God's backhand?

Aaaggghhh. No! No! No! A thousand times no! Natural disasters aren't heavenly judgments. Neither are terrorist attacks that are carried out by enemies of the Christian faith (I call them that because that is what they call themselves).

I will try to make this as clear as I can. Disasters strike large areas and large populations at once. Those areas contain unrighteous. Those areas contain righteous. Those areas contain unrepentant sinners. Those areas contain Christian devotees. In any case, two aspects cannot be denied about the psychological impact of such a disaster: 1) people turn not exclusively to Christianity but to any god or idol that's lying around; 2) people who are swift to beseech God to sake their skins are likely just as swift to ditch Him after the danger passes. Disasters are not for creating new disciples. Someone may give God a chance in response to the disaster, but on its own the disaster is an outrageously awful evangelist.

And no, it's not a punishable offence to elect a Democratic president who tries to come up with a government plan to support health care for the poor and/or unemployed. Even if it were, wouldn't it be spectacularly unjust to "smite" both the voters who did and did not vote for "God's candidates" (an oxy moron par excellence)? You can disagree with many political policies without speculating that the other person is an Antichrist.

Yes, I'll readily concede that Christianity is less of an overt factor in the U.S.A.'s culture than it was a century ago. I'll also concede that the U.S.A. is a "sinful nation" in the sense that many sinners are citizens. Of course, God "tolerates" us until the end times arrive. But don't these same conclusions apply to every other nation on planet Earth, and every other nation throughout history?

Insist if you will that the U.S.A. is on a downward spiral away from God's favor and we are ultimately doomed. Isn't it also true that there have been other times and places in which Christianity had barely any influence at all, e.g. less than 10% of the populace are Christian devotees, and yet God doesn't and didn't summarily snuff out those times and places? Perhaps we should be eternally grateful that God didn't crush the entire 1st century Roman empire by executing every inhabitant, thereby eliminating the infant church! Look it up. Many of those pagan Romans were surely as deserving of terrible wrath as the modern-day U.S.A.

So frustrating. People look for God's handiwork everywhere except in how they live their lives day by day. The posture during a disaster isn't shaking one's fist or applauding supposed comeuppance. It's reaching out an open hand to help. And helping regardless of the recipient.