Remember--God's Love is Defined By His Justice
For some Christians the imprecatory Psalms give them heartburn trying to marry the curses and rantings against one’s enemies with the rest of Scripture and God’s obvious priority of “love.”
When you read a psalm like Psalm 69 David is pretty cranked up and is not shy about heaping scorn on the enemies of God. He writes:
Pour out your wrath on them;
let your fierce anger overtake them.
May their place be deserted;
let there be no one to dwell in their tents…
Charge them with crime upon crime;
do not let them share in your salvation.
May they be blotted out of the book of life
and not be listed with the righteous.
David’s words are harsh to be sure so why are they inspired by God and recorded for all eternity?
Walter Kaiser—Prof. Of Old Testament at Gordon-Conwell says, “These saying are legitimate expressions of longings of Old Testament saints for the vindication that only God’s righteousness can bring. They are not utterances of personal vendetta but utterances of zeal for the Kingdom of God and His glory.”
So while it may seem unchristian or mean to speak of the removal of terrorists from the land of living—terrorists who do what they do according to their holy writings as handed down from Muhammad--I do so after the fashion and heart of prophets of old who longed for God’s purposes for mankind and understood that sometimes, the only way to bring about righteousness is to annihilate wickedness as some wickedness will simply not be transformed. Remember God did say “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 'You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. (Deut. 5:8-10)
So when you see a father staggering around a bombed out truck picking up the leg of his wife or the torso of what he thinks is his little girl; hoping and praying that the murderer who brought about such an offense as to destroy innocent image bearers of God, forfeit his own life is wholly consistent with God’s implementation of capital punishment for the purpose of removing evil from the land for the good of the public at large.
God is certainly a God of love but that love is defined and illustrated by His justice. Lose sight of that and you are left with a caricature of God who is neither loving nor just!
When you read a psalm like Psalm 69 David is pretty cranked up and is not shy about heaping scorn on the enemies of God. He writes:
Pour out your wrath on them;
let your fierce anger overtake them.
May their place be deserted;
let there be no one to dwell in their tents…
Charge them with crime upon crime;
do not let them share in your salvation.
May they be blotted out of the book of life
and not be listed with the righteous.
David’s words are harsh to be sure so why are they inspired by God and recorded for all eternity?
Walter Kaiser—Prof. Of Old Testament at Gordon-Conwell says, “These saying are legitimate expressions of longings of Old Testament saints for the vindication that only God’s righteousness can bring. They are not utterances of personal vendetta but utterances of zeal for the Kingdom of God and His glory.”
So while it may seem unchristian or mean to speak of the removal of terrorists from the land of living—terrorists who do what they do according to their holy writings as handed down from Muhammad--I do so after the fashion and heart of prophets of old who longed for God’s purposes for mankind and understood that sometimes, the only way to bring about righteousness is to annihilate wickedness as some wickedness will simply not be transformed. Remember God did say “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 'You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. (Deut. 5:8-10)
So when you see a father staggering around a bombed out truck picking up the leg of his wife or the torso of what he thinks is his little girl; hoping and praying that the murderer who brought about such an offense as to destroy innocent image bearers of God, forfeit his own life is wholly consistent with God’s implementation of capital punishment for the purpose of removing evil from the land for the good of the public at large.
God is certainly a God of love but that love is defined and illustrated by His justice. Lose sight of that and you are left with a caricature of God who is neither loving nor just!
posted by PB at 2:08 PM
4 Comments:
If the rest of the world thought like you do, you would not exist anymore. Your people would have been taken out a long time ago and you wouldn't have been born. In fact, I personally would have been on the front lines wanting to do the "will of God" and take out the enemy, and evil doers.
The people who you have harmed have try over and over to convince your people to change and to be a peaceful and loving. In return they get wars, assassins, weapons, death, and of course, christian missionaries.
Your people are guilty of causing so much terror and harm from the beginning of your existance. How can you blame the people who are blowing up themselves to take at least some of you with them? They are only doing what they can to defend themselves since they don't have tanks, fighter planes, aircraft carriers and "guided" bombs. Why do you blame them, they are only doing, according to your enterpretation of Gods word, His will?
Or do you really think your people are so innocent?
Peace be with you.
Dear Sir,
How different are you from the people who are blowing themselves up with bombs? If asked the same questions, you and them would sound the same.
A religious fundamentalist is all that you are, and policatically, a facist.
D
"The people who you have harmed have try over and over to convince your people to change and to be a peaceful and loving. In return they get wars, assassins, weapons, death, and of course, christian missionaries."
The people we have harmed? You mean, the Hitlers, the Pol Pots, the Stalins, the Amins, the Husseins, the Bin Ladens and thier cruel dupes? Are you serious? First, I would never contend that the United States is perfect nor that is has always done everything right. But overall, the U.S. has been the magnanimous benefactor fo the world and the liberator and/or protector of millions. To try and make it look like we are the oppressors--given the caveat stated above--is to be utterly ignorant of historical reality. The Bin Ladens of the world are not going to respond to wine and roses and Sadam Hussein was cutting out tongues, whacking off hands and and heads, and murdering thoudands of innocent women and children long before the U.S. ever set foot in Iraq. You need a dose of reality. And if it wasn't for the nasty "Christian" missionaries, millions of the world's poorest and neediest would not have food, water, education, and medical attention.
Your contention seems a bit preposterous in that the overwhelming majority of Iraqi's are thrilled that we are there but then I guess they are deluded as well, eh? And I how do you explain the targeting of fellow Iraqi/Muslims buy the homicide bombers along with Iraqi women and children? Doesn't quite fit your "rotten American/ mean Christian" scenario now does it?
pastor?
"he U.S. has been the magnanimous benefactor fo the world and the liberator and/or protector of millions" :)
dear sir, you are delusional, magnanimous benefactor, how many was murdered in vietnam, and for what? you remember vitnam, don't you? and about historical reality, remember how it started? remember the golf of tolkin? all those millions of people, and for what? a lie. how many people did you murdered? how about the genocide against the Indigenous peoples of this land? the real owners of this land? how about the biggest genocide ever commited in all of human existance, i'm referring to the HUNDRED MILLION of your fellow brothers and sisters that were sacrificed on the Middle Passage? what about the million or so who were sacrificed in korea? or the ones murdered in indonesia by suharto, remember that YOUR secretary of state, the war criminal called henry kissinger met with him and he gave the support of the united stated, that means YOU, for all the atrocities. you talk about pol pot, well then, who murdered millions of people in cambodia before he ever came into the picture. remember laos too. and what about kissinger's poster boy by the name of pinochet, don't tell me you don't about 9/11 1973? i would advise you to do some research on that. what about this other brutal dictator by the name of somoza? remember the Trail of Tears? andrew jackson bragged about having a quilt made of the skin dead Indegenous peoples in the white house for everyone to come and see. also remember that hitler was financed at the beggining by american financiers, one of them was the grandfather of YOUR current president and that is a undeniable historical fact. President Franklin Roosevelt's Alien Property Custodian, Leo T. Crowley, signed Vesting Order Number 248 seizing the property of Prescott Bush under the Trading with the Enemy Act. dear sir YOUR hands are stained with the blood of inocents so before casting a stone you should, as a true christian, do some reflection on ALL of your history. this is only a short list, you know i could expand it more but for now that should do. i will be waiting for your response. just remember that all that i say is not for me to convince you but for you to conveince me.
peace
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