crazyheart
Rest In Peace: tomorrow,tomorrow
archie bunker?
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God's exercising judgment is evil is it?
Ben Cartwright
Waterfall said:The way that his judgement is carried out yes. God sounds very human sometimes.
Genesis 18: 25 said:Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?
So God doesn't teach by example such as turning the other cheek or loving ones enemy? Why is God threatened by mere mortals that fail to follow his teachings to the point he must destroy them?Allegedly humanity is created in the image and likeness of God so one would expect, from time to time, to run into something very familiar about God.
Of course, God, by his very nature sees further and deeper than humanity can. Which is why we sometimes feel that God falls short of his own standards. As if we see more clearly, justly or morally than the one who set stars in their courses or measured the foundations of creation.
Sure, we can point to times in scripture where God is challenged. Can we point to passages where some human has pointed to God's failure?
With respect to Sodom and Gommorrah Abraham challenges God by saying,
And some haggling takes place.
God agrees to spare the city, the whole city, if 50 righteous can be found.
[FONT=Open Sans, sans-serif]Discounts that to 40 righteous.
Discounts that to 30 righteous.
Discounts that to 20 righteous.
Discounts that to 10 righteous.
10 righteous in a city of how many? And 10 righteous cannot be found. Not by God who searches all hearts and knows what evil lurks therein.
So two angels are dispatched to spend the night in the city square. Lot, Abraham's nephew will hear none of it and entreats them to stay with him in his home. The angels relent and accompany Lot to his place.
You know the story.
The men of the city swarm Lot's house demanding he hand over his visitors so that the men can rape them. Lot offers up his daughters and offer which is rejected. Not because the men are gay and not because the daughters are of no value but rather because the daughters belong in the city and the angels do not.
The angels strike the men blind and compel Lot, his wife and two daughters are safely evacuated from the danger zone.
Abraham stopped haggling at 10 suppose he had gone for 4?
And Abraham was appalled that God would destroy the righteous alongside of the unrighteous and God did not.
And yet Sodom and Gommorrah are destroyed.
It would appear that the only righteous in the city were allowed to leave before fire fell from the heavens.
And maybe those that were allowed to flee weren't as righteous as they should have been.
One cannot follow an instruction not to look back and the two daughters, fearing they will never find men to marry decide to get dad drunk so they can become impregnated by him.
Maybe God's original plan wasn't hastily concieved or that far gone.
Humanity likes to think that everyone is inherently worthy of forgiveness. That is an assault on grace in that mercy is no longer freely given but compelled.
Humanity likes to think that everyone is inherently worthy of forgiveness. That is an assault on grace in that mercy is no longer freely given but compelled.
Why is judging someone "unworthy" first and then offering Grace morally superior to seeing everyone as worthy to begin with?Indeed. A proper understanding of grace acknowledges that actually none are inherently (at least according to their actions) "worthy" of forgiveness, but that God's forgiveness is an act of unmerited grace. And if grace is not unmerited then it really isn't grace.
Since I have yet to meet anyone - including myself - who would be "worthy" by the standards of God (ie, someone who has loved in a perfectly selfless and unselfish way throughout their lives) then the only way for God to simply see everyone as worthy would be - to go back to a discussion we've already had - for God to grant us license to do whatever we wanted to do without consequence. I believe in grace, not license.Why is judging someone "unworthy" first and then offering Grace morally superior to seeing everyone as worthy to begin with?
Maybe we should remove Bill Cosbey's picture up thread.
Grace doesn't cover licence?Since I have yet to meet anyone - including myself - who would be "worthy" by the standards of God (ie, someone who has loved in a perfectly selfless and unselfish way throughout their lives) then the only way for God to simply see everyone as worthy would be - to go back to a discussion we've already had - for God to grant us license to do whatever we wanted to do without consequence. I believe in grace, not license.
Because? Should we remove David from the Bible too?Maybe we should remove Bill Cosbey's picture up thread.
Grace doesn't cover licence?