Katrina, High Gas Prices and Theodicy

The last few weeks have been tough for this country. With the destruction of the New Orleans area and the gouging of gas prices (which riases the price of everything) many people in this country are hurting. Worse than all of this destruction is the lame ass excuses that people give for the happening of these events. My particular favorite are those who claim that God is punishing people because they are bad. Well if this is true then I am glad that I live in a place where people have great Christian standards. Way to go Los Angeles! That's sarcasm. Of course the big fancy word that describes the nature of God with suffering and evil is theodicy (check the link). Does God send hurricanes to punish poor people and minorites because they are sinful? Of course not! Did God want those people to die and suffer? Nope. Is it just me or does the US have to understand that most people in this world suffer in their daily lives? What has happened and continues to happen is that people do not want to take responsibility for their actions. New Orleans has hurricanes, it is bellow sea level, it is next to a major river... sounds like trouble. In fact it is a situation that happens every year in the country of Bangladesh. The poor fishing caste has now where to live except on the coast where EVERY YEAR they have mast flooding durring their rainy season resulting in hundreds and thousands of deaths. Does God have it in for these people? The long and short of it is that we can past blame for as long as we want as our leaders have chosen to do or we can do what God is doing and helping people in need. Every time we see people helping others we are seeing God at work.