For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.
Gideon G-sharp
God never allows those things--earthquake, hurricanes, and tsunamis--to happen for nothing's sake. They happen for the word of God to come to pass, and signs to tell the world that the world is coming to an end. If you study you bible very well, you will find out those things, like in Matthew 24:33: "So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors."... And we are certainly now seeing "ALL these things".
Matthew 24:37 ..."But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be."
Luke 17:28-30 ..."Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed."
We have to know that these things happening now are part of the signs God is talking about. If you look to the world now, everything is falling: economics, science, men's ideals... they are all falling, so we can see that the only way now is Christ, our lord Jesus.
James Kraft
I saw a video a while back that talked about all of the misserable sinners that led up to Jesus birth. Many were prostitutes. At the end it answered the question of why bad things happen to good people,
It said that is not the question. The question should be why do good things happen to bad people.
Three years ago I had what they call an instant death cardiac arrest. It was the only time for years that I have been around a doctor except for when I go to see one. He started cpr on me right away and kept it up for 15 minutes until the emt's got there and restarted my heart with a defibrilator. It just so happened that one of the best heart surgeons around was working at the hospital where they took me.
I came through surgery with a new heart valve that I do not even have to take medication for as it was a doner valve. There is much more to my story, but that is what happened.
I have often thought of that video and wondered why God called me back from going to be with Him. I only know He has mercy on who He will have mercy and He left me here for His own purpose. All I can do is praise Him. It is really hard to understand why he saved a wretch like me in the first place. None of us know what we would have been like if He had not saved us by His grace. And thank God it is by His grace because I need to rely on it all the time.
My wife of 56 years knows me pretty well and she could not understand what was wrong with me while waiting 2 days for my surgery. I was so peaceful that even I could not understand it. I had the greatest peace come over me that I have ever had in my whole life. I was completely in Gods hands and it did not matter to me whether I stayed on earth or went to be with Him. I cannot sing Amazing Grace all the way though without tears running down my face. I guess that says it all.