How can God allow tragedies like the flooding in Texas?

Once in a while, somebody asks a question or suggests a topic for my newsletter post and I take them up on it. That’s what happened this week. Most of us have read about the flash floods in Texas last week and the devastation that occurred: a flood that to this point has claimed over 100 lives. What has especially stood out for many is “Camp Mystic”, a Christian summer camp where at least 27 girls are among the victims of the flood. When disasters like this take place, there are almost always some questions about God’s existence and compassion. If there really is a God, and if that God really is good and great, how could that God allow suffering like this to happen? It’s probably at the top of the list of issues people have with the idea of God. I wonder if the specifically Christian nature of Camp Mystic adds fuel to the fire. If these girls and their parents have faith, why would God allow this to happen specifically to them? Shouldn’t He be protecting those who trust in Him the most? The person asking if I could do a write-up about the floods attached a social media post from someone stating, “I can’t even imagine how parents could have faith after these disastrous floods!”

Obviously, the persistent presence of questions like this means that there is no single, universally satisfactory answer available to us. However, the persistent presence of faith in the midst of tragedies like these floods indicates that people have found ways to endure despite the questions. That’s how it is so often when we do “apologetics”- a word that doesn’t mean we’re apologizing for faith, but that we are offering a defence or explanation for faith. With apologetics, it’s not that we are arguing someone into the Kingdom, but that we are removing barriers to show people that it’s possible and even rational to believe. That’s what I’ll briefly try to do in this post. I want to suggest four points to consider.

First, let’s respond to the questions about why God would allow this to happen to children at a Christian camp, who are supposedly His people. The Bible gives us no illusions that if we trust in God, we will be prevented from experiencing suffering. Jesus says in Matthew 5:45 that God “causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteousness.” In Luke 13:1-5, Jesus refers to two recent deadly events of his time. He asks if those who were killed were more guilty than those who were spared? And he responds with an emphatic no. We could say that the righteous are not set apart because they are immune to the evil in the world. They are set apart by their response to suffering: it causes them to turn to the Lord and seek Him, rather than running away. I saw one video of some of the girls from Camp Mystic leaving the camp on a bus after these deadly floods. In the video, they were singing a worship song. Similarly, in an article a couple of months ago, I mentioned hearing worship music in a Filipino store on Fraser Street in Vancouver after the Lapu-Lapu Day massacre. The righteous are not set apart because they avoid suffering, but by how they respond to it.

Second, as much as the question of suffering is an issue for believers, it’s been pointed out that it might be an even bigger issue for non-believers. This is apparently what C.S. Lewis came to understand. He had once rejected the idea of God because of the kinds of tragedies I’ve written about here. This is what he wrote in Mere Christianity: “my argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of ‘just’ and ‘unjust’?…What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?” In other words, if there’s no God, there’s no basis for complaining about suffering or thinking there’s anything wrong with mass casualty events. After all, in this view, the universe is blind and purposeless, just a random sequence of events. Apart from a belief in God, our intuition that something about this world is not right or should be otherwise doesn’t seem to be built on a very solid foundation. The issue of suffering in the world is an issue for everyone, but perhaps even more so for those who reject God’s existence.

Third, Christianity in particular says that while we may not understand exactly why God allows certain things in His creation to happen, we know that God is not distant from it. (By the way, as a side note, my thinking in this post has been extensively shaped by Tim Keller’s The Reason for God and in particular his chapter on why God allows suffering.) Christianity alone says that the Son of God became flesh and made His dwelling among us, and that He suffered unimaginable pain leading up to the cross. I’m a bit undecided about the extravagant amounts of money paid for Christian ads at the Super Bowl the last couple of years, but I agree in principle with the message: “He gets us”. Our God understands what it means to be human, to lose a loved one (John 11:33-37), and to experience a brutal, excruciating death Himself. As Psalm 23 says, he truly is our good shepherd who is with us even in the valley of the shadow of death.

And fourth, Christian faith is based on the hope of the resurrection. We believe that a day is coming when God will make all things new and will wipe every tear from our eyes (Revelation 21:4-5), and this is not simply wishful thinking. It is based on the historical reality of the resurrection of Jesus, and the biblical teaching that those who trust in Jesus will be raised like he was to dwell forever in a renewed creation with him (Philippians 3:20-21, Revelation 21:7). Apart from God, what hope can someone have for another world where tragedies like these floods won’t happen? On what basis can someone, apart from Christ, trust in a renewed creation? Here’s what Keller writes: “Even religions that believe in a heavenly paradise consider it a consolation for the losses and pain of this life and all the joys that might have been. The Biblical view of things is resurrection- not a future that is just a consolation for the life we never had but a restoration of the life you always wanted. This means that every horrible thing that ever happened will not only be undone and repaired but will in some way make the eventual glory and joy even greater.” The hope of the Christian, based on the resurrection of Jesus, means we can see beyond these events to a day of restoration.

Again, what I’ve written here won’t answer all the questions. We continue to mourn with those who mourn and lament the pain and tragedy that can characterize life in this world. But for Christians, even for those who are experiencing the crushing devastation of these floods in Texas, “we do not mourn as those who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13).