According to the Bible...
Natural Disasters are God's Wrath
The LORD is a jealous God, filled with vengeance and wrath. He takes revenge on all who oppose him and furiously destroys his enemies! The LORD is slow to get angry, but his power is great, and he never lets the guilty go unpunished. He displays his power in the whirlwind and the storm. The billowing clouds are the dust beneath his feet. At his command the oceans and rivers dry up, the lush pastures of Bashan and Carmel fade, and the green forests of Lebanon wilt. In his presence the mountains quake, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles, and its people are destroyed. Who can stand before his fierce anger? Who can survive his burning fury? His rage blazes forth like fire, and the mountains crumble to dust in his presence. The LORD is good. When trouble comes, he is a strong refuge. And he knows everyone who trusts in him. But he sweeps away his enemies in an overwhelming flood. He pursues his foes into the darkness of night. (Nahum 1:2-8 NLT)
When I read this scripture...I got this image of a nerdy boy with glasses throwing a temper tantrum over his ant farm for getting out of hand...shaking it fiercely, using a blow dryer on them and then pouring a pitcher of scalding hot water in their plexi-glass house to drown them all.
Are natural disasters evidence of god's wrath?
hmmm The Watchtower says yes, no and yes.
God caused Floods, darkness, droughts and storms in bible times...but, today it's stuff that humans have done to the earth that reek havoc...but, in the future, god will get mad again and manipulate natural forces.
I see this type of ill-logic a lot in watchtower-ology. "Angels performed miracles in bible times, but not our time, and will again" "people spoke in tongues in bible times, but not our time, but we will speak a pure language in the future." ect.
The Watchtower says:
Is God really responsible for the disasters that bring so much human suffering and loss around the world? Is he to blame? YES: Not only is Jehovah the Creator of natural forces but he also has the power to control them. Throughout the Bible we find accounts of Jehovah?s controlling or manipulating such forces to accomplish his purpose. These include the parting of the Red Sea in Moses? day and the halting of the sun and moon in their paths across the heavens in the time of Joshua. (Exodus 14:21-28; Joshua 10:12, 13) Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the promised Messiah, also demonstrated his power over natural forces as, for instance, when he calmed a storm on the Sea of Galilee. (Mark 4:37-39) Accounts like these leave no doubt that Jehovah God and his Son, Jesus Christ, can fully control all that affects life here on earth.?2 Chronicles 20:6; Jeremiah 32:17; Matthew 19:26. NO: That being the case, can we hold God responsible for the increased havoc and devastation that have resulted from natural disasters in recent times? To answer this question, we must first consider whether there is evidence that the forces of nature have recently become dramatically more violent, perhaps even out of control. In this regard, note what the book Natural Disasters?Acts of God or Acts of Man? has to say: "There is no evidence that the climatological mechanisms associated with droughts, floods and cyclones are changing. And no geologist is claiming that the earth movements associated with earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunami (earthquake waves) are becoming more violent." What, then, accounts for the increase in the frequency and destructiveness of natural disasters that we read about? If the forces of nature (God, Jesus) are not to blame, the finger of guilt seems to point to the human element. And, indeed, authorities have recognized that human activities have made our environment both more prone to natural disasters and more vulnerable to them. YES: God will take action to rid the earth of wickedness and suffering. --WT93 pg. 34 Natural Disasters?Is God Responsible? A far greater storm approaches, one that will encompass the entire inhabited earth. No one will be able to elude it or be unaffected by it. Titanic, awe-inspiring forces will be loosed at that time, dwarfing any yet experienced by man. This storm is Armageddon. Jehovah, rising up to defend his people, brings terror to the hearts of the wicked. The battle at Armageddon is on! Governments collapse, fiery showers strike the earth, tidal waves, upheavals of earth, cloudbursts, electrical storms, burning missiles all strike down Satan?s visible hordes. In sheer horror, every man?s hand is turned against his neighbor in a frenzied, selfish fight for survival, all in vain; for Jeremiah long ago declared: "And those slain by Jehovah will certainly come to be in that day from one end of the earth clear to the other end of the earth. They will not be bewailed, neither will they be gathered up or be buried. As manure on the surface of the ground they will become."?Zech. 14:12, 13; Jer. 25:33. --WT60 pg. 21 The Gathering Storm of Armageddon