Counsel #14 — God’s Judgments?

Picture: Counsel #14 — God’s Judgments?CSI 96.1

Are natural calamities ever judgments from God? Yes, sometimes they are (for example, Noah’s flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the ten plagues of Egypt). But we must not say that every calamity or catastrophe is a direct judgment from God on the people impacted.^{[145]https://adventistyouthministries.org/?view=article&id=182:what-about-natural-disasters-being-gods-judgment&catid=70}CSI 96.2

“Some people there with Jesus at that time told him about what had happened to some worshipers from Galilee. Pilate had them killed. Their blood was mixed with the blood of the animals they had brought for sacrificing. Jesus answered, ‘Do you think this happened to those people because they were more sinful than all other people from Galilee? No, they were not. But if you don’t decide now to change your lives, you will all be destroyed like those people!’” Luke 13:1-3 ERVCSI 96.3

“God’s supreme rulership and the sacredness of His law must be revealed to those who persistently refused to render obedience to the King of kings. Those who choose to remain disloyal must be visited in mercy with judgments, in order that, if possible, they may be aroused to a realization of the sinfulness of their course. Ellen White in Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 93CSI 96.4

Reflect: Theodicy is a hot topic among both religious and secular people. How does the great controversy between Christ and Satan help to explain the problem of evil?CSI 96.5