I have seen some Facebook posts where people write that they find it hard to relate to God who is alternately full of mercy and next minute an executioner who kills his children. That is why I will try to comment a little on that.
WHY ARE YOU AFRAID OF GOD AS AN EXECUTIONER? Don’t you think He has forgiven all your sins... or are you still living in conscious sin? If you have settled everything with God, you don’t have to be afraid of His punishment. If you live in conscious sin and therefore haven’t settled everything with God, it’s better to repent than to convince yourself that it’s going to be all right.
IN GOD THERE IS NO CHANGING SHADOW. God is not alternately full of mercy and next minute an angry executioner. The problem is that many people pull Him down to the human level and that’s why we can’t understand that He can be many things at the same time – the Trinity is, after all, a good example of that.
Try to consider this – God sees every individual on our globe! It means that at the same time as He gladly sees a person who is getting saved, He feels pain seeing the abuse of a little child. At the same time as He rejoices with someone who has been healed, He sees those who suffer from pain and sickness.
I think it is impossible for us to fully understand this because God is a million times bigger than what we can comprehend. He can be both loving and angry at the same time – if He couldn’t do that, He wouldn’t be able to relate well to everyone at the same time, but being God He can feel people’s joy and sorrow simultaneously.
God is both merciful and righteous
The fact that God is love doesn’t mean that He sees through the fingers at criminals who don’t want to repent – that would be terrible. Yes, when people repent, confess their sins and make Jesus their boss, there is forgiveness. Then they will fully experience God’s grace and forgiveness. If, however, they don’t want to repent, it’s not God’s mercy they are going to receive.
WHY ARE YOU AFRAID OF GOD AS AN EXECUTIONER? Don’t you think He has forgiven all your sins... or are you still living in conscious sin? If you have settled everything with God, you don’t have to be afraid of His punishment. If you live in conscious sin and therefore haven’t settled everything with God, it’s better to repent than to convince yourself that it’s going to be all right.
IN GOD THERE IS NO CHANGING SHADOW. God is not alternately full of mercy and next minute an angry executioner. The problem is that many people pull Him down to the human level and that’s why we can’t understand that He can be many things at the same time – the Trinity is, after all, a good example of that.
Try to consider this – God sees every individual on our globe! It means that at the same time as He gladly sees a person who is getting saved, He feels pain seeing the abuse of a little child. At the same time as He rejoices with someone who has been healed, He sees those who suffer from pain and sickness.
I think it is impossible for us to fully understand this because God is a million times bigger than what we can comprehend. He can be both loving and angry at the same time – if He couldn’t do that, He wouldn’t be able to relate well to everyone at the same time, but being God He can feel people’s joy and sorrow simultaneously.
God is both merciful and righteous
The fact that God is love doesn’t mean that He sees through the fingers at criminals who don’t want to repent – that would be terrible. Yes, when people repent, confess their sins and make Jesus their boss, there is forgiveness. Then they will fully experience God’s grace and forgiveness. If, however, they don’t want to repent, it’s not God’s mercy they are going to receive.
John 3:36 says that “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”
It doesn’t mean that God isn’t merciful, but those people didn’t want His grace – they wanted to manage on their own.
God is merciful, but He doesn’t force His mercy on anyone. His love is available for everyone, but only those who want to receive it will experience it. That is why it’s absolutely wrong to say to people who don’t want to have anything to do with God that He will be merciful and loving towards them.
God is merciful, but He doesn’t force His mercy on anyone. His love is available for everyone, but only those who want to receive it will experience it. That is why it’s absolutely wrong to say to people who don’t want to have anything to do with God that He will be merciful and loving towards them.