The Nov. 1, 1755 Earthquake in Lisbon, Portugal.

 


The 1775 earthquake and tsunami in Lisbon, Portugal, killed between 60,000 and 90,000 people. Voltaire, the French philosopher who was in  Portugal at the time, wrote the event disproves the loving God who looks after us. Voltaire was a constant throne in the side of Popes and rich nobility who got cozy with each other during those centuries. Voltaire would have had a great time had he lived today. Think of what he would have said about priests and preachers who had sex with children and with their parishioners.

Atheists today are following the heritage provided by Voltaire and those intelligent writers in the centuries before who properly scoffed at not only the Christian faith but all others as well. Many Christian pundits criticize today's prominent writers like Dawkins saying they do not represent the powerful logic and deep philosophical underpinnings of the Bible, Christian philosophers and thinkers. They fail to acknowledge Dawkins and company are part of a linage in Christianity and before which challenged the existence of invisible beings. Probably since the beginnings of humans there have been invisible beings. Right along side these humans were others who said the invisible beings existed only in minds and never in reality. 

Along with the tragedies God did not prevent were the ones he should have destroyed to help his cause. Voltaire, for example, lived to the age of 83. No doubt plenty of the Popes and Catholic scholars who hated him died much younger. What kind of a "god" would allow such things to happen? Could it be there is no "god?"

A common belief in Christianity is that God will protect individuals. Goodbye 60-90K in the Lisbon earthquake of 1755. Goodbye to the two million killed by God himself in the Bible. Goodbye to the mask and vaccination-hating preachers who died of Covid. They showed us how God protects the faithful. 

Voltaire said in 1755 what a huge and growing number of people in the U.S. are saying today. He was a man with a huge following at the time, his books sold well. He has an even bigger following today. Tragic human losses like Lisbon teach us the wisdom of Voltaire.    

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