Excerpt from the article....
Mohler criticizes Robertson, but affirms theology
A Southern Baptist scholar faulted Robertson for "over-claiming" the meaning of a single event, but also affirmed his theology.
"Do I believe that God punishes nations?" Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said on his daily radio program Jan. 13 "You bet, the same way I know that judgment falls upon individuals."
The problem, Mohler said, is that natural disaster often falls on nations and individuals who seem to deserve it least while sparing others like Germany and the Soviet Union that exhibit a "fist-in-the face kind of sin."
"Do we know that God sovereignly rules over all things and exercises his justice and judgment over the nations?" Mohler asked. "Yes we do, but we are not in a position as human beings, as believing Christians, to say we know exactly what God is doing in a situation."
"There is a real matter of theological integrity here," Mohler said. "How do we answer those who say, 'Why did God not destroy, then, nation or community or city X, Y or Z for its apparent fist-in-the-face kind of sin -- and why on the other hand are there others that seem to suffer inordinately?'"
The answer, Mohler said is the "mystery of God's judgment." That mystery is not a question of whether or not God punishes evil, but rather that "We can not always trace his hand."
"It is human arrogance to over-claim on behalf of God," Mohler said. "We must be very, very careful."
"The same hurricane that destroyed all kinds of sinfulness and enclaves of paganism in New Orleans there in the French Quarter also destroyed orphanages and evangelical churches. There's just no way to make a generalization without grave, grave theological danger."
Mohler said Robertson "is absolutely correct in speaking about the sinfulness of the people of Haiti."
