This past weekend Nashville was flooded by over 18" of rain in some places. There was massive flooding, damage, houses lost, lives lost, roads closed, schools closed, and businesses destroyed. It was bad.

Two things have stuck with me though. And not in a good way. See, I can handle tragedy and devastation. They are part of the human condition. Part of existence. To a certain extent, and in an oddly sad way, normal. But I know that not everyone sees it that way. Which is why I'm wondering where are the voices of the so-called Christians blaming these floods and disasters on someone's monstrous sin? Where are Pat Robertson and John Piper blaming Nashville's gay people? Or is Nashville so "Christian" thanks to the SBC presence, Lifeway, and CCM that this must be punishment for someone else's sins?

Then today I was listening to the radio and the radio show host was telling a story about how he was trying to buy a house in one of the areas that is now underwater. He says he and his wife put in an offer on the house but someone else snuck one in right before them. And now that house was completely underwater. He finishes the story by saying, "God's blessings are mysterious sometimes."

I think my jaw literally fell open. It shouldn't have. I should be used to these kind of fatalistic, simplistic, and thoroughly un-Christian understandings of God by now, but they still catch me off guard. Our words matter. But too often we act like they don't. We don't think about the things that come out of our mouths. Robertson and Piper must in the end be roundly condemned for their words because they should know better. Of course, I know the radio guy was just trying to express gratitude for something that he thought was a bad thing at the time turning out to work good for him. But we can't just let words like his slide! In order for what he said to be true, then God must have decided to bless him by making sure that the other people bought a house that he later planned to sink underwater. I'm sure the radio guy wouldn't agree with that, but it is nonetheless what he said.

I'm reminded of a conference I went to a few years back. It was hideous in so many ways, but what comes to mind now is that the worship leader spoke full-time without engaging his brain. It led him to say things like, "We're going to sing and wait for God to show up." As if a) God were absent up until that time or b) that God's presence were dependent upon his singing. (For the record, if God "showing up" were dependent upon his singing, it would have been a very pagan conference.)

If it feels like I'm nitpicking, I'm not. This is much more than mere semantics. Our words have power. And they reveal our theology. Jesus addresses this kind of backwards thinking in Luke 13:1-5. I don't know what justification there could be for proclaiming a tornado, hurricane, or flood as the judgment of God after hearing Jesus say, "...those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them - do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did."

Tragedy and loss are part of the human condition. Sending the tragic circumstances or using a curse on someone else in order to bless you are not, however, part of the divine condition.