Do you think earthquakes are from God? I’m so hurt to see so many lives lost due to this earthquake in Mexico, and I question whether this is the wrath of God.<\/p>\n\t
Without God telling us, it is impossible for mankind to determine if any natural disaster was triggered by God or naturally occurred. “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes<\/em>” (Matthew 24:7). There will always be wars, conflicts, famines, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. It is the way of man and this world, so none of these things serve as signs.<\/p>\n Loss of life is always sad, though to God no life is truly lost. Those who die move on to the next life and the eventual judgment. What we don’t know is whether our life here will be long or short, so we must always be ready for departure. “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away<\/em>” (James 4:14).<\/p>\n\t So true. Thank you.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Do you think earthquakes are from God? I’m so hurt to see so many lives lost due to this earthquake in Mexico, and I question whether this is the wrath of God. Answer: Without God telling us, it is impossible for mankind to determine if any natural disaster was triggered by God or naturally…<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[109,669,182],"class_list":["post-51449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-death","tag-punishment","tag-suffering"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15774,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-think-something-drastic-will-happen-this-year-do-you-think-the-rapture-will-happen-in-the-next-two-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":51449,"position":0},"title":"Do you think something drastic will happen this year? Do you think the rapture will happen in the next two years?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: To your knowledge, do you think something drastic will happen this year, 2008? And do you believe that the Rapture will possibly take place within the next year or two according to God's Word? Thank you. Answer: Neither the term nor the concept that is commonly called \"the rapture\"\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":2023,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-recent-major-earthquake-in-indonesia-an-indication-that-jesus-is-about-to-return\/","url_meta":{"origin":51449,"position":1},"title":"Is the recent major earthquake in Indonesia an indication that Jesus is about to return?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 28, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is the recent major earthquake in Indonesia an indication that Jesus is about to return? Answer: Many people can't stand being left with a mystery. We want to know everything. It can be as mundane as trying to figure out if next winter will be mild or harsh, or\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":7335,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-jesus-about-to-return\/","url_meta":{"origin":51449,"position":2},"title":"Is Jesus About to Return?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 12, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Matthew 24:36-42 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There was an advertisement in the local paper not too long ago titled \u201c8 Compelling Reasons Why: Christ Is Coming Very Soon!\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It starts out saying, \u201cThe evidence for the soon return of Jesus Christ is overwhelming. It could be any moment. One scholar lists 167\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21749,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-the-haitians-make-a-pact-with-the-devil-did-that-cause-the-earthquake\/","url_meta":{"origin":51449,"position":3},"title":"Did the Haitians make a pact with the devil? Did that cause the earthquake?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you know what the basis for Pat Robertson's comments on Haiti and their pact with the devil was based on in terms of the light of Scripture? Is it true they made a pact with the devil? I find his comments to have no scriptural basis at all.\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":7306,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-birds-be-an-example-of-gods-care-when-they-can-suffer-from-droughts-and-famines\/","url_meta":{"origin":51449,"position":4},"title":"How can birds be an example of God’s care when they can suffer from droughts and famines?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 6, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been trying to figure out Matthew 6:25-34 for five years now without success, but came across your website, and am quite curious about your perspective.\u00a0\u00a0Of particular interest is verse 26.\u00a0\u00a0How does God actually feed the birds, and how does such have an application to Christians since we\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":6997,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-you-explain-matthew-2430\/","url_meta":{"origin":51449,"position":5},"title":"Could you explain Matthew 24:30?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question about Matthew 24:30. (I believe it is about the second coming of Christ.) I have been doing some personal study and discussed it with a fellow brother. Basically, it refers to symbolic events similar to instances of God's judgment on mankind or nations. Would like\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\/51449","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=51449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51449\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Response:<\/h2>\n