Hurricane Matthew and God's punishment

As Hurricane Matthew hits the American Eastern Seaboard, the American faithful are asking if and why God is punishing them.

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(Washington Post)

They looking at everything from Gay Pride to the next presidential election (http://shoebat.com/2016/10/05/hurricane-matthew-is-the-wrath-of-god-poured-out-on-the-cities-of-orlando-and-savannah-for-supporting-the-evil-sodomites/). In 2012, it was Hurricane Sandy, just before the previous American Presidential Elections. The questions were being asked if that was not punishment against Barrak Obama. I am serious – you can read about it on CNN - (http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/29/my-take-god-not-in-whirlwinds-of-sandy-presidential-race/?iid=article_sidebar). Oh the irony - I think the average American would love Barrak to rather stay on for a third term rather than have to choose either Trump or Clinton.

So is America being punished?

Katrina, Sandy and now Matthew. Well Katria was in the Bush era – and his poor handling of the situation was used by the Democrats as proof of his weak leadership. It’s easy to look back and see where the failings were at the time, but then looking back is always with 20/20 vision. The lessons learned during that crisis were applied now to the early responses to Sandy, and there was minimal loss of life as a result of the early evacuations. The same has been seen with the current response to Hurricane Matthew. Some people however do not seem to be responding to the calls to evacuate. Maybe the images of the looting that took place in the wake of Katrina are still fresh in peoples memories too, so those that remain are either staying to use the crisis situation for their own gain or to try protect their property.

Which brings me back to my first question – Is God punishing America?

I believe the answer is a resounding No – God does not have a hand in this as these are natural climatic events. But is America being punished? Well if you consider that there are numerous studies and articles now linking global climate change to increased hurricane strengths and sizes, one may be inclined to agree with that sentiment. The fact that the US is seen as the greatest contributor to the man-made greenhouse gas accumulations thought to be driving the global climate change would evoke a sense of karma when these super-sized storms wreak havoc on the US.

So where do you stand with regards to the question? Is God punishing America? Is it karma? Or is it just a natural event which could have happened in historic times long before man influenced the weather. The third option is what the American industrialists would like you to believe and they will bring out loads of studies to prove there have been long term cycles of global climate change throughout geological history. They use it to keep the environmentalists from pushing through legislation to lower greenhouse gas emissions. The USA has still not ratified the Kyoto Agreement and until they do, the world will continue to see rising greenhouse gas emissions.

I believe Katrina, Sandy and Matthew are the tips of the iceberg – and we will see continual catastrophic climatic events increasing in size and intensity.