Is the Haiti earthquake punishment for their sins?

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Permalink Reply by Richard Galvatron3000 Smith III on February 6, 2010 at 10:41am

Whether they are satanist or not I don't know. I've heard somethings to suggest God has warned the Christians and the nation there just as America has been warned, I will submit this:Amos 3:6 (ESV)
6 Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?

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Permalink Reply by AnDraea on February 8, 2010 at 9:02am

I was waiting for this topic to come up and I'm glad you started it. For me the answer is "I don't know". The question for me becomes, "If God punished Haiti, why not the rest of the world in equal measure as well?" Proportionate to the rest of the world, Haiti's evil is a much smaller scale. And if that devastating earthquake was Haiti's punishment- then the United States is long over due for a punishment even ten times greater.
According to His word, God will never punish the just with the unjust- He was willing to spare even Sodom if there were 10 righteous people left in the city. Haiti is not Sodom (it was not wiped out completely); but in principle it's the same.

If the historical accounts of Haiti's deal with the devil are accurate, then that means they have embraced the occult as a culture- and yes, they could very well be under a curse. I read somewhere that back in 2004 Voodoo was made an official national religion in Haiti. When a culture embraces the dark side, the evil consequences that come are from the evil one- but not from God. God loves Haiti and has a heart for all of those suffering people.

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Permalink Reply by Viktory on February 9, 2010 at 9:37pm

I like AnDrea's answer... I'd change it from "I don't know", to a "Maybe" and use Richard's Scripture to support my position...

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Permalink Reply by Viktory on February 9, 2010 at 9:58pm

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Permalink Reply by AnDraea on February 10, 2010 at 9:34am

Yeah, Pat Robertson's answer was dead on in my opinion. He has said some crazy things in the past, but he said the right thing this time. The current president of Haiti did not deny the pact- it's at least well documented as folk lure. CBN has done charity work in Haiti in the past, I'm not aware of any corruption concerning this organization . BTW Pat never said God was judging Haiti.

As far as the second video post with all the scriptures- I believe they only reflect half the truth-that God is The Righteous Judge. Although the scriptures decree judgments by way of natural disasters (and other means) all through out history and until the end of time, I don't think we can interpret every natural disaster as being the judgment of God; more accurately we should view it as the sovereignty of God-nothing can happen outside of His control. Videos like that one can sometimes be misleading because they are constructed by a method called "prooftexting"- or throwing together a hodgepodge of scriptures in order to prove a one-sided point of view. Scripture has to be explained exegetically and expositorily-In other words-we have to understand what scripture means by what it says.

All sins have consequences- i.e. if you fornicate you may get an STD; if you murder somebody you may be murdered by one of their homeys on the revenge tip;if you mess with drugs you may die from an overdose; if you mess with the occult you may unleash some demonic powers of hell. This is not God's judgment, this is the law of sin and death, a spiritual principle (as real as the law of gravity)- set in motion from the beginning of time. So although God indeed judges sin it's important to remember that "judgment begins in the house of God" and that "mercy triumphs over judgment" (I Peter 4:17 and James 2:13, respectively-read the whole chapters- I believe they both apply). When calamity strikes we should be slow to say that it's God's judgment, unless we know for sure.

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Permalink Reply by Lamar Gibbs on February 10, 2010 at 8:22am

Jesus also spoke on how tragedies happened and it wasn't dependent on how sinful the person was, and when you tie this in with the fact that creation groans and travails as it waits for the revelation of the sons of God you will have tragedy that isn't easily explained with God or the Devil. For example, a Christian man who supports orphanages with his money and preaches the gospel unashamedly ends up dying in a tsunami...that is due to a cursed world we live in.

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Permalink Reply by Viktory on February 10, 2010 at 9:08am

Good Point.

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Permalink Reply by Di on February 10, 2010 at 8:27am

The Lord can use any situation for good. Perhaps this is an opportunity for Christians to minister to their needs and, when possible, share God's Word. Even the situation of the missionaries getting arrested is an opportunity for God to get glorify. I never listen to Pat Robertson. His Pharasiac comments don't bring glory to God. We should not be so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good. I have an ignorant, racist, co-worker who looked at a picture of the tragedy and laughed, saying the men were too stupid to help anyone. I told her we are looking at TV and have way more information than those people who are certainly in shock, many lost family and friends, are in filthy smelly conditions. We should love - not judge.

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Permalink Reply by Helen G. Thomas on February 10, 2010 at 9:50am

Can you point me to a Scripture that says being too heavenly minded makes you no earthly good? I've checked the WORD and I don't see that anywhere. Because if I have the MIND of CHRIST, my mind is stayed on heaven. Personally, we'd better have a mind set on heaven. That's the only way to be any good on earth. Judging is required of Christians. Since the earthquake, the men have indeed shown themselves as walking in ignorance. Roving bands of men are raping women, stealing their food, fighting each other. So even the unsaved can be truthful.

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Permalink Reply by Di on February 10, 2010 at 6:16pm

Being so heavenly minded does not mean our minds should not be on heaven.
1. Judging is not required of Christians
Matthew 7:1-5 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

2. We are to show works as evidence of our faith.
Can Faith Without Works Save?
James 2:14

I had a choir president who wanted to lock the church doors on people who were late for rehearsal. She wanted to put a guy out of the choir because he didn't wear socks in the choir stand.

Pastor Calvin Rhone wrote a song, "Show Me My Neighbor". I think he wrote it. He'll let us know. Bottom line, people all over the world are our neighbors, sinful as they may be. Is it less sin for a pastor to go with women in the church than a band of roving men raping women.

Luke 12:48 but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.

He who is without sin should cast the first stone.

Just my opinion!

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Permalink Reply by Helen G. Thomas on February 10, 2010 at 7:00pm

Born again believers do not function on 'opinion'. We who are born again rely solely on GOD's WORD. It is the born again of GOD who have been given much. When you say we are not to judge, that is incorrect. GOD says we are not to judge 'wrongly'. Discernment is judging. We make judgements every day.
I would agree with the choir president on some things. If, when you were in sin, you can be on time for a party, surely you can be on time for service to the KING of kings. Many have lost a reverence for GOD and replaced it with permissiveness for humans, e.g., political correctness and complacency.
We are told to call our brothers and sisters to correction. Should we continue to allow sin to abound in the Body? GOD forbids!

JESUS says:
Luke 12:56-58 (New International Version)
56Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time?

57"Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right?

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Permalink Reply by Di on February 10, 2010 at 7:21pm

I"m sorry. "In my opinion" is an attempt at humility. The Scriptures I quoted are real. As a Christian, I want to make sure my tone is loving and my comments worthy of consideration. I'm sorry if I have offended you.

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