Was this punishment or an attack of the devil?

You always hear christians saying how this or that disaster is punishment from god. I always wonder what christians say when something happens to them. Do they go around saying that god is punishing them for their sins or do they blame the devil for these events.

        I had to work today and when I was headed that way I came upon a fire which was burning inside a church. The volunteer firefighters had only arrived shortly before me because they were just getting the hoses run out. I was unable to get a photo of all the smoke rolling out of the church because it would have been a bit dangerous to at that time.  There were probably 5 different fire engines from brush buggies to large fire trucks there. The second time I went by it I was able to get a few pictures that showed some of the fire trucks and this time there were at least 2 county mounties there with them. Since there were so many vehicles on or near the road this was as close as I felt it was safe for taking any pictures from a moving vehicle. This time by they seemed confident they had the fire out and were putting the hoses up. It had been about 2 1/2 hours since I first went by it.

      The third time I went by there were people trying to get some of the stuff from inside out into the sun to dry it seemed to me. From the photo above you can see some of the damage to the west side of the church up near the top. It didn't see to be as much fire damage but smoke damage and where they might have busted it away to get water to the fire.

The final time by the church I was able to get these last two pictures and it seems to me that most of the damage was on the inside unless the back of the church was burned a lot more then the other three sides. The top of the church had fallen in some but it didn't seem that the fire had gotten to far out of control by the time the fire fighters got to work. I would say they are probably lucky it was a Saturday morning, otherwise many of the people that came to fight it would have been at work or on their way to work.

   I wish I lived a little closer to where this church is located or knew a few people that lived in the area. I want to know what rumors are flying around about the cause of the fire. I could believe that many of the members are wanting to say it was arson or an attack by the devil. I very much doubt that they are going around saying they are being punished by their god. I figure it was an electrical fire but wouldn't be surprised if the reasons being used for the fire run the gambit from satanist to muslims. I have a brother that goes to church and runs the sound system. Many of these older churches are running probably 4 or 5 times as much electricity as they did when they were first built. The failure of the members to understand that with the added draw of power by many of the new systems they use is what happens when you think some god is watching over you.

         Right now I am working in an area where a tornado went though on April 30th. There are many in the area that seem to have the same mind set that anything bad that happens to them is the devil and all the good is because of god. Why do these people always want to blame sin when it happens to others but never blame their own sins when it happens to them?


Update: The police are investigating this as an arson fire. They have arrested a guy for burning another church in the area and suspect him of setting this one on fire.