Did God send Sandy?

Warning: If you are easily offended, please do not read any further.

I can't believe some still believe that storms are from God and that it is sent so people might repent. Another popular interpretation is that storms are happening because America is not supposedly standing with Israel. 

i. If the storms are from God, Jesus was defying God's will when he calmed the storm.

ii. 'Repent' is one of the most misunderstood words in Christianity. It is associated with guilt, deep remorse, beating one's chest, wailing and all the associated actions.

The word 'repent' comes from the Greek word Metanoia, which simply means "a change of mind". Disasters do not make one repent; it is the GOODNESS of God that leads to repentance (Rom 2:4).

Think about it, who in their right minds would want to have a "relationship" with a god who is looking forward to "test" them with natural disasters?

iii. As for the Israel connection, Obama has said time and again that under his leadership, America is and will continue to stand with Israel. And given his penchant for drones, there is no doubt that he will bomb Iran, should Iran act on their dumb idea to "wipe Israel off the map." But I applaud Obama's strong stand for maintaining diplomacy. 

What else does the religious zealots need? Go ahead and bomb Iran without any solid proof that they have nuclear weapons? What was the excuse again, for invading Iraq?

Forget about international politics, do we realize how colossally stupid we sound to 'the world' (that we so love to judge and condemn) when we scream "pro-life", but are for war (regardless of how overt or passive we are in our support)?

iv. This is the New Covenant. God is not angry, as we are led to believe from the Old Testament.

v. God is love. Love does not destroy lives and property. How simpler could it get?

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear..." (1 John 4:18). Any teaching, interpretation and/or prophecy that promotes fear is not from God.

At the end of our lives, may we not say, "I was a faithful parrot all my life". We may not have all the answers, but let's not blindly believe something because "that's what my favorite preacher says" or "that's what I've heard all my life, so it must be right".

God gave us a brain, to think.

Disobedient Jesus?

Couple of weeks ago, we saw the effects of Hurricane Irene that hit the East Coast of the United States. Some have died and others have lost their homes due to flooding. And as always, some believe that God sent the storm because He was upset with the the East Coast. 

Here are some reasons why that belief does not hold any water:

1. It is the goodness of God that leads to repentance, not death and destruction. It is the enemy that comes to steal, kill and destroy, not God.

2. Christ demonstrated his love for us by dying for us while we were sinners. Now all of a sudden He is upset?

3. Contrary to the popular assumption, God is not "angry" in this dispensation of Grace. In fact, "God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son ..." to be tortured and crucified for us. That's how much He is in love with the world (not just the Christians).

4. The sin issue has been taken care of on the Cross, once and for all. Love won't be insulted, but if it can, I would assume it would be insulting to God, when we say that God sends natural calamities due of sin; because in other words, what we are implying is, that Jesus' sacrifice was not enough to take care of the sin problem. Please allow this thought to sink in.

5. Lastly, the point that inspired the title of this post. If God is the author of storms, Jesus was defying His Father's will when He calmed the storm. But we know that Jesus was not being disobedient because He only did what His Father did.

Sure, it might take a storm (literally or metaphorically) or two to free ourselves from our undying dependence on the self and trust God wholeheartedly, but the implicit belief that God is the author of every storm, is baseless under the new covenant.