Saturday, August 22, 2009

The ELCA Convention and the Wednesday Tornado

Thank you, Ed for providing the City Pages' article on the ELCA assembly's Wednesday vote in favor of the Social Statement on Human Sexuality, which approved a social statement that, among other things, acknowledges the validity of same-sex relationships that are "chaste, monogamous and lifelong." Here is why I think Pastor John Piper is correct when he says that the Wednesday afternoon tornado was a simple, yet clear message of God's displeasure. And you probably saw the news reports, yesterday they also approved allowing homosexuals in committed relationships (unrepentant) to be Pastors in ELCA Churches.

The ELCA assembly vote on the Social Statement came up on Wednesday, August 19th at 2:00 p.m. Outside of the Convention Center, beer vendors in tents were selling their libations to the Convention attendees. And across the street of the Center is a liberal Lutheran Church called Central Lutheran Church. This is the Church where the homosexual assembly attendees would gather last week. At this time a "curious" tornado hit downtown Minneapolis. Here is the way one eyewitness described the storm:

This curious tornado touches down just south of downtown and follows 35W straight towards the city center. It crosses I94. It is now downtown.  

The time: 2PM.  

The first buildings on the downtown side of I94 are the Minneapolis Convention Center and Central Lutheran (Church). The tornado severely damages the convention center roof, shreds the tents, breaks off the steeple of Central Lutheran, splits what's left of the steeple in two...and then lifts.   

Central Lutheran Church is a liberal Lutheran Church, and the picture of the Cross that was torn down by the tornado, literally tearing it off of the steeple is mystifying. (See the picture at Pastor John Piper's Blog, entry for August 20, 2009 - http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/). The beer tents were shredded. And the roof of the Convention Center was severely damaged. And the 2:00 p.m. time of the storm was the same as that of the ELCA scheduled vote. The assembly passed the Social Statement by a single vote (two-thirds majority required – the vote was 676 to 338, 66.67%).

And so, Pastor John Piper said this tornado was God's condemnation of the ELCA assembly's approval of the Social Statement. Here is his statement: The tornado in Minneapolis was a gentle but firm warning to the ELCA and all of us: Turn from the approval of sin. Turn from the promotion of behaviors that lead to destruction…

So is Pastor Piper right? Was God sending a message to the ELCA because of its vote? Of course He was. It is nearly too obvious to provide support for, but allow me to connect the dots:

  • The storm came out of nowhere. I don't know of any weather forecasters who called for severe storms on Wednesday;
  • It was raining heavily on Wednesday. Tornados and rain don't go together;
  • Tornado in a downtown area;
  • It happened at the same time of the vote;
  • Central Lutheran Church was also damaged. This Church was the meeting location for the homosexual leaders attending the convention;
  • The Cross on the steeple of Central Lutheran Church was torn from the steeple;
  • The tornado hit the Convention Center and the Central Lutheran Church, and then disappeared, as if it was directed to a single target;
  • The beer seller's tents outside of the Convention Center were also destroyed.

And finally, why do I believe the tornado was sent by God? Because God's Word says so. Every calamity's message is the same, we are to repent and turn from sin (Luke 13:1-5).

6 comments:

Edward Oleander said...

Okay... why is Blogger suddenly limiting my responses to 4096 characters? You need to find a new home for your blog...

In the meantime, this will be Part 1 of 2...


Piper, and everyone who agrees with that tripe, needs to get over him/herself...

This self-obsessed waste of energy is is annoying, offensive, and a little pathetic all at the same time.

But mostly it's offensive. What Hubris. What arrogance. This is, on a microscopic scale, as offensive as those who claimed special Christian ownership of Hurricane Katrina... How self-centered is your religion, anyway?

You know, primitive and/or superstitious peoples often can make portents and omens out of almost anything; you decide where you fall there... Normally, I try very hard to not sound condescending and to respect your beliefs as valid with respect to yourself. Note that I make no such attempt here.

Especially that "every calamity" crap. Yes, crap. You see, you've hit an area very close to my heart. I've been cleaning up after tornadoes since 1978, and disasters in general since 1999. Since I joined Red Cross Disaster Services, I've even been the first Red Cross on site after a major tornado (Granite Falls several years ago). I've been near several tornadoes, under one and inside one. I know as much about them as any non-meteorologist. I could hold nothing but contempt for any being that would use a tornado to deliver a "warning," and I can't take seriously any claim that a loving deity would even consider such a thing. Any scriptural claims to that effect are either superstitious nonsense, or proof of God's evil and cruelty.

And WHERE did you get your meteorological information? BUZZZ!!! Let's get specific:

"So is Pastor Piper right? Was God sending a message to the ELCA because of its vote? Of course He was. It is nearly too obvious to provide support for, but allow me to connect the dots:

The storm came out of nowhere. I don't know of any weather forecasters who called for severe storms on Wednesday;"


The vast majority of tornadoes are not predicted, and the vast majority of storms predicted to produce tornadoes, don't. Google "tornado prediction" and learn.


"It was raining heavily on Wednesday. Tornados and rain don't go together;"

Buzz!!! Google "rain wrapped tornadoes" and learn a little more. You can contrast that by Googling "rain free base." The majority of tornadoes are outside the main rain bands of a LP/classic supercell, but generally by distances of less than a few hundred yards. The line can be quite fine. Tornadoes in a rain storm are quite common, if in the overall minority.

"Tornado in a downtown area;"

This is only partially correct.

It is quite true that very few tornadoes hit inner-urban areas, especially this far north. The heat island effect of urbanized areas bounces some storms away, and the numerous tall buildings appear to have quite an effect on disrupting small vortexes.

However, Downtown took a glancing blow at best. This was primarily a residential tornado when looking at the amount of area damaged (see below).

end of Part 1...

Edward Oleander said...

Part 2 of 2

"It happened at the same time of the vote;"

Which occurred in mid-afternoon. That's a prime time for midday heating to cause an upsurge in atmospheric instability. Big deal.


"Central Lutheran Church was also damaged. This Church was the meeting location for the homosexual leaders attending the convention;"

A monster tornado will often ignore local topography, but a smaller tornado in a confined space will tend to follow the path of least resistance. This tornado was tiny, an F0. Given where it dropped, it was only natural to follow the freeway into the downtown area. The larger mass of circulating air around the tornado would have encountered resistance from the mass of buildings on either side of the tornado and funneled it down the open freeway corridor. This "cushion" of air then bounced the tornado off of downtown itself and back out to the Phillips neighborhood where it did damage to lots of houses NOT belonging to gays OR Lutherans.

"The Cross on the steeple of Central Lutheran Church was torn from the steeple;"

How very odd that the most exposed parts were the ones damaged! Surely no NATURAL tornado would do that!!!

"The tornado hit the Convention Center and the Central Lutheran Church, and then disappeared, as if it was directed to a single target;

If I didn't know you so well, I would flat out call you a propagandist liar, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, and assume you didn't see or hear ANY of the extensive coverage over the next couple days.

The tornado took a big jump from the convention center about 30 blocks south to the Phillips neighborhood. It uprooted a couple hundred trees and damaged a few dozen homes in a 4-block circle, then went back up into the supercell. I toured the damage when I went to check on a deaf friend who lives 2 blocks from the damage zone. Although most of the home damage was minimal, the Red Cross assisted a few families forced out of their homes for the night.

"The beer seller's tents outside of the Convention Center were also destroyed."

So what? Show me a PATTERN where beer sellers (or gay churches for that matter) are routinely singled out by tornadoes, and I'll re-examine the issue. Until then, I repeat: so what?

Back to the ridiculous notion that God would use a tornado to send a message of being annoyed. I forgot to use "selfish" and "thoughtless" in my tirade above about claiming special ownership of a disaster. All of those descriptors would apply to God's followers, and God himself, if it were true that he did such a disgusting thing.

God would have no more moral right to do such a thing than you would to harm your own children or a family pet. Evil from God is still evil.

Besides, wouldn't a couple lightning bolts have done the same job without involving a large chunk of (non-involved) South Minneapolis? If God is indeed all-powerful and loving, that would have been a more elegant and ethical solution.

If I can think of it, so could God. The mere fact that he designed a system that even produces such random calamities puts him on very shaky moral ground, which is a big reason why I don't believe in the Christian God... too many holes in the story.

~Ed~

Edward Oleander said...

Cat got your tongue on this one? Or did you realize that you had no valid argument and flee the field?

PPPPhhhtttt!

:-b.....

tom wolff said...

Ed,

My understanding is that the last tornado to hit downtown Minneapolis was in the 1920's. So was this tornado a concidence? I don't think so. And I don't think I'm being irrational. I have seen God acting in my life. He has made me aware of the wrong things in my life. And through my faith in Jesus, He is changing me. And so, I expect Him to continue acting in the world around me.

You can try and dismiss the timing of the tornado all you want. But it doesn't make much sense, logically speaking, to a rational person.

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