Potential Reasons For Existence of Evil & Suffering VI:
God is a God of love but He is also a God of wrath. A wrath that probably defies any human effort to explain its true scope. If we truly contemplated it in its entire scope it would probably overwhelm even believers that are on God’s good side thanks to the atoning sacrifice of His Son. We are speaking of a God that called for entire ethnicity (Amalakites, Midianites) to be wiped out (farm animals included). It was to be a destruction of a race of people or genocide on a complete scale. Think Nazi Germany had they actually succeeded in completing the “Final Solution”. God spends his wrath until it is exhausted. Some prominent examples of people that suffered mentally or physically for disobedience and wickedness to/towards God and were punished for it are (in no particular order):
• Adam and Eve: Other than the entire human race falling, I am thinking in particular of the pain of childbirth for women.
• In the story of Noah, God uses a natural evil (flood) to wipe out all but one family in the world
• Pharaoh/Egyptians in the time of Moses.
• Assyrians-Israel, Babylonian-Judah
• Samson: Blinded and taken prisoner
Some not so subtle and exacting punishment are Sodom and Gomorrah, the eventual downfall of the Northern Kingdom or Israel and then later the Southern Kingdom of Judah. God cannot and will not leave wickedness unpunished as He is a God of justice. Injustice and God cannot exist together...God is obligated by His holy character and attributes to deal with wickedness wherever and whenever it is.
Dear Andy,
ReplyDeleteI've been a Believer all my life, except, I had to go through 10 years of active alcoholism, drug use and Hippie Hedonism to finally be Delivered.
People in AA have wanted to kill me, since the beginning, because...Twas Grace (Light) That Taught My Heart To Fear, And Grace, My Fear Relieved.
Although AA is not a Religion, per se, it is God Centered. And, like ALL religions, it became HUMANIZED.
So, I "cast my pearls before swine", any more. And, I'm pretty lonely. I have been blogging and posting on forums for as long as the Net has been in existance. And, I've been unceremoniously jettisoned from EVER blog and forum I have posted on, in this time. Except, the one I'm providing for you today.
God is LIGHT. Evil ain't. In jousting with the Evil for such a long time, I know that I cannot be NICE to them. So, sometimes, I use salty language to them.
This is about the 4th attempt to post in answer to you, with no success. So, here goes.
Best,
David Merchant onceadad1@juno.com
Proverbs 3:34
He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.
Proverbs 15:12
Mockers resent correction, so they avoid the wise.
Isaiah 29:20
The ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down—
Dear Andy,
ReplyDeleteCarl Jung was consulted when Dr. Bob and Bill W. were forming AA.
So many of my AA mates have chosen Buddhism over Christianity. Because? They FEEL that Buddhism is about PACIFISM TO EVIL. It is NOT!
The two greatest evils in the history of the world are Communist-Atheism and Islam.
All of the PUNISHMENTS from Old and New Testaments have permeated the world today. I've heard Evil described as "Diabolical Confusion."
Here is part of my signature on all of my outgoing mail and then a passage from the Buddhist site, Reverse Spins.
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” – Isaiah 5:20 (KJV)
http://www.reversespins.com/pacify.html Buddhist site.
No one should underestimate the unseen seen force driving communism. It is hatred of God and the Divine Mother. Dharamsala may not be safe either. And... http://www.reversespins.com/pattonpacify.html : Patton on Christian Pussyfism.
W. Churchill, on Islam...1899.
How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog...
Communism is the polar opposite of the Sangha (community of the Spirit). It is a counterfeit, taking on the name of 'the brotherhood of man.,' but without God in the equation, the system will eventually breakdown. Much damage and evil works are done before this happens though. Millions of lives are lost and culture and religion destroyed. It is a battle of Light vs. Dark with reincarnated leaders at the helm who have no allegiance to God, the Buddha, the Sangha and the Tao.
Hey Light_V_Dark,
ReplyDeleteYou will not be jettisoned here. I too spent time in rehab in the 90's. I have since attended AA when I felt I was slipping. Of late 2008 I stopped going for the same reasons you mentioned. I believe God provided a lot of grace in those people but many are misguided in their worldview. They speak of a "higher power" but chose not to give him a name to be inclusive to all alcoholics. Unfortunately, this leads many astray chasing a manufactured entity they call God and "it" this "god" is often an illusion. When I was attending some AA and NA meetings I would begin to quote Scripture and make biblical analogies and would often be shutdown and talked over. This is when I realize it was not for me. I still go occasionally and still stir the pot so to speak when it comes to dropping the truth but I often just get blank stares. Sometimes...just sometimes...I see that sparkle in someone's I and when the meeting is over I will get ask things like, "What is the easiest Bible to learn from?" I will usually guide them to the NIV, NLT or the message. As for Islam...my views are clear in older posts that would need to be dug out. Eastern Religions...the same. They are internally inconsistant worldviews. In some places their doctrine is downright contradictory. Too much to mention now. We are in the same boat. Good's greatest enemy is apathy or worse, appeasement. Passiveness is what has gotten us into the condition we are in in the USA and the world in general. Someone, you or I need to stand as watchmen on the wall and stand in the gaps. We need to speak truth in the face of adversity even if it means a standing in biblical truth in a room full of former alcoholics, now dry, but sorely misguided by a AA system that that has its underlying foundations in Eastern Philosophy and Carl Jung.
Thanks for getting back to me Andy.
ReplyDeleteI've always called my HP, God. And, THAT got me in trouble. I became a Christian in 1992 or 3 when I went to see a childhood friend, who told me to look at Romans 10:9 and 10. And, I said...Yeah, I can do that. And VOILA, I am a Christian.
What's taught in all religions is misinterpreted.
Light V Dark, gets me labled as a dreaded FUNDY, BUY BULL THUMPER, etc. I've found that just ALLUDING to The Light, drives the "vampires" further insane.
In an earlier post, I showed what Churchill said about Islam in 1899, being akin to rabies.
So, in MY MIND, Communist-Atheism and Islam, are the 2 DARKEST forces in history.
Communism is a religion, albeit a satanic one. Please Google same.
Here's something by Jung.* I believe in "synchronicity" cum Karma, Reaping what one sows, etc. AND, found The Bible To be BEST road map...NIV is my favorite, BTW. My younger brother, who has been a Christian since the 60s, told me I'm not a REAL Christian because of the version of the Bible I read...Sheesh.
*The Christian missionary may preach the gospel to the poor naked heathen, but the spiritual heathen who populate Europe have as yet heard nothing of Christianity.
Carl Jung
We are DEFINATELY on the same side. Because? I Googled God haters.
Most halfwitted "agnostics and atheists" say that they don't HATE GOD, but His followers...Cuckoo, Cuckoo...
DM
Andy,
ReplyDeleteWhere I grew up with a whole generation of INSANE Flower Children Of The Damned, I had to find out the physical, spiritual and emotional causes, that kept them from the Light.
N-A-R-C-I-S-S-I-S-M.
Enter, M. Scott Peck (see link for this post, and passage at end) whom, I believe was a recovered alkie and a Christian. Even Peck thought that the Vietnam War was BAD. To show how Darkness is winning...After I read in one of Peck's books that he was against Vietnam, I went to contact him and tell him how I thought on the subject.
Well, he had died a few years ago, and I never heard a word about it. Mankey the Serial Pedophile Jackson dies and we want to have a national holy day to celebrate its birthday.
From link:
Is it evil to belittle, denigrate, scapegoat, and make fun of someone until they are demoralized, subjugated, and traumatized? Is the verbal and emotional abuser who keeps his victim in suspense and fear an evil person? Is the person with the need to control others evil?
According to Peck, most of us view a situation in light of how we are affected by it and only as an afterthought do we stop to consider how it might affect others involved; we do eventually consider the viewpoint of the other.
Not so those who are evil. Theirs is a brand of narcissism so total that they seem to lack this capacity for empathy.... We can see then, that their narcissism makes the evil dangerous not only because it motivates them to scapegoat others, but also because it deprives them of the restraint that results from empathy and respect for others....The evil need victims to sacrifice to their narcissism, their narcissism permits them to ignore the humanity of their victims as well. ..The blindness of the narcissist to others can extend beyond a lack of empathy; narcissists may not "see" others at all.
Although you and I do not see things exactly the same way, I do not see you "flipping out on me"
Andy,
ReplyDeleteMy last post of the night to you...
(from link in this post:)
Light and darkness as descriptive of the way of the righteous and the wicked, respectively, are common imagery in the wisdom literature of the Old Testament (for example, "The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness...
In Paul's writings, light is christological in orientation. The lot of all is darkness until God shines the light of the glorious gospel about Christ in our hearts (4:4, 6). This light makes ethical demands on its recipients in the form of fruit that is "good and right and true" (Eph 5:9; Hahn 1976:494-95).
And, Andy...
To my way of thinking, if one FEELS that WAR is the most evil thing in the world, THAT person has been overcome by evil...
Leftists on blogs and forums are always quoting John Stuart Mill. Well, I looked up quotes on War. Mill's was the very best one I found, even better than Winston Churhill's;
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873)
To shorten my thoughts on ALL OF THIS...ATHEISTS HAVE SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL... Thank you, Mick Jagger.
happy anniversary wishes to uncle and aunty
ReplyDeletehappy anniversary didi and jiju in hindi
ReplyDelete