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An earthquake in Pakistan kills nearly eighty thousand people. A tsunami overwhelms the coastline of the Indian Ocean, killing more than two hundred fifty thousand people. A hurricane slams into the southern United States and causes flooding that kills nearly one thousand people. A mudslide in Central America causes six hundred people to be buried alive in a matter of minutes.
For more than a year, our television screens have been filled with images of devastation and human suffering caused by natural disasters. And for more than a year, whenever something catastrophic happens, television, radio, and the Internet are filled with opinions as to why these things have happened.
On one end of the spectrum, people ask how a loving, merciful God could allow so much destruction. Why did God “let” the hurricane bear down on New Orleans? Why did he “permit” the earthquake that caused the Indian Ocean tsunami? Many who ask these questions believe that God is either too distant to care about what goes on in the world, or that there really is no God at all.
On the other end of the spectrum are those who suggest that God himself was behind these disasters. All of these…
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