Wading In to the Fray

Okay, I'm wading in with a few thoughts here. I feel compelled to, and I hope my readers will understand that I'm not trying to cause upset, just provide some food for thought. Another perspective.

Just because a person misuses a knife and commits murder with it doesn't make a knife a bad thing. In the hand of a skilled surgeon it can be lifesaving. Just because people misuse the Bible doesn't make it any less the word of God. It's the people who have the problem. The Bible can and has saved lives. I've seen it happen over and over and over again.

When you really study it, the Bible is an awesome thing. And when you learn it's history and under what great odds it's survived, the marvels of its prophesy, its cohesion--it stands alone and above anything mankind could have come up with on his own. All most people know about it is what they've heard others claim it says. It is often completely misrepresented. I think every human being on the planet owes it to himself to thoroughly investigate the Bible. Forget the hogwash that it's hard to understand and that we can't know it. It was written for us. Yes, it is deep, yes it takes some effort, and yes there is always something new to learn there. It's worth it.

I agree that God doesn't hate people. He loves mankind and gives them every opportunity to come to him and be reconciled. The thing is he has four cardinal attributes, the first being love, the others being justice, wisdom, and power. His love doesn't keep him from exercising perfect justice, perfect wisdom, and balanced power. He did it at the time of the flood. He gave humans then years and years and years to accept his terms of reconciliation through his provision of the ark, but that was the only way to be carried through the judgement that God warned was coming. Out of love, he always provides a way out, but mankind has to take it, whatever sacrifices or actions that requires.

God has the absolute right to decide what is acceptable to him and what is not. But just like the physical laws that keep us alive and not floating off into space :), his other judicial decisions are for the good of mankind, not their detriment. It is Satan who contended that God uses his power unjustly, that He withholds good things from humans through His laws and that man was better off deciding right and wrong for himself. Our first parents chose to decide good and bad for themselves instead of obey their Creator. Look around at the legacy they left us. Not a pretty picture.

The Genesis account says that God gave mankind jurisdiction over the earth and the animals. He did not give him jursidiction to rule himself. We were supposed to be under God's rule. We were not created to govern our lives separately from Him. We only have to look around the world to see we do a pretty lousy job of it on our own. We are too short sighted to know what's good for us. We are truly children.

I think the example of Cain and Abel is also a good one. Cain wanted to worship on his terms. God didn't accept it. He explained why and he expected Cain to change. God didn't say, ah, that's just part of the imperfection that Cain inherited, it's not his fault. He can't help it. Instead he warned Cain that what he was doing was wrong and that if he continued down his chosen course it would get him into trouble. So was it God's fault when Cain chose to continue in a wrong course and was it unjust for God to punish him for the course he chose? No. At the same time, it wasn't up to another man to decide Cain's fate. It was God's decision and in the meantime, Cain wasn't to be harmed. He was to be ostracized. Still God took care of him, providing him the means to continue living. Did Cain eventually change? Other Scripture seems to indicate that he did not. So is God justified in removing Cain from what he promises for people who choose to listen to God's law and obey it? Absolutely. Cain had every opportunity to be there but chose not to. God was not unjust in his judgment.

I believe it is the same today.

*God's love extends to all mankind in that he provides sun and rain and food--he sustains life. And he also provides clear warning and the means to become reconciled with him. We choose--life or death. "The blessing or the malediction."
*There are things that God is not going to change to suit men's thinking. Mankind needs to listen to His warning and bring themselves in line with God's thinking, not be deciding for themselves what is right and wrong.
*Even if we don't much care for what God says is right or wrong or it's difficult to do in our imperfection or we simply don't understand it, we need to make the effort. Why? He knows us better than we do. We'll be better off for it. It demonstrates our faith in Him. And He blesses effort.
*It's not up to us to be the judges. We should treat every human being on the face of the earth with basic human dignity hoping to draw them into a close relationship with God by imitating his qualities, providing a mirror if you will, so that others can see what God is really like. Including his justice.
*In the end, God's justice will be perfect. That doesn't mean that everyone will survive it.

I'd much rather fall on God's justice than on what man calls justice.