God Smites Churchgoers?

In popular imagination, there is the image of God smiting people with bolts of lightning in order to express his wrath over their actions. So what are we to make of the death of nine people - including a priest and five children - when lightning hit their church in Swaziland?

Australia's Herald Sun reports:

"Lightning directly hit the church, killing the 58-year-old priest, five children, two men and a woman," the report said. "Three of the nine came from a single family - a mother with her two children so you can imagine the trauma that the family was facing," aid Swaziland Red Cross spokesman Leonard Dlamini.

So, wasn't this an "act of God"? Why was God angry with these people - angry enough to kill children? Seems rather odd, doesn't it?

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