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I'm frankly rather disturbed by some of the responses to this question. On the one side is someone citing the tsunami as one of many signs of the coming End of Days, and on another side is an apparently rather angry atheist. To the first, I would like to say that if a man is convinced he's going to die tomorrow, he'll probably figure out a way to make it happen. Meaning, if enought people are convinced they're living at the end of the world, or the Second Coming, then they're bound to start seeing more and more signs of this nature and may even (subconcously or unwittingly) contribute to the creation of an Apocalyptic or WWIII scenario. To the second, I would like to say that if it is necessary to be insulting in order for you to effectively debate, then perhaps you need more practice at maintaining a certain level of emotional detachment. This is all just speculation, there is not need to get nasty. Now, as for my own take on this question, I hold that the tsunami was a purely natural event, as was the Great Flood (if there was one) and any other so-called "wrath of God" event you care to name. If you look at such events as they occured in the Bible, each features God or one of God's prophets attempting to warn people of their impending danger, and it was the people who CHOSE to do nothing, and thus suffer the inevitable consequences. God is not a punisher, nor is God a judge. We were given consciousness, the ability to decide our own fate, and thus were given the freedom to make dire mistakes - such as taking drugs while pregnant and thus harming our unborn child or building settlments on low level, coastal areas where such things as earthquakes, floods, and tsunamis are more likely to occur. Do not blame Nature for being Nature. Nature will do what it will regardless of human cost. The question to ask is not why God would allow something like this tragedy to happen, but rather how we can prevent such tragedies as this from happening in the future.
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