In the Post-Enlightenment West, liberty means agency or self-determination, even when you use your liberty to bind yourself. Let me explain: liberty means a landowner can do anything with his real estate. The owner is free to sell, to buy, to lease, to rent, to sell the underground minerals while retaining the surface, to leaseContinue reading “Slavery. Jeremiah 34:17.”
Category Archives: God’s Justice and Mercy
Old Testament Mercy. 2 Chronicles 33:12-13.
When I was a little boy, a girl down the street told me that God the Father was mean and angry, and that only Jesus the Son was merciful.[1] Have you heard this idea? It goes hand-in-hand with the oft-repeated trope that the Old Testament tells the story of a God of vengeance, and theContinue reading “Old Testament Mercy. 2 Chronicles 33:12-13.”
Men Prefer Justice, But God Prefers Mercy Because He is God and Not a Man. Hosea 11:9.
Pictured: “The Death of Socrates,” by Jacques-Louis David, 1787. Socrates was convicted of “corrupting the youth of Athens” because he asked hard questions about the Greek gods they all served. In the painting, Socrates, who is still teaching, bravely faces his sentence of death by hemlock tea, while his admirers and students look on inContinue reading “Men Prefer Justice, But God Prefers Mercy Because He is God and Not a Man. Hosea 11:9.”
God is Patient, but He Will Judge the Guilty. Joel 3:18.
British comedian Stephen Fry was asked what he would say to God. “Why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid God who creates a world which is so full of injustice and pain? It’s utterly, utterly evil. Bone cancer in children? What’s that about? God is quite clearly a maniac, utter maniac.” The interviewer thenContinue reading “God is Patient, but He Will Judge the Guilty. Joel 3:18.”
Understand Old Testament Wrath in Light of Luke 20:38 and Ezekiel 33:11.
Reading Old Testament highlights can give the impression God loves to pour out his wrath. In fact, there is a popular notion that the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New Testament. Some personify it: God the Father is angry and full of wrath, but God the Son isContinue reading “Understand Old Testament Wrath in Light of Luke 20:38 and Ezekiel 33:11.”
DEFINITELY A LAW AND ORDER GUY. 1 Samuel 21:6.
Pictured: Actors portray Jesus healing a blind man on the Sabbath. In law school one of my colleagues asked me whether I was going to be a prosecutor. “Because I figure, you’re definitely a law and order guy.” I had never been called that before. As a hyperactive child, I spent most of my timeContinue reading “DEFINITELY A LAW AND ORDER GUY. 1 Samuel 21:6.”
Adam and Eve Sinned. Why Was Punishment Delayed? Genesis 5:5.
Image generated with A.I. God tells Adam and Eve not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil “for on the day that you eat from it, you shall surely die” Genesis 2:17. Next thing you know, the two sin. God shows up, pronounces judgment … and they do not die.Continue reading “Adam and Eve Sinned. Why Was Punishment Delayed? Genesis 5:5.”
JESUS IS LOVE AND WRATH. Revelation 19:11-20:12.
This picture generated with A.I. The Old Testament predicts the New. God promised Abram his people would return from Egypt to the Promised Land after 400 years, “because the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure” Genesis 15:16. The pagans were not evil enough to warrant destruction—but would be in time.Continue reading “JESUS IS LOVE AND WRATH. Revelation 19:11-20:12.”
GOD WILL SEND HELP! Luke 9:28-31; 22:43.
The most difficult challenge any man ever faced was the cross. But God gave Jesus encouragement in many ways. While He prayed in the Garden before His arrest, “an angel appeared to Him, strengthening Him” Luke 22:43. But back the clock up a few days…. “He took Peter, James, and John, and went up onContinue reading “GOD WILL SEND HELP! Luke 9:28-31; 22:43.”
AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM. Zechariah 8:4-5,12,16-17.
America is not perfect, and it was never holy. There are evil threads woven into our story—slavery, the genocide of Indian tribes, racism, greed. But what other nation do the people of the world flock to enter? What other nation is a melting pot like this land of opportunity? What nation can offer such freedom,Continue reading “AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM. Zechariah 8:4-5,12,16-17.”
Household Words: 