” . . . And the Windows of the Heavens Were Opened . . .” Genesis 7:11
On the evening of Thursday, September 26th, Hurricane Helene hit land near Perry, FL beginning its relentless, remorseless onslaught against the southern US. Announcing her arrival by blasting a 15ft wall of water against Florida’s coast, she flung cars and boats out of her path as if they were a collection of Legos in the path of a locomotive. Cars, boats, homes, beaches, or people could not stand in her way as she raged. What the surge did not blast, the winds blew down. What the winds did not blow over, the rain buried in a murky coffin.
After weeks of garnering energy and water and intensifying to a category 4 storm, Helene turned north and began to unleash the implements of her fury over an 800-mile path. Armed with enough water to fill 60 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, some 40 trillion gallons,[1] sustained winds of 140mph, and more than 1.5 trillion watts of power, Helene unleashed nature’s version of shock and awe on the hapless residents in her path.
Helene’s Power
It is tempting to say that a hurricane is like an atomic bomb detonation. That is wrong. An average hurricane has the energy of 10,000 nuclear explosions,[2] and Helene was no average hurricane. Over its multi-day campaign of carnage, Helene dissipated her whole arsenal of destructive fury. In one location, over 30 inches of water hammered the earth below.
Helene produced damage that would make a sadistic army blush. Its relentless payload shattered old-growth trees like toothpicks and turned homes into small junk yards. Some media outlets report that the hurricane has erased entire communities. The washed-out roads are the only evidence that people once lived—even thrived—there.
The Damage
Helene turned Lake Lure into a refuse collection of trees and debris. The once scenic vacation spot is now just a watery landfill. The hurricane covered Asheville, NC, known for its beauty, cosmopolitan flair, and fall foliage, in mud and muck. The cozy streets of Marshall, NC became brown rivers.
While enduring Helene in their homes, residents heard the sick thud of one tree after another losing its fight to the wind and rain and falling to the soggy ground. The waters rose. With no avenue for escape, many climbed to their roofs hoping the waters would reside and praying for rescue. For some, the rescue never came. There are haunting images and videos of families clinging to life—and to each other—on their rooftops only to be swept away by the mirey tide.
The Aftermath
For the survivors, life is a challenge. Without electricity, safe water, fuel, or access to food, the condition for many survivors is rather dire.
Once the survivors are rescued, once the fallen are found, once the hungry are fed and the wounded treated, the question will emerge as it always does: where was God? From an office hundreds of miles away, it is easy to ponder. For now, though, there is no time for pondering.
Courage and hope are the needs for the day. For those who can act, there are people who need your help immediately.
Compassion
As frequently as I might grouse and cringe about my tribe of Christians, on days like this one, Baptists are without peer among volunteer organizations. They will arrive in yellow shirts, hats, and vests. They will bring food and water. Arriving with their emergency buses, they will set up feeding, laundry, and shower stations. As natural organizers, they will scope out the damage and create a reconstruction plan. Soon numerous teams will ascend to the Appalachian communities and help put lives back together. For that, I am grateful.
What Kind of World
When the time comes, however, one must answer the question. Why this hurricane? For that matter, why any hurricane? In 1755, after the Great Lisbon Earthquake, Voltaire wrote a poem asking these very same questions. In his Poème sur le Désastre de Lisbonne the infamous skeptic asked,
Are you so sure the great eternal cause,
That knows all things, and for itself creates,
Could not have placed us in this dreary clime
Without setting volcanoes under our feet?
Set you this limit to the power supreme?
Would you forbid it use its clemency?
Are not the means of the great artisan
Unlimited for shaping his designs?[3]
His question was about earthquakes. Essentially, he is asking if God is all-powerful why did God create a world where earthquakes happen? From what scientists know, earthquakes are somehow essential for life.
His question is relevant to hurricanes as well. If God is omnipotent, why did God create a world with hurricanes in it? Again, a scientist might say that hurricanes are somehow necessary for life.
Both of those responses, however, miss his point. If God is omnipotent, why did God not create a better world, a world where these disasters are not necessary?
Missing the Point
While Voltaire’s question is pointed, it depends on something that violates Christian belief. Voltaire believed the cosmos is exactly the cosmos God created, at least that is what he thought Christians to believe. That is not the Christian story, however. Yes, it strikes unbelievers as far-fetched, but the Christian faith teaches that the cosmos is a fallen cosmos. Irrevocably ruined by sin, the cosmos is a shell of its former glory. Nature in its beauty is still “red in claw and tooth.”
The good news of the Gospel is that God bringing a “new heaven and a new earth.” The remarkable feature of this new world is that it lacks death, disease, and decay. The old world will pass away.
The world of our experience is a world of sin. Death and sin belong together. So, why do natural disasters happen? They happen because the cosmos itself is ruined. The ruined cosmos is a cosmos where disasters happen, and there is often no obvious connection between cause and effect. Being good is no insulation from disasters. Being evil is no guarantee that a natural disaster will hit. A good person and an evil person both might suffer from a hurricane. Jesus reminds his disciples of that lesson in Luke 13.
Avoid Blame
In the coming days, people will be quick to blame. Some will blame the residents of the area for the disaster. Their political conservatism, they will blame for the disaster. Others will blame the residents of Asheville for being liberals. These will blame the progressive political and cultural thought prominent in Asheville for provoking the wrath of God.
Both of these mutually exclusive explanations are mistaken. These easy explanations are forms of magical thinking.
The best explanation I know is this: we live in a broken cosmos. As long as we live in a ruined cosmos, horrors happen. They can appear random, and searching for a direct cause and effect is pointless. What we know is that God in God’s holiness is reversing the ruin of creation. The first part of that reversal is the reversal of death accomplished in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The victory over evil and even natural disasters (most theologians call natural disasters natural evil), has already been won. The new world shall come.
When the time comes for questions, looking for cheap blame will not help or comfort. The only comfort I know is the promise of God.
Also by Layne Wallace:
[1] “How Helene and Other Storms Dumped 40 Trillion Gallons of Rain on the South | AP News,” accessed October 1, 2024, https://apnews.com/article/rainfall-helene-carolina-tennessee-georgia-climate-change-flood-fcba634e14a0ffa1a8e1fa85d7e2b390.
[2] “#WeatherInAMinute: How Much Energy Is in a Hurricane?,” CBS 42 (blog), July 13, 2021, https://www.cbs42.com/weather/weatherinaminute-how-much-energy-is-in-a-hurricane/.
[3] “Untitled Document,” accessed October 1, 2024, https://courses.washington.edu/hsteu302/Voltaire%20Lisbon%20Earthquake.html.
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