Acts of God?

Question

Kids say the darndest things, an 11 year old asked me this and it got me thinking.

Why is it that when people witness the beauty, variety, and unity of the earth and the universe they say its mother nature or somthing, and then when there's a hurricane or tornado or tsnami its an "act of god"?

Is that purely an expression or truly what people think?

And if it is just an expression for a formidable force of nature, why can't the good forces of nature be called acts of God?

Answer 1

The old testament tells us about a lot of horrible things that God did. It really doesn't tell us of anything good unless you count the rainbow he displayed for Noah. It tells us that god sent floods, famine, plagues, etc. I guess that would be why people continue to call the natural disasters "acts of god".

Answer 2

That's a new one on me. Granted, I've heard of disasters being referred to as acts of God, but never have I heard anyone equate the beauty of the Universe to Mother Nature. Indeed, the concept of Mother Nature deals with life within the confines of Earth, not beyond.

Perhaps, in answer to your question, it was a figure of speech started with the intent to vilify God.

Answer 3

Man- through traditions, that is pagan in nature, have always given this thought. But, if you know what the Word says; then you know that God does not cause anything that is negative to happen; that belings to the prince of earth-satan. God is all about LOVE,PATIENCE, & FREE WILL.
People assume that God allows these things to happen, only to draw us closer to Him, to see that w/o Him, we can go nothing. Only when we can truly depend on Him for everything in our lives, that we can no longer be fooled.
The Bible says that the dragon -satan is ruler of the air- earth. He is the one who actually cause these things to happen, just to see if he can pull you away from God.
So, the question is : Where is your faith in God?
When ever horrible things happen to me (I'm a disabled veteran), I still thank God for the learning lesson and that I am alive and have a sound mind.
So, when you have something bad happen to you; you need to gave all praises to God and know that He will see you through it and give you strength to go on.

Answer 4

Perhaps you misunderstand what we mean by "Mother Nature"? We know that God set up nature to work in a certain way, and those rules are what we call "Mother Nature", because like in any household worth it's salt, Dad sets the rules but it's Mom who enforces them lol.

Answer 5

Suffering is the result of human sin. The world is not the way that God created it and because of that, all are vulnerable to the affects of sin in the world. Why does one person suffer and another does not? Why do catastrophes happen to some and no others? It is because sin is in the world. But there will come a day when the Lord will return and cleanse this world of all sin and all suffering.

Answer 6

The Word says God confounds the wise, (meaning the things of God confuse humans because of their own
opinionated nature), and puts wisdom in the mouths of babes.

Answer 7

We have a traditional understanding of God as being something powerful you should fear. There are a lot of teachings about his love, but it has not really sunk in yet.

Slowly as that idea becomes more popular i think you will see the language change too.

Answer 8

You should not believe the 11 year old boy. He is still in the process of gathering knowledge about everything.Every good thing is the act of God

Answer 9

They are! Man has put his opinion on everything and left God out of it. Not all men, but most. (no gender intended) Someone who truely loves the Lord sees that everyday in their life, what you ask.

Answer 10

This question doesn't have any answer until forever.