A Fresh New Take From A Counter Perspective!
Michael on August 8, 2013 at 8:02 pm said:
Someone above stated something to the effect that God does not cause children to die, etc. Have you even read the Old Testament? Entire cities and populations were laid to waste…down to the livestock. All due to God’s commands…just because they were in the way of the “Chosen Ones”. If God is omni-everything, then of course He either causes it to happen or allows it to happen.
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Jason Weirauchon August 8, 2013 at 11:31 pm said:
Exactly. Rape, slavery, death, all allowed. The Almighty could stop it, but does not. God loves you but will let you die a slow agonizing death as your loved ones watch you grow weak until you can no longer control your bodily functions. He will call bears to kill children for making fun of bald men. He will have you toss out your daughters and servants to be raped so you can dialog with angels. In the better times he will ask you to kill your own son to prove your loyalty and just when you are ready to do this foul dead, he will tell you he is joking. Bow down and pray to this loving god, for there is more to come in the afterlife. It is written.
Exactly. Rape, slavery, death, all allowed. The Almighty could stop it, but does not. God loves you but will let you die a slow agonizing death as your loved ones watch you grow weak until you can no longer control your bodily functions. He will call bears to kill children for making fun of bald men. He will have you toss out your daughters and servants to be raped so you can dialog with angels. In the better times he will ask you to kill your own son to prove your loyalty and just when you are ready to do this foul dead, he will tell you he is joking. Bow down and pray to this loving god, for there is more to come in the afterlife. It is written.
Can you not see the point!? The Old Testament is filled with military campaigns, mass slaughter, and extreme calls of devotion. That is true, however, can you blame someone without a good grasp on ancient history to see beyond those things? No... I couldn't. They don't understand that those "Chosen Ones" would also come under the sword of judgment as God "chose" another people (the Babylonians) to raze Jerusalem and scatter the Hebrews. No... How could they possibly know the extremism of Canaanite religious practices like bundling your newborn in a safe and warm blanket and then roasting its flesh and little body in the belly of a false god? How could they know? Surely, the schools aren't teaching on the subject of ancient paganism, so how could we blame them? I don't, I just wish more students were open minded to history.
Sure, they might have been affected by the revionist jargan, but if we are not swayed by what they claimed history has been swayed by then surely we shall be swayed by them, so who is to judge? I say, logically, an account given in closer proximity to the actual event is in better standing to describe the event than one based thousands of years later. So trust history!
It kind of starts to make sense if you let it. Thick smoke of charred human remains billowed from the high places of worship and choked the nostrils of God. You better believe it tore at His heart! It also starts to make sense that when the "Chosen Ones" started to partake in those same pagan practices that God sent swift judgment after dispatching his prophets with a message to warn of the oncoming disaster.
There will always be scoffers, just as there were in the days that I am describing, but not all scoffers know exactly why they are scoffing. Some simply do it because, let's face it, all of humanity is fallen. I mean, ALL of humanity is fallen. The same type of saving experience that God had to bring me through, with all of the years of heartache, addiction, and blatant disregard for God, He must bring every individual in the world through also. So to be honest, if you are at all like me, you scoff because it's the route you have chosen to fit in on some level of society. You are either the non-conformist skeptic, the free-spirited radical, the pretentious intellectual, or none of the above! According to the Bible, the only thing that qualifies you for being in rebellion to God is to be born human. So, I can't really blame someone for scoffing at something they are naturally inclined to scoff at.
I have said it before and I will say it again. The only reason why I'm a Christian, is because I never wanted to be one. That means, I was content with every wind of humanism. I prided myself in being the measure of all things. When it came to eternity, I figured I had the right idea, just live happy, do the right thing and when you die, all of that happiness and goodness will carry over with you. Funny though, I had no way to substantiate that argument. In fact, it was pretty stupid... But they make movies out of this kind of stuff!
I was simply following the trend. Without even knowing it, I was just going with the flow, and every time that one oddball "voice of reason", Christ follower, in the crowd would stand up against the current I was awash in, we and the others would simply flow right over him. Sometimes I sympathized for those little guys, they really weren't hurting anyone...
So enough reminiscing, back to the point, my real point, the reason why I began to write this tangent. Look at the response to the original comment. Jason said, "Exactly. Rape, slavery, death, all allowed." At first I thought that this was a Christian rebuttal, but it wasn't. It was just another guy about to unload his opinion on righteous indignation. Take a second to let it sink in. "Rape, slavery, death, all allowed. The Almighty could stop it, but does not..." My goodness this guy is right! God is patient! He is long suffering! His goodness indeed does allow for all of these terrible things to transpire so that we might know His justice, His mercy, His love, and His Salvation! What a profound realization, so Biblical, so true. It is evident in the world around us. We all want answers! We all want to know how the holocaust could happen. We all wait and wait and wait for the oppressors to be oppressed, but it never seems to come. Then, all of a sudden, the regime collapses, the tyrant is hanged, the people are liberated, and goodness is evidenced! Why ought we assume that God simply folds His mighty arms in negligence as children are roasted in the flames of foolishness? How sad that a man is so fixated on proving his point that he doesn't realized the point he has actually proved?
I envision a dog chasing its tail, finally catching it, but then not knowing that it was his tail! That is the same logical dilemma I find this man in and humanity for that cause. We are so adrift in the torrent of agendas that we never realize what it is we were intending to find. It is like truth dribbling off of our own tongues, swirled into an amalgam of froth, but we are too dizzy from chasing our tails to discern any of it. That's why I cannot blame this man, or the men I work with, or the men I see at school, or any other human being born into this world. Whether He is a Muslim, or a homosexual. For that man, Christ died. For that man, God showed His love, by tolerating him a bit more. For that man, God allowed that rape, slavery, and death to allow for the rapist, slave trader, and murderer to be redeemed so that the world can see past such things and look toward such infinite goodness and glory, far surpassing the greatest sufferings of this world, so that all will see what is eternally good, holy, and true, the loving face of God in all meekness, splendor, and power.
Sure, they might have been affected by the revionist jargan, but if we are not swayed by what they claimed history has been swayed by then surely we shall be swayed by them, so who is to judge? I say, logically, an account given in closer proximity to the actual event is in better standing to describe the event than one based thousands of years later. So trust history!
It kind of starts to make sense if you let it. Thick smoke of charred human remains billowed from the high places of worship and choked the nostrils of God. You better believe it tore at His heart! It also starts to make sense that when the "Chosen Ones" started to partake in those same pagan practices that God sent swift judgment after dispatching his prophets with a message to warn of the oncoming disaster.
There will always be scoffers, just as there were in the days that I am describing, but not all scoffers know exactly why they are scoffing. Some simply do it because, let's face it, all of humanity is fallen. I mean, ALL of humanity is fallen. The same type of saving experience that God had to bring me through, with all of the years of heartache, addiction, and blatant disregard for God, He must bring every individual in the world through also. So to be honest, if you are at all like me, you scoff because it's the route you have chosen to fit in on some level of society. You are either the non-conformist skeptic, the free-spirited radical, the pretentious intellectual, or none of the above! According to the Bible, the only thing that qualifies you for being in rebellion to God is to be born human. So, I can't really blame someone for scoffing at something they are naturally inclined to scoff at.
I have said it before and I will say it again. The only reason why I'm a Christian, is because I never wanted to be one. That means, I was content with every wind of humanism. I prided myself in being the measure of all things. When it came to eternity, I figured I had the right idea, just live happy, do the right thing and when you die, all of that happiness and goodness will carry over with you. Funny though, I had no way to substantiate that argument. In fact, it was pretty stupid... But they make movies out of this kind of stuff!
I was simply following the trend. Without even knowing it, I was just going with the flow, and every time that one oddball "voice of reason", Christ follower, in the crowd would stand up against the current I was awash in, we and the others would simply flow right over him. Sometimes I sympathized for those little guys, they really weren't hurting anyone...
So enough reminiscing, back to the point, my real point, the reason why I began to write this tangent. Look at the response to the original comment. Jason said, "Exactly. Rape, slavery, death, all allowed." At first I thought that this was a Christian rebuttal, but it wasn't. It was just another guy about to unload his opinion on righteous indignation. Take a second to let it sink in. "Rape, slavery, death, all allowed. The Almighty could stop it, but does not..." My goodness this guy is right! God is patient! He is long suffering! His goodness indeed does allow for all of these terrible things to transpire so that we might know His justice, His mercy, His love, and His Salvation! What a profound realization, so Biblical, so true. It is evident in the world around us. We all want answers! We all want to know how the holocaust could happen. We all wait and wait and wait for the oppressors to be oppressed, but it never seems to come. Then, all of a sudden, the regime collapses, the tyrant is hanged, the people are liberated, and goodness is evidenced! Why ought we assume that God simply folds His mighty arms in negligence as children are roasted in the flames of foolishness? How sad that a man is so fixated on proving his point that he doesn't realized the point he has actually proved?
I envision a dog chasing its tail, finally catching it, but then not knowing that it was his tail! That is the same logical dilemma I find this man in and humanity for that cause. We are so adrift in the torrent of agendas that we never realize what it is we were intending to find. It is like truth dribbling off of our own tongues, swirled into an amalgam of froth, but we are too dizzy from chasing our tails to discern any of it. That's why I cannot blame this man, or the men I work with, or the men I see at school, or any other human being born into this world. Whether He is a Muslim, or a homosexual. For that man, Christ died. For that man, God showed His love, by tolerating him a bit more. For that man, God allowed that rape, slavery, and death to allow for the rapist, slave trader, and murderer to be redeemed so that the world can see past such things and look toward such infinite goodness and glory, far surpassing the greatest sufferings of this world, so that all will see what is eternally good, holy, and true, the loving face of God in all meekness, splendor, and power.
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