How Wickedness Causes Natural Disasters

            You’re sitting at home, just chilling. Your eating dinner, finishing up some paperwork, watching some television, or doing whatever. Suddenly, the ground begins to shake, and a deafening “BOOM” cracks your eardrums. You go to look outside, and all you see in the distance is smoke. The mountain that was near your house is invisible, and a massive ash cloud of rocks, dust, and debris is plummeting upwards into the atmosphere. You are stunned; staring up into the sky, then you realize what just happened. A volcano has erupted.

            Similar experiences to this have happened to many people. Maybe it was a tsunami; an earthquake. Maybe it was a volcanic eruption. In any event, many individuals have been permanently hurt or have lost their lives because of natural disasters like these. Why do these horrible things happen to people; even good people? Why must people suffer?

Why do things like this happen?

            I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but people tend to forget things a lot; not only everyday things, but eternal things. People often do not understand or remember what God has done for them, and they quickly forget what matters and fall into transgression. Any history book shows this. The people are righteous, and the Lord blesses them. They gain more and more riches, but their riches become more important to them than the One who gave them those riches. Once material possessions become more important than God, then people begin to forget God’s commands. They become wicked, and God has to punish them.

            This punishment can come in many different forms. One common one is war. When a people or a nation must be purged, wars often come. These wars humble people, who then turn back to God. However, sometimes war is not the form of punishment that God gives people. Sometimes, natural disasters happen. One dramatic example of this is Noah’s flood. People in the world were so wicked that God had to send a flood to wipe them all off the face of the earth. God loves each of us, but he expects us to keep His laws and obey His commandments. Then, and only then, happiness can and will come into our lives.

            Volcanoes are tough. Ash is spread all over the place, causing a lot of sickness and death. Ash is a very interesting phenomenon, because it is not just dust. It is made up of little tiny pieces of glass; that is why ash is so shiny when compared to dust. When people breathe this ash, the little tiny pieces of glass rip apart their throat and lungs, causing them to be injured or die painfully. But that’s not all.

            The pyroclastic flow of a volcano is perhaps the most devastating thing that a volcano brings. Not many people experience it; it is very extreme, but very destructive. These flows are made up of gas, heat, and rocks that move very quickly downwards with the pull of gravity. The flows destroy forests in an instant and kill people in seconds. They are very dangerous, destructive, and devastating. However, they must exist because of the immorality and wickedness of the people that roam this world.

            During the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in Pompeii, many people fled the city (obviously). However, shortly after, the people returned because they wanted to get their gold and riches before leaving again. Are you serious? These people loved their riches so much that they risked their very lives for them. How much worthless can a life be? How much more wicked can people be? When they came back into the city, many more pyroclastic flows came down, killing most of the people who came back for their riches. It is sad, but it is necessary for people to suffer so that they will remember the Lord their God.

            How can we avoid these horrible hoards of death, desolation, and destruction? How can we stop volcanoes from erupting, earthquakes from quaking, and hurricanes from spinning? The truth is this: we can’t. However, we can diminish these things from happening. The best way to do this is to make sure that we are keeping ourselves morally clean and we can awaken ourselves to a sense of how awful our situation is. So many people in this world right now are wicked, and so many natural disasters are happening right now. May I suggest that this is no coincidence? The wickedness of people directly correlates and causes natural disasters to happen. The most important and biggest thing that we can do to diminish these things from happening is being righteous, and influencing others to do the same. Even if my theory is incorrect, this world will be better off when its people are moral and clean. God will be pleased, and we will each be blessed and happy. Wickedness never was happiness.