God’s Wrath and Love: Snow
Long ago time ago, mankind had a very cordial relationship with God. During that time, there were no seasons; women and their families spent at least four hours per day communicating with God. This was the trend all over the nation. God was respected, feared, worshipped and adored by mankind because he was the sole provider of everything. The world was a great place to be because human beings also lived in harmony and love. Cases of immorality and other social evils were unheard of at that time.1
However, as time went on, there came foreign people into the land of God. These people had their own beliefs and religion which did not recognize God. The native people could not resist these visitors, who later turned out to be settlers. The main reason why these settlers were not resisted and chased away was because the native people believed in peace, love and harmony. Therefore, they did not see any need to attack fellow humans. With the objective of helping the new settlers to settle into the native society and learn the new culture, the native elders asked to meet with the leaders of the visiting community.2
The native religious and Godly community realized that the visitors were totally different people. They did not believe in the existence of God. Furthermore, the settlers never prayed but believed in a certain power. Sensing the incompatibility between the two groups, the natives held a meeting to decide what had to be done. At the meeting, the elders of the nation decided that the visitors would not be chased away even though the communities were clearly incompatible3.
The visitors had no time for worship and most of them did business by trading their goods with other nations, as well as, the natives. It was through this business that most natives who believed in God were mostly baited to join the army of the devil. Even though, these people did not worship the devil directly, they just believed that the devil came to earth to lead them. Therefore, the members of God’s nation who got convinced to join the nonbelievers drifted far away from God (Molloy, 2010)4.
After close to a century of the new inhabitants arriving into God’s nation, the division between believers and nonbelievers was evolving into hostility5. The nonbelievers were protesting because the believers were spending most of their time praying to God rather than working. The nonbelievers even formed a government which coerced the believers to stop praying and start working. As a result of the nonbelievers’ selfish interest, most of the believers opted to become nonbelievers in order to survive the tough times. There was a big risk of God being abandoned by the people who had loved him so much that they would worship and praise Him every day. There was no more time for prayers or worship because of the circumstances brought about by the nonbelievers.
God became angry because of the bad deeds of the nonbelievers who did not respect him. He wanted good life for his people, not a life of captivity in their own land. His people were now suffering as laborers for the settlers who had unfairly conquered his people. God devised a plan that would bring these nonbelievers to their knees and free his people. He wanted his people to be happy and worship him. God decided to show his wrath to these people by creating something that has never been seen on earth before.6
Usually, people would never worry about the weather being too cold or too hot. However, on this day, things were totally different. God froze the world! At mid day, when the nonbelievers were expected to meet at their market hall where they always met, the first snow ever on earth was experienced. With the nonbelievers assembled in the roofless hall, snow fell until every part of the nation was covered with ice7.
God made the nonbelievers motionless hence they all stuck in the market hall and froze to death. Furthermore, those believers who had not joined and converted to nonbelievers also froze to death. God did not stop at that he continued to let the snow fall on earth and freeze the properties that had been gained through unfair means and that belonged to nonbelievers (Molloy, 2010)8. All livestock, houses and even children of the nonbelievers was covered with the continuously falling ice. Meanwhile, God made the ice not to affect the homes and property of those people who believed in him. God unleashed his punishment on nonbelievers. On that morning, people woke up to very strange weather: it was extremely cold9.
Since then, snow falls yearly to serve as a warning, a reminder and a sign of love. The warning is aimed at those people who could be having any ill intent against the people of God. It is also a warning for those believers of God who could be having intentions of forsaking God. Snow is a sign of God’s wrath according to this mythology. To symbolize love, God used snow to free his people from captivity and bondage. Therefore, snow is meant to make God’s people feel that they are loved and protected by their God. On the other hand, it is meant to scare away any potentially evil minded people who may be after harming God’s people. It also warns the believers that rejecting or rebelling against God leads to sorrow and doom. Therefore, snow falls every season to remind, warn and show love to the people of God (Molloy, 2010)10.
References
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Blackwell, C. W., & Blackwell, A. H. (2002). Mythology For Dummies (illustrated ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Cavendish, R. (2009). Man, myth & magic: an illustrated encyclopedia of the supernatural, Volume 22. Carolina: Marshall Cavendish Corp.
Feldman, B., & Richardson, R. D. (1972). The Rise of Modern Mythology, 1680-1860 (reprint, illustrated ed.). Indiana: Indiana University Press.
Fishbane, M. (2005). Biblical Myth And Rabbinic Mythmaking. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gonick, C. W. (1974). Canadian dimension, Volume 10. Ontario.
Hastings, J. (2003). Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Part 3 (reprint ed.). New York: Kessinger Publishing.
Lang, A. (2004). Myth, Ritual, and Religion: Vol. 1. New Delhi: Forgotten Books.
Magocsi, P. R. (2002). Aboriginal Peoples of Canada: A Short Introduction. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Maxwell, J., Tice, P., & Snow, A. (2000). That Old-Time Religion (illustrated ed.). New York: Book Tree.
Molloy, M. (2010). Experiencing The World’s Religions: Tradition, Challenge, and Change (Fifth Edition ed.). Toronto: Mayfield Publishing Company.
