The Blame Game

Dave asks:

I've been considering, most of my online day, what to say about folks who take a disaster and attribute it to the Wrath of God, such as Mr. Mohammed Jaber al-Tamini of Iraq, who opines that the Columbia disaster is God’s response to Israeli aggression against Iraq.

It's not, certainly, something that is attributable to Islam alone. After all, one of the more famous examples of it, of late, was the Rev. Jerry Falwell’s attribution of the 9/11 attacks to God being torqued with gays, liberals and feminists. His brother in service to Christ, the Rev. Pat Robertson, has similarly suggested that Florida gets hit by hurricanes because, among other things, Disney World allows "Gay Days."

So it’s not a sectarian thing. Hmm.

How about idiocy? Can we blame it on idiocy? Heartless, egocentric idiocy? 'Cause, to be honest, that seems to cover all the bases here.

A better example is Fred Phelps (who shows up every once in a while here in Fort Fun) and his sick reaction to the Columbia tragedy.

Jesus explains it this way in Luke 13:1-5:

1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." (NIV) [emphasis mine]

The proper way to look at tragedy is not now evil they are but how evil we are because as Jesus stated above being a victim of tragedy does not show greater guilt. To answer Dave's question, it is a combination of being egocentric and a mechanical view of how God's wrath is meted out. As we see from verse five, that is for the next world, not this one.