Well, that’s one conclusion to draw from the following stories – IF one believes in supernatural super beings who punish those who piss them off.

As an atheist who rejects all such beings, I have nothing but normal human sympathy for the victims.

If you happen to be a Christian, however, please feel free to tell me why you don’t interpret these events as warnings from the One True Sky God:

—– Deadly Tornadoes Strike Oklahoma (Assemblies Of God News; Feb 12)

A series of deadly tornadoes swept across Oklahoma Tuesday night, hitting hardest in Lone Grove, a town of approximately 4,600 people, about 100 miles south of Oklahoma City.

Reports indicate at least nine people in Lone Grove were killed by the storms and many others were injured. Buildings throughout the town were destroyed or damaged.

According to Pastor John Harris, Lone Grove Assembly of God sustained some damage during the storm, but not as extensively as they had expected. The church’s steeple was blown off, the roof was damaged and a newly built pavilion was destroyed. Harris says the church’s Royal Rangers trailer has not yet been found.

Tragically, a husband and wife who attended Lone Grove Assembly were among the tornado’s victims. Harris says the church will be reaching out to their teenage daughter, who survived the disaster.

“We will do what we can to help her,” Harris says. “She’s going to need prayer more than anything else to help her stay strong.”

Other Lone Grove Assembly members’ homes were destroyed or heavily damaged, although Harris was not sure to what extent as of Thursday morning. Currently, he’s working to mobilize help for church members in need and determining how the church can best assist the community as it recovers from this disaster.

“We would like for people to pray for our community,” Harris says. “So many lost everything and with no insurance, they have nothing. With people losing their jobs, and now they’ve lost their homes, we’re praying that maybe we can reach them for Christ.

“We’re hoping we can be a lighthouse for them,” Harris continues. “We just want God’s wisdom and guidance. We want to know what to say and when to say it.”…

With all due respect for Pastor Harris and the victims, why would anyone want to turn to a gOd who failed to protect those who worship him from these storms? Why look for wisdom and guidance to come from a gOd who either did nothing to prevent this devastation or perhaps actively sent it? What would Christians say if the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah had more tightly embraced their gOds after their cities had been devastated? Exactly how bad must a disaster be before Christians wake up and realize that maybe they’re the ones who are bowing down to a false deity?

—– Tornado Flattens Ardmore Adventist Academy; Two Church Members’ Homes Also Destroyed (Mark A. Kellner/Adventist News Network; Feb 13)

Classes are expected to resume the week of February 16 for the 17 students of Ardmore Adventist Academy, whose destroyed school building is in one of two Oklahoma towns devastated by tornadoes the night of February 10.

“We’re going to try and start school again on Monday, meeting in our church about five miles away from the school,” said Charrie Shockey, a member of the Ardmore Seventh-day Adventist Church and mother of a 13-year-old student at the Academy….

Shockey said that while the school building was destroyed, the actual damage to contents was limited: “(It) looks like we lost all our computers and chapel with piano, pews, etc. But all in all, the bulk of the damage was mostly to our gym, since the tornado came from the west.”…

Looking at the images, the only possible conclusion one can draw from the destruction of the Ardmore Adventist Academy, in an Oklahoma town 90 miles south of Oklahoma City, is that a multitude of miracles took place.

For one, the tornado, which locals say is the worst to ever hit the city of 30,000, struck at night. The school and an adjacent pecan farm were wiped out, but no one was hurt.

For another, even though two Ardmore Seventh-day Adventist Church member families lost their homes, there were no injuries or death. This was especially significant since one couple, Rodney and Jo Phillips, had no time to seek shelter, but literally “hit the deck” as their home exploded around them.

The most poignant miracle might be the most dramatic. Roofs were crumpled and walls caved in at the Academy, which has been in its location for more than 20 years, but the school’s hand bells, treasured by generations of students, survived intact.

“The entire school is either down or blown away,” said Jack Francisco, communication and Education director for the Oklahoma Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in a telephone interview from the school site. “The pecan grove is gone; we had a bunch of beautiful pecan trees and they’re gone. (If) anybody wants some kindling pecan wood, we’ll make them a good deal.”

Francisco said “the school is a total loss,” but the conference has already been in touch with Adventist Risk Management, the church-owned insurance arm based in Silver Spring, Maryland….

Charrie Shockey, a Seventh-day Adventist who is also the obituary clerk for The Ardmoreite daily newspaper, wrote on her Weblog about the devastation that greeted the families of Academy students the morning after. Shockey’s daughter, Tianna, attends the school, which is located in the Majestic Hills section of Ardmore.

She wrote, “When I drove up the hill and saw the name of our school still standing, tears welled up in my eyes and I told Tianna, ‘The devil might have destroyed our school, but he couldn’t destroy the Adventist in our name!’”…

So, as we look at this picture, the only possible conclusion to draw is that a miracle occurred? Ummm, riiiight…..

As for the claim that the devil is responsible – I guess that means the devil is more powerful than the gOd who supposedly loves and protects those who love him, eh?

I guess it also means that the Bible is wrong when it talks about how good AND evil come from gOd? AND when it explicitly states that gOd is in control of whirlwinds and sends them against those he hates?

“The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.” - Nahum 1:3

Maybe the Yahweh of the Jewish scriptures is fed up with those who follow the false messiah of the Christian scriptures, eh? That’s one possibility Christians might want to consider in the wake of storms like these. (Why can’t I recall ever hearing about them doing so? How heavy are those theological blinders they have on? How are those blinders any different than those they can so clearly see being worn by the adherents of other religions?)

—– Loss Of Brother, Church Mourned After Storms (Marcus K. Garner and Curtis Compton/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Feb 19)

Hickory Grove Missionary Baptist Church, a 144-year-old congregation in rural Hancock County near Sparta, had only recently dedicated a $150,000 addition when a storm came along Wednesday and destroyed everything.

Still, the Rev. Michael Curry told 60 church members at a prayer service Thursday night at another church nearby, “All that work was not in vain.”

Sometimes, he said, God has to tear down in order to rebuild.

“We are going to be bigger and better from this tragedy,” Curry told his flock as they gathered at Victory Baptist Church, on Ga. 22 in Sparta. “I know we are going to triumph; we are going to have a victory at Hickory Grove.”

The storms that raked North Georgia on Wednesday night left one man dead, several others injured, and scattered reports of damage to homes and cars in more than a dozen counties.

The fatality was a Hickory Grove member. John Frank Baker, whose age was not immediately available, was killed, and his daughter and two grandchildren were injured when the storm hit their trailer across the street from the church.

Christine Baker, 61, lost her brother, her church and her own mobile home, which was down the street from John Baker’s place.

“God saved my family,” Baker said. “I know he took my brother, but he saved my other brother…. He is still here with us. Praise God.”…

In Sparta, about 100 miles southeast of Atlanta, Hickory Grove members opened their Thursday night service by singing “Come by here, my Lord.”

Curry said, “We’re here tonight to face loss: the loss of one of our members, the loss of our homes and loss of our church, but still to give God the praise.”…

So, if gOd spares someone, they praise him – and if gOd takes someone, they praise him. Sounds like they praise gOd no matter what! Which reminds me of wives who praise their husbands no matter how many times they are beaten by them. And mothers who praise their kids no matter how many awful things they do. It seems pretty sick and counter-productive to me….

(NOTE: It also reminds me of the old Twlight Zone episode entitled It’s a Good Life. Does anyone else see the parallels?)

—– Historic Church Catches Fire After Probable Lightning Strike (Candace McCowan/WREG.com; Feb 27)

MEMPHIS, Tennessee: An overnight fire at a historic Memphis church and the weather may be to blame.

The blaze broke out around 1:40 this morning at the Monumental Baptist Church on South Parkway.

The steeple was heavily damaged. But the rest of the church appears to have been spared from the flames. Firefighters say lightning likely struck the church, as storms rolled through the city early this morning.

Firefighters say the steeple was in flames, when they arrived on scene, around 1:40 this morning.

It took firefighters only a few minutes to bring the blaze under control. Luckily, no one was injured.

Church members tell us there is some water damage to the sanctuary, but Sunday services will go on. “I’m assuming that we will not be able to hold Sunday services out there, but we’ll be able to hold it in the old sanctuary. If it’s up to Reverend Kyle, we’ll hold it in the parking lot. There’s nothing to replace Sunday morning services,” said Deacon Richard Williams

The historic church is headed up by Reverend Billy Kyle. He’s the last surviving person, who was on the balcony of the Lorraine motel when Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior was assassinated in April 1968.

Seems it’s gOd who always gets the worship services after it’s the human firefighters who save the church….

If Christians really believed what they claim to, maybe they ought to try putting out the next fire with their prayers – or spending a Sunday or two bowing down to the people who might well not even be Christians themselves but who nonetheless come to the rescue in the middle of the night with their hoses.

—– Three Tornadoes Tear Through Alabama; One Church Destroyed, Another Damaged (FOX23.com/The Associated Press; March 1)

SALEM, Alabama: Three tornadoes barreled through east central Alabama, destroying one church and damaging another. Ten homes and a school were also torn up by the twisters….

A Salem church was destroyed by the storm. Pastor Kendra Jacobs says she was devastated when she arrived at the church….

A follow-up story from the AP today included this information: “The pastor of an Alabama church that was destroyed by one of three weekend tornados says she’s focusing on something she found in the wreckage. The Reverend Kendra Jacobs says walking the grounds of Salem AME Church was ‘just devastating,’ but somehow a picture of praying hands survived.”

Apparently Zeus must destroy EVERYTHING if he really wants to get his message across to Christians who just can’t seem to take a hint….

(Yet Christians think we atheists are the ones who are being blind or pig-headed when we don’t quiver in fear and bow down to their gOd on the basis of the unsubstantiated claims and unfulfilled threats in an ancient book? Interesting!)

—– Lightning-Sparked Fire Destroys Church; Parishioners Vow To Rebuild (Joann Merrigan/WSAV.com; March 1)

A church in Tatnall County burned Saturday afternoon, apparently after the building was struck by lightning. The Twin Oaks Baptist Church in Reidsville was home to a congregation of about 100 people.

Sunday, some of the parishoners gathered at the scene to pray. “The congregation is not the building, it’s all of us,” Reverend Joseph Brock told the group.

Brock says they purchased the building, which was relatively new, in 2003. “We had some tears this morning as we had services, but we still have faith,” he tells News 3.

Brock is vowing that they will rebuild. “Our faith is being tested for sure,” he told me. “But I know we’ll be all right.”

Yes, when bad things happen to Christians, it’s their faith that’s being tested. When bad things happen to others, it’s a warning to repent. It’s the old “Heads I win – tails you lose” approach. Why am I not impressed?

More importantly, why do so many Christians continue to spout this kind of self-serving nonsense without ever realizing its fallacious nature?

Could it be in part because reporters who cover these stories apparently *never* call them on it?

For more examples of Christian excuses, rationalizations, closed-mindedness, double-standards, and theological sado-masochism in the face of these persistent assaults on them from the sky, see the entry I posted on Jan 27 as well as the many other relevant entries you can get to from it if you follow the appropriate links.