Was Katrina Sent by God?

[Clint]

Below is one man's view of why Katrina hit where she did. There are others who say she was aimed directly at the decadence of N.O. by God. There are also other people who's position is that it was the hand of God but for different reasons or that the damage was greater because N.O.s priorities were on sinful activities. There are also those who say God would never do such a thing or that God doesn't control the weather.

I think this could be a great discussion by great people who respect each other's beliefs.

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Israeli spiritual leader: Katrina punishment for Gaza evac
Blames disaster on Bush's support of Jewish withdrawal

Posted: September 8, 2005
9:40 a.m. Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
JERUSALEM – Hurricane Katrina, which some say bears striking similarities to recent events in Israel, was punishment from God for President Bush's support of the evacuation of Jews from the Gaza Strip, a senior Israeli rabbi announced.
""It was God's retribution – God does not short-change anyone," said Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef during his weekly sermon.
Shas is the largest Orthodox Jewish political party in Israel.
"[Bush] perpetrated the expulsion [of Jews from Gaza]," Yosef said. "Now everyone is mad at him. This is his punishment for what he did to Gush Katif, and everyone else who did as he told them, their time will come, too."
One week before Katrina made landfall, Israel carried out the evacuation of 9,500 residents from Gaza's Gush Katif slate of Jewish neighborhoods and four Samaria communities. Residents were forced from their homes by Israeli troops, some dragged away kicking and screaming and placed on buses that took them from the area. The majority of former Katif residents are homeless while the Israeli government struggles to find permanent housing solutions.
The Gaza withdrawal was backed by the U.S. government. Some Middle East analysts and senior Israeli politicians entirely attributed the evacuation plan to pressure coming from the American establishment.
Several Israeli leaders blasted Yosef's comments. Knesset Member Ronnie Brizon of the leftist Shinui party said, "What, God is cross-eyed? He metes out punishments at the wrong place? We're sick and tired of Rabbi Ovadia's primitive worldview. He already did his part; he can remove himself from public life."
Yosef is no stranger to controversy. He recently declared God would strike dead "the evil one" responsible for the Gaza evacuation, referring to Sharon. He also once called on the Israeli army to "joyfully" annihilate Arabs with rockets, and prompted calls for his resignation in 2000 when he stated the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust died because they were reincarnations of sinners in previous generations.
But Yosef is not alone in highlighting what some are calling eerie similarities between Katrina and the evacuation of Gush Katif.
As WND reported, parallels in the two events' repercussions, names and numbers have started a firestorm of speculation on the Internet and even in some synagogues. Similarities pointed out include:
More:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/ar...TICLE_ID=46220

[minks]

I mean no disrespect to beleivers of the faith but...
I wonder when we will see the face of the all mighty in the mud of the aftermath and how much it will go for on ebay?

[abbey]

No disrespect, but what a load of codswallop!

[minks]

Originally Posted by abbey

No disrespect, but what a load of codswallop!

Yes that too.

[Clint]

Originally Posted by abbey

No disrespect, but what a load of codswallop!

"codswallop"... what is that?

Its odd because many muslims thought the same about the Tsunami when that happened. Probably do about this too.

I'm not a christian but like to think I have good christian- like values. To me the very thought that a caring, forgiving God would kill 10,000 innocents is a vile belief. It digusts me. Thats not the God I was taught to believe in when I was young.

I like to think that god has a special hell reserved for folks like this.

'My god' is not in the destruction that took place, but in the spirit of the people of the world- coming out of it.

[Clint]

Originally Posted by ArnoldLayne

Its odd because many muslims thought the same about the Tsunami when that happened. Probably do about this too.

I'm not a christian but like to think I have good christian- like values. To me the very thought that a caring, forgiving God would kill 10,000 innocents is a vile belief. It digusts me. Thats not the God I was taught to believe in when I was young.

That is an argument we often hear. It doesn’t make sense to me. As I understand it, God gives life and God takes it. All of us die one day. I believe God decides what day, what time and in what way we will die.
Death is looked upon as a terrible thing by us. I think the only reason it is considered a terrible thing is that God created us with a will to survive. I believe that death to God is merely a transition. The time and way we die seems random to us. If it didn’t seem random we would order our lives around the day we were scheduled to die.
Believing that God controls natural disasters is completely consistent with my belief that God is a merciful God. Knowing the mind of God and whether or not Katrina was sent to N.O. for a specific reason is beyond my ability as a human being.

[Bez]

It's that BLAME thing again....events like this were happening on earth when man was just a single cell....(sorry to those who believe that we all came from Adam and Eve.)

If you believe in Heaven and Hell then surely this is the DEVILS work.

This good old earth has been spinning for millions of years and in that time there have been millions of catastrophes....it's NATURE...

My answer to the question - In my opinion Katrina was NOT sent by God

[Bez]

Originally Posted by Clint

That is an argument we often hear. It doesn’t make sense to me. As I understand it, God gives life and God takes it. All of us die one day. I believe God decides what day, what time and in what way we will die.
Death is looked upon as a terrible thing by us. I think the only reason it is considered a terrible thing is that God created us with a will to survive. I believe that death to God is merely a transition. The time and way we die seems random to us. If it didn’t seem random we would order our lives around the day we were scheduled to die.
Believing that God controls natural disasters is completely consistent with my belief that God is a merciful God. Knowing the mind of God and whether or not Katrina was sent to N.O. for a specific reason is beyond my ability as a human being.

I was bought up as a Christian and have lived my life by the 10 Commandments. I have recently been studying Buddhism, but not long enough to put a Buddhist point of view to the question. I do know that Buddhists have no fear of Death. It would be interesting to have a Buddhist point of view if we have one in the garden...or any other religion come to that.