There are so many terrible things going on in the world today.\u00a0 I have a friend that is saying God is trying to warn us as Americans that we need to straighten up in this country or\u00a0 God will turn His back on us. What are your views on that?<\/p>\n
Thank you.<\/p>\n\t
Every generation is convinced that theirs is the worse morally. “Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For you do not inquire wisely concerning this<\/em>” (Ecclesiastes 7:10).<\/p>\n Are there problems in the world? Most certainly. Does God use upheavals to warn and to cause people to change? Yes, He definitely does. But can I say this is what is happening now? No.<\/p>\n I’m not privy to God’s plans, outside of what He has chosen to reveal in His word. The problem is that we have a tendency to assume that there must be meaning to every event that happens in life. But the Bible states that this is not necessarily so. There is such a thing as random events. “I returned and saw under the sun that – the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all<\/em>” (Ecclesiastes 9:11).<\/p>\n People of Jesus’ day made the same false assumption. A tower fell in Jerusalem, killing a number of people. “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no …<\/em>” (Luke 13:4-5). The falsehood is assuming that bad things only happen to bad people. The entire book of Job was written to dispel this notion. Sometimes bad things happen to good people, and those bad things are even allowed by God as a test.<\/p>\n Could a national disaster be a divine punishment from God? Yes. Such has occurred in the past. But are all national disasters divine punishments? Here the answer is clearly “no.” But without God telling us, we are only left to guess which is which; and given mankind’s history of accuracy, I would say that most often people guess wrongly.<\/p>\n Still, should we straighten up and improve? Absolutely! As God told Israel, “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord GOD. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord GOD. “Therefore turn and live!<\/em>” (Ezekiel 18:30-32).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: There are so many terrible things going on in the world today.\u00a0 I have a friend that is saying God is trying to warn us as Americans that we need to straighten up in this country or\u00a0 God will turn His back on us. What are your views on that? Thank you. Answer: Every…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[182],"class_list":["post-44749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-suffering"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":29802,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-boyfriend-and-i-have-been-having-sex-for-a-while-i-realize-it-is-wrong-but-i-dont-know-how-to-straighten-this-out\/","url_meta":{"origin":44749,"position":0},"title":"My boyfriend and I have been having sex for a while. I realize it is wrong, but I don’t know how to straighten this out","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 2, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My boyfriend and I are both Christians and have been dating for two years now. About a year ago we started sinning. Although, I realize now that what we were doing prior to that was wrong as well. It always seems like every time I talked with him and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14275,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-tell-someone-they-are-sinning\/","url_meta":{"origin":44749,"position":1},"title":"How do I tell someone they are sinning?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a slight problem that I don't think I know how to fix, and this is concerning one of my family members.\u00a0 He has been having sex with his girlfriend for a while now, and one day I stumble on to it (don't ask me how and they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67071,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-you-discount-near-death-experiences\/","url_meta":{"origin":44749,"position":2},"title":"How can you discount near-death experiences?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 16, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have a few comments about near-death experiences. First, you answered \"No\" to Job's question: \"If a man dies, shall he live again?\" To me, your answer is not biblical unless I misunderstand you. Jesus Christ promised eternal life for those who repent while on Earth and believe\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21654,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-sin-not-to-point-out-another-persons-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":44749,"position":3},"title":"Is it a sin not to point out another person’s sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm 17 years old and the only biblical-based Christian in my family at the moment. Hopefully, that will change soon. I know the Bible says that we must warn people of their wickedness or their blood will be on our hands ( Ezekiel 3:18-19). But must we point out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":36610,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-friend-is-committing-adultery-must-i-say-something\/","url_meta":{"origin":44749,"position":4},"title":"My friend is committing adultery. Must I say something?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I need a clear answer. Did I commit sin if I have known from the beginning my friend has committed adultery and still dating someone? She still married, still living in the same house together with her husband and kids. Her husband is nice, old, and busy at work\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21657,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-possibly-warn-everyone-about-all-the-sins-they-are-doing\/","url_meta":{"origin":44749,"position":5},"title":"How can I possibly warn everyone about all the sins they are doing?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Mr. Hamilton, Currently, I am struggling with how to deal with other believers and their sins. Specifically, at my place of work, there are coworkers who claim to be Christian and others to be Catholic. While I understand that you should warn people of their sin, and if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44749\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}