Why would God allow...?

It's a question that many often ask. And the answer from clergy and others who have studied theology extensively is often the unsatisfying, "His ways are higher than ours." This view is difficult to accept, it feels just like a parent saying, "because I said so."

So it's always nice when we learn something that gives credence to the answer. Why would God allow such a horrible thing as a typhoon? It only causes destruction and damage and death...right? Except when we find out that it may actually help save lives from even bigger devastation.

It seems that the forces induced on the island of Taiwan by a typhoon begin a slow earthquake. Not the kind that causes unpredictable, sudden, and massive destruction. No; a slow earthquake allows for the tension built between two geological formations to slowly, peacefully, release itself. And it seems that typhoons (at least in Taiwan) result in peaceful releases of these forces before they can cause massive destruction.

It seems, that sometimes, His ways are higher than ours. And it's always reassuring when we find a time when something that previously fell in the "why would God allow this?" category and now we have a logical, rational, scientific confirmation that it does indeed serve some good that we did not know of before. And it's these moments that make it easier to accept that "His ways are higher than ours" when we can't yet understand.