The rest of the story -- Coolhombres

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time ]

Subject: The rest of the story

Author:
Frizzell

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 06:18:29 04/04/02 Thu

Larry, it occurred to me that by your visiting coolhombres you are privy to some sensitive information. Information that Jon Yeager would prefer remains hidden in the deep recesses of his past. Namely that he has a history of urinating on his adversary's clothing. When we bring this up about Jon it is not meant to disparage him. It is meant to illuminate the complex person that he is. Jon is a tremendous individual with a lot to offer. That being said, if you cross him, I wouldn't leave my suit coat unattended.

God's wrath. Why is it minimized today? Why do we seem to have two Gods like we have two Testaments? I am somewhat familiar with the line of thinking that Adam posted. That God is "working himself out" or "evolving" so to speak. Obviously Orthodox Christians would take issue with this line of reasoning because it seems to violate one of the major attributes of God: his immutability. If God is perfect today then he was so at the beginning of creation. But, this is a fairly simplistic defense because I have not thought about it enough.

God's wrath is a serious problem. The Old Testament is full of people that were the unfortunate recipients of this wrath. What has helped me to get a grasp of this concept of wrath is to read the Bible as a cohesive document. Cover to cover. What I discovered is it does just that. It reads like a cohesive document. It's like any other book (no blasphemy intended). Trying reading 3 paragraphs in the middle of a book that you have never read. I don't know if you will gain much value from that. You would read the book from cover to cover to comply understand it. If you were to randomly read excerpts from the Bible you might stumble across the following jewels of wisdom.

"At Parbar westward, four at the causeway, and two at Parbar" I Chronicles 26:18

"O daughter of Babylon...Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones." Psalm 139:9

One of these verses appears to be completely incoherent while the other seems to advocate the murder of children. Sure, there are books that in and of themselves are useful for teaching, but the Bible is best read in its entirety. Anyway, back to wrath.

From Genesis to Malachi you read and sympathize with itinerant Israel. But you also understand God's wrath. He had chosen and invested in these people and they seemed hell-bent on defying him. He threatened to eradicate them at one point buy Moses interceded. His wrath continues to burn against dishonest kings and unrepentant people. By the time you turn the last page on Malachi you realize that a drastic solution is needed if these people are going to survive. Enter the New Testament and Jesus. God has always loved these people and has always exercised his wrath against them. But now we have the climax...the grand face off. God loves these people, and all people, so much that he will do whatever it takes to save them...whatever it takes without compromising his character. That is a serious problem because these people deserve wrath and justice. What does he do? He pours them out on his son to save us all. God's love meets his wrath at the cross. The entire Old Testament seems to be working its way towards Jesus and the entire New Testament seems to point back to Jesus.

God's wrath has purpose and direction and is guided by his holiness. It is not capricious and arbitrary like our wrath. My wrath is more guided by my wounded ego than anything else. I don�t believe that God�s wrath has been mitigated at all. It has burned and continues to burn white hot against sin and evil. But it seems that it has been dealt with for the time being�we have been given a stay of execution so to speak.

I am afraid of his wrath but I am probably more afraid of his displeasure. I am not afraid of being smitten in my sleep but I am afraid of not hearing the words "well done my good and faithful servant." He crucified his son because of his love for us and hate for sin. But before he did so, he pointed to that son and said, "be like him." Not being like him scares me more than being turned into a pillar of salt.

"If grace is doctrine, then ethics is gratitude"
J.I. Packer

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]