Natural disasters have killed thousands of innocent lives over the past few decades. If people aren't killed, either their home, or someone else they know is killed. Food is destroyed and water is contaminated, leaving people short of basic resources to survive. Through it all, people continue to fight. Many question how a person could take so much destruction and poverty and wonder why they just don't give up. The reason people keep fighting is due to their human instincts to stay alive. However, why do natural disasters only seem to happen to poor countries? In Leonard Pitts article, Sometimes the Earth is Cruel, he questions this, the answer is, the devil, God, and geography.
The first answer to Leonard Pitts questioning of natural disasters in his article, Sometimes the Earth is Cruel, is the devil. Throughout life, the devil is always trying to break people down and get them on his side. Many poor people will have a strong faith because it is all they can count on in life. Their faith is what gives them strength to keep going. The devil wants to disrupt people's relationship with God and he sees poorer people an
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Throughout hard times, many will question God and why he lets horrible things happen to them. They will begin to doubt him and his motives. Some even doubt his existence. This is what the devil wants. This is what the devil strives so hard to do. However, people must keep faith and know that God is on their side. God doesn't let his people go through anything they aren't capable of overcoming. In the article, The Earth is Cruel, by Leonard Pitts, he says, "As the playwright put it, your arms are too short to box with God." Even though people may not always understand why God is letting them go through something, they must trust him. People can't change the situation so they must trust in God to conquer what they are going
Drea Knufken’s thesis statement is that “As a society, we’ve acquired an immunity to crisis” (510-512). This means that humans in general, or citizens of the world, have become completely desensitized to disasters, we think of them as just another headline, without any understanding of their impact upon fellow
If God is powerful and loving the humankind, then why does He permit evil as well as suffering in this world? Various answers had been offered by many Christian philosophers and many victims of suffering, but there was not a lucid answer that could settle this argument permanently. God uses malicious acts of this world to rise up His own people and remind them that there is an opportunity that they can posses their eternal life. Literature, especially biblical literature has exploited this biblical nature to its fullest in various types of forms, including the play J.B. by Archibald MacLeish. In the play J.B, Archibald MacLeish reanimates and modernizes elements taken from the story of Job to come up with his own response to the ultimate question which has been asked by countless generations, “Why do the righteous suffer?” Throughout the play, Archibald MacLeish delineates the sudden corruption of J.B and his family, his calmness despite the helpless pieces of advice from the Three Comforters, and his unusual ending in order for God to test if one’s will and faith are strong enough to rebuild oneself after an irrational decadence.
this because he does not want to believe in a God that would let him suffer the way he has (by
Sometimes the earth is cruel. In Leonard Pitt’s essay Sometimes the Earth is Cruel he explains this concept of unfairness. Pitt’s focuses on the country of Haiti and the mass destruction it has faced. He uses a specific language when comparing the relationship between Haiti and nature. For example comma he states, “Sometimes though, you have to wonder if the planet itself is conspiring against this humble little nation.” Pitt’s talk as if the earth has it out for Haiti, and if you look at the facts, he might be right. Haiti has been attacked by the earth in 1994, 1998, 2004, three times in 2005, and twice in 2008. Some are saying the death toll may be as many as 100,000. One main theme that Pitt’s gives his readers is that no matter
When you are in a tough situation, does God take your side and lead you? During the revolutionary time period, the 13 colonies were under British control. After the British put a stamp tax on the colonies to help pay for the Seven Years War, the colonists were done with the king of Great Britain. In Crisis, number one, Thomas Paine wrote his thoughts and ideas of what was needed from the colonies to escape British control. He told the people they needed to fight and used pathos to persuade them. God played a big role in the colonists and revolutionaries lives, therefore Paine insured them that God was on their side and that they would win the war.
Like Kushner, I think God gives us the strength to cope with bad things when they come our way. Ultimately, I believe the nature of reality is blind as to weather you’re a good or evil. You could be a good person your whole life and then one day something tragic happens; you lose your job, your house
'Turia Pitt could not outrun the fire, but she was not ready to die.' - Everything to Live For by Turia Pitt and Libby Harkness. Turia Pitt is an inspiring Australian, who has motivated many different people from around the world. She is known for surviving a horrific bushfire whilst doing an ultra-marathon and spending over 800 days in a hospital recovering. Her goal is to prove that we can achieve anything, with the right mindset. Turia was born on 24 July 1987, in Fa'a'ā Tahiti, but is now an Australian citizen. Turia is an amazing person who we all should admire for her bravery and determination.
We hear about the murders, assaults, robberies, natural disasters and all other evil or natural destructive events in the world, we have to ask the question, how could God let such bad things happen to good people or to let these disastrous events happen at all. Now think about the world and its population if evil or natural disasters did not exist; the world population would be unimaginable. Natural disasters are beyond human control, but murders, assaults, robberies and all other evil or bad deeds committed by human beings is a matter of exercising bad choice or misuse of free will.
Mother Nature cannot be controlled and as humans we are forced to deal with various natural disasters. We have earth quakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, tornadoes and many other types of events that are weather driven. Many natural disasters affect our everyday lives and individuals may be forced to safe areas to protect themselves from potential danger. Natural disasters can also place a financial burden on people in affected communities. Hurricanes are strong storms that have been hitting the United States for as long as history can remember. Many hurricanes have hit the southeastern part of the United States the past 100 years. Some of these hurricanes have left little effect of society while others have scarred into the history
these terrible events happen to him and even starts to question if God is even real. “For the first
Natural Disasters can occur anywhere at anytime. Some are more predictable than others, but they all bring hardship to everyone’s life. Examples of natural disasters are Earthquakes (Haiti 2010), Tornadoes, Tsunami, Hurricanes, Wild Fires, Winter Storms, Heat waves, Mudslides and Floods. Regardless of what kind of disaster occurs, bottom line, everyone needs to be prepared mentally and physically to deal with the aftermath. Education is the first step to prepare you to deal with any major disaster. Three of the major disasters that can potentially disrupt normal day to day operations in our lives, are Hurricanes, Tsunamis and Tornadoes.
August 23rd, 2005; Hurricane Katrina, formed over the Bahamas, hitting landfall in Florida. By the 29th, on its third landfall it hit and devastated the city of New Orleans, becoming the deadliest hurricane of the 2005 season and, one of the five worst hurricanes to hit land in the history of the United States. Taking a look at the years leading to Katrina, preventative actions, racial and class inequalities and government, all of this could have been prevented. As presented in the newspaper article, An Autopsy of Katrina: Four Storms, Not Just One , we must ask ourselves, are “natural” disasters really natural or, are they a product of the people, who failed to take the necessary actions that needed to be taken?
In an article by Matt Slick “Why does God allow evil and suffering in the world?” He says “the Christian can have confidence in God knowing that His ways are above our ways. As the Bible says, the just shall live by faith (Hab. 2:4). It does not matter whether there is obstacles the messenger has faith in him to deliver a message sent by his king, and that is why disciples do not give up in trying to get one to listen to God’s
There are different types and causes of disasters; man-made, natural and a combination. Man-made disasters are caused by human error or human actions that cause harm to the environment, and people (Baack & Alfred, 2013). Natural disasters are caused by nature a hurricane for example; and a combination; NA-TECH (natural-technological) examples are earthquakes that cause structural damage such as a collapse of a bridge (Nies & McEwen, 2011). Communities must have effective emergency preparedness in place to reduce the causalities from a disaster.
The English writer John Ruskin once said “Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather,” (John Ruskin Quotes - Page 4) but I’m sure there are many who disagree with him. Nature’s beauty is a gift from God, but occasionally nature is not so aesthetically pleasing. Natural disasters occur often around the world destroying the lives of many on a regular basis. An example could be the recent flood victims of Australia or even last year’s earthquake in Haiti. There are several types of natural disasters¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬- from earthquakes to hurricanes and floods; they often strike without warning and leave a path of destruction and despair in their path.