"Combating Natural Disasters With Acts Of God."

Of course, catastrophes like the earthquake in Haiti always raise difficult questions about the goodness and the power of God. Why didn’t he stop it? Doesn’t he want the best for people? Doesn’t he care about the people in Haiti and other poor countries? These are important questions, but a big part of answering them comes in reversing the line of questioning. Why didn’t people use the resources God entrusted them with to do more to prevent the damage and loss of life? Don’t people in other, wealthier countries care about disadvantaged people in Haiti?

These might seem like unfair questions since we all know people have no control over natural disasters. But we do have control over many things that would radically reduce the suffering and loss of life that accompany those disasters. If this sounds odd, consider this: the San Francisco earthquake in 1989 was the same magnitude as the one in Haiti, 7.0. Sixty three people died as a result of the San Francisco quake; the total dead in Haiti will be somewhere over one hundred thousand.

What this shows, of course, is the difference in building codes and the way public officials did and did not prioritize safety in urban development. The pitifully flimsy buildings in Port Au Prince are largely a result of the greed and callousness of some of Haiti’s past political leaders who prioritized their personal wealth and security over public safety and well being. This corruption, not God, was a direct cause of horrible suffering for many people in Haiti. But then governments, especially third-world governments, are infamous for inefficiency and corruption, so why hasn’t more money been funneled in to non-governmental agencies (NGOs) by individuals and corporations in the private sector? I recently heard a news story about a high level executive of some Wall Street financial institution who was making a salary of over four hundred thousand dollars, and then received a bonus of a few million. Even in the areas of the U.S. where the cost of living is the highest, no human being needs four hundred thousand dollars a year to live a healthy, fulfilling life. I don’t know whether or not the CEO in question gives his excess millions to help end the suffering of people in places like Haiti, but many don’t (and many of us don’t nearly as much as we should). And so it is the greed of the wealthy, not God, that is also a direct cause of suffering for the earthquake victims.

To add to this, many people question why Haiti has been so consistently impoverished for so long since it shares the same climate and natural resources with the Dominican Republic which thrives in comparison. Remember, Haiti was the first all black nation born from a successful slave revolt. They revolted from France. A few decades later, the king of France threatened Haiti with military action unless it paid a crippling sum of money to France to compensate for all the money the French lost in labor costs after their Haitian slaves were free. This human injustice, not God, was a big factor in Haiti’s long term poverty, and consequently a factor in the magnitude of the post-earthquake suffering.

Posted on a website just after the Haiti earthquake, I saw a Salvation Army ad with the best tagline I’ve ever heard: “The Salvation Army: combating natural disasters with acts of God.” In his sovereignty, God decided it was best to create us and the world we live in so that we live everyday with an entrusted power to impact the world for good or for bad. The choices we make with that power make a profound difference one way or another. Because of this, God often chooses to act in the world through his Church. With the Salvation Army line in mind, the question we must grapple with as we face the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti (and so many other evils) is this: Will the “acts of God” that come through Christians be as powerful in healing and providing as the earthquake was in destroying?

MM