God sends the angel of death to kill all the Egyptians first-born sons
God claims to be forgiving, but we see him be petty.
God kills a man for touching the ark of the covenant to settle it when he wasn’t the right person to touch it.
God claims to be gracious, but we see him be harsh.
God commands death for small crimes, such as picking up sticks on the Sabbath.
God claims to be good, but we see him be evil.
God commands the genocide—killing of men, women and children as well as animals—of entire nations.
Yes, God is shown to be loving as well.
God delivers an undeserving nation from slavery.
God forgives a man for murder and adultery.
God provides food for the hungry.
God raises children from the dead.
God pays the debt of a widow.
God establishes a great nation out of nobodies.
But the very nation God established was patriarchal, bloodthirsty and warring.
They’re ancestral heroes are lying, cheating and disloyal.
I’d like to say that there is an error in the Bible.
That some events were attributed to God when they really weren’t.
That people penned God’s name to sayings he never said.
That God experimented in different methods to train humans to love, and many of them failed.
That God could do what humans could not do because He was creator.
But these are all excuses for an unloving God, or, at best, a God that was learning how to love.
A God who did not know what compassion, grace, forgiveness and good really meant.
Or a God who was sorely, even deceitfully, misrepresented.
Frankly, I just don’t know.
But this I do know:
The God I worship, adore, obey and imitate is displayed in full glory in Jesus.
Jesus is the perfect demonstration of the love of God.
Jesus is the God who transforms the occasionally harsh law into pure love.
Jesus is the God who heals the sick and feeds the hungry.
Jesus is the God who supports the poor.
Jesus is the God who welcomes the sinner.
Jesus is the God who sacrifices himself for the sake of the world.
Jesus is the God who forgives completely, without punishment.
Jesus is the God who exuberantly, abundantly, enthusiastically loves.
And there is no other God but the God whom we see in Jesus.
Jesus is the complete fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures.
Jesus turns deceit into Truth.
Jesus turns disloyalty into Faithfulness.
Jesus turns selfishness into Sacrifice.
And Jesus turns a broken God into a God broken for us.
In Jesus we see the Compassionate, the Gracious, the Merciful, the Forgiving.
This is the God I love, the God I seek, the God I pray to.
There is no other.
I really hope your first portion is in jest. God was very gracious to all those people, but they didn't want to give to His commands. Jesus is the same God of the O.T as in the N.T.
ReplyDeleteIn the end.... the Jesus you speak about is the same God that will rain fire and brimestone down on earth. The One who will subdue the earth, will wipe the earth, chain the Devil and his minions as well as all the other calamity in Revelation.
I really hope it was in jest.
No, I am not jesting.
ReplyDeleteThe point is that the love of Jesus is different than the love of the Father. I am not talking about punishing those who murder or rape or oppress immigrants (that's Sodom), but killing the innocent (commanding genocide) or overpunishing, when a small punishment will do (killing a person for gathering on the Sabbath).
ReplyDeleteI am not denying that Jesus is God, what I am denying is that Jesus is agreeing with the God that commanded these things. Perhaps God changed his mind-- he does that-- or perhaps Moses just told the people that God commanded these brutal punishments because he thought it was right, and Jesus has the true heart of the Father. I don't know. All I know is that Jesus teaches us to love our enemies and he sets aside punishment for the sake of forgiveness.
Jesus will still be there to kill the murderer and the oppressor on the final day, I don't deny that. But in the meantime, he waits to give all of us oppressors an opportunity to be lovers.
Jesus can't deny himself. I suppose he could change His mind, but I don't think that's it either as scripture says He is the same always. That's everything.
ReplyDeleteHe didnt 'think' it was right. he knew it was and does today. How many die daily? You see it more than I. Way before their time. He knows all, hes in charge of all today. It's at His will that we live or die. Lastly, NOBODY is innocent, nor has been. Romans speaks to that. ALL know.