Did God Punish Texas With Hurricane Harvey?

The Boston Globe newspaper headline read, “A professor said Harvey was ‘karma’ because Texas voted Republican”

The headline from the Daily Mail, a British publication read, “God drowned all the neo-Nazis of Texas': French magazine Charlie Hebdo prints controversial cover depicting Harvey victims as white supremacists”

These are just a few examples of the hateful accusations from across the country and the world over Hurricane Harvey making landfall in the conservative, Republican, President Trump supporting state of Texas. The claim is that the wrath of God is punishing Texans for their vote, politics and their beliefs.

The entire accusation is built upon two false premises. First, that Republicans, our President and Texans are evil. Secondly, these publications purport that God attacks and punishes evil people for their sins.

Does God work this way? Would God create a natural disaster just to punish “evil” people for their vote, politics or misdeeds?

Let’s see what Jesus has to say about it.

“There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:1-5).

Pilate invaded the Galilean’s and caused their blood to mingle with the sacrificial blood. A tower fell on 18 people, killing them all. Jesus asks, “think ye that they were sinners above all men” because these horrible events happened to them? He then answers His own question with, “Nay”!

But Jesus does give a warning to everyone, “except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish”.

Jesus gives us another great example of how sin and adverse situations don’t necessarily go hand in hand.

“And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from birth. And His disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath the man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him” (John 9:1-3).

We have the wisdom of Solomon who teaches the same thing.

“For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath…I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them” (Ecclesiastes 9:1-2,11-12).

We have an entire book in the Bible dedicated to how horrible things happen to good people. In the Book of Job, God describes Job as, “none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil”.

Everything was taken away from this “perfect” and “upright” man. Job’s family, his possessions, his wealth and his health. Even Job’s friends turned on him.

So why do bad things happen? Simple, because we live in an imperfect world due to sin. No one is insulated from tragedy. As Solomon said, “All things come alike to all” (Ecclesiastes 9:11).

Albert Barnes, the 19^th century theologian makes clear that, “This is not a world of retribution. Good and evil are mingled; the good and the bad suffer, and all are exposed here to calamity.”

John Calvin, the 16^th century theologian, hits the nail on the head when he said if, “God gave a display of his judgment, no more would others, though they might be spared for a time, escape his hand.”

Adequate punishment for sin cannot be handed out in this world. That comes in the next.

The true evil is the propaganda being spread about our country, president and the people of Texas. Always consider the source. Who is spreading these horrible, unbiblical and ungodly lies. It can only come from a horrible, unbiblical and ungodly person.

Bill Hitchcock