Photo Credit: au_tiger01
“THERE were bodies everywhere, and we could not recognize where our house used to be,” said a Sri Lankan man after a tsunami destroyed his village in December 2004. In an article on the disaster, a religion editor said that he sometimes finds himself “praying through clenched teeth.”
Many view natural disasters as divine punishment. One columnist described a devastating hurricane as “the fist of God.” In the United States, some religious leaders described events like Hurricane Katrina as “God’s wrath” on “sin cities.”
“GOD is love,” states the Bible. (1 John 4:8) He is also just and merciful. “The Rock, perfect is his activity, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness, with whom there is no injustice; righteous and upright is he.”—Deuteronomy 32:4.
The severity of a disaster does not always relate to the power of the natural forces involved. The concentration of humans in the affected area is often of greater consequence. According to a report published by the World Bank, in more than 160 countries, over a quarter of the population live in areas of high mortality risk from natural disasters. “As you put more and more people in [harm’s] way, you make a disaster out of something that before was just a natural event,” says scientist Klaus Jacob of Columbia University in the United States.
Other exacerbating factors are rapid, unplanned urbanization, deforestation, and the extensive use of concrete to cover ground that would normally absorb runoff. Particularly the latter two can cause destructive mud slides and excessive flooding.
The human factor can also turn an earthquake into a major disaster, for it is not the shock wave of energy that causes most deaths and injuries but collapsing buildings. For good reason seismologists have the saying: “Earthquakes don’t kill people. Buildings kill people.”
Political incompetence can add to the death toll. In one South American land, earthquakes have demolished the capital city three times in the past 400 years. And since the last quake, which took place in 1967, the population has doubled to five million. “But building codes that could protect the population are either lacking or not enforced,” says New Scientist magazine.
“You must not put Jehovah your God to the test,” says Deuteronomy 6:16. True Christians do not have a superstitious outlook on life, thinking that God will always protect them from physical harm. Hence, when danger threatens, they heed the inspired advice: “Shrewd is the one that has seen the calamity and proceeds to conceal himself, but the inexperienced have passed along and must suffer the penalty.”—Proverbs 22:3.
“Be in subjection to the superior authorities.” (Romans 13:1) When an official order is given to evacuate or to follow some other safety procedure, it is wise to take heed. Tadashi stayed away from the danger zone in obedience to an evacuation order and thus avoided injury or death from aftershocks.
When there are no official warnings of a threatening disaster, people have to decide personally when and how to respond, taking into account all the available facts. In some areas local governments may provide helpful guidelines on disaster survival. If such information is available in your area, are you familiar with it? And have you discussed it with your family? (See the accompanying box in watchtower article.) In many parts of the world, under the direction of the local branch office of Jehovah’s Witnesses, congregations of Witnesses have in place emergency procedures to follow should a disaster threaten or occur, and these procedures have proved to be extremely helpful.
EARTHQUAKES, wars, famines, and disease—these are some of the things that Jesus foretold would mark “the conclusion of the system of things” in which we now live. (Matthew 24:3, 7, 8; Luke 21:7, 10, 11) Of course, those events are not acts of God. Neither Jesus nor his Father, Jehovah God, is responsible for them.
But God will be responsible for what the foretold events presage, namely, the coming of God’s Kingdom—a heavenly government in the hands of Jesus Christ—and the destruction of all who reject Jehovah’s sovereignty. (Daniel 2:44; 7:13, 14) Thereafter, earth will be made into a haven of peace, where there will be no fear of natural disasters. In a complete sense, God’s promise will be fulfilled: “My people must dwell in a peaceful abiding place and in residences of full confidence and in undisturbed resting-places.”—Isaiah 32:18.
“As for the one listening to me,” God promises, “he will reside in security and be undisturbed from dread of calamity.”—Proverbs 1:33.
Jehovah’s Witnesses strive to listen to God by reading his inspired Word regularly and applying its teachings. They invite you to do the same. Yes, all who obediently listen to Jehovah have no need to dread the future and the calamity that will befall the wicked. Instead, they can look forward to gaining everlasting life in Paradise on earth, where they will “find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.”—Psalm 37:10, 11. _ www.watchtower.org
