the sinful condition of every human. A natural disaster, like a deadly tidal wave, exposes the mortality of humanity. People die every day but when thousands die at one time it is particularly poignant. Jesus does not say that those crushed by a falling tower did not deserve their fate. He widens the issue. We all deserve to die because we are all sinners. So what should we do in response to wars and natural disasters? We are to repent. It has been said that a tragedy is a loudspeaker “to call attention to our guilt and destination.” D. A. Carson has pointed out our flawed thinking. “It is a mark of our lostness that we invert these two (peace and tranquility and pain and death). We think we deserve the times of blessing and prosperity, and that the times of war and disaster are not only unfair but come perilously close to calling into question God’s goodness or his power – even perhaps, his very existence. Jesus simply does not see it that way.” This is not to say that Jesus ignored the necessity of kindness and compassion toward those who are suffering. There is the parable of the Good Samaritan which tells us to love our neighbor. But what Jesus is emphasizing in Luke 13 is the recognition of the seriousness of our condition. Without repentance for the sin of rebellion against God and His salvation in Jesus Christ there is a death that will be eternal. To die physically without having placed one’s faith in Christ is the greatest of all disasters.

There is a lesson to be learned from the animal kingdom. It is extraordinary that there has been very little loss of animal life in the tidal waves that hit the shores of Southern Asia. Elephants actually broke their chains and ran to higher ground five minutes before the tsunami hit land. Some special sense of impending danger drove them to a safe place. While we show compassion and minister to the victims of disasters, we must never forget the far greater message bound up in nature’s groaning and mankind’s mortality. Sinners must turn and run to the higher ground of God’s forgiveness (Rom. 3:20-26). Flee now from the wrath to come.

Dr. Howard E. Dial
Berachah Bible Church