Life has been going very well lately. GOD has been bringing me butt-loads of money to help me survive these last few weeks before I start my new job (I will be on a moving team for Springboro Community Schools). I am also going to be teaching the high school Sunday gathering class. For the month of May, I'm doing a series on "the character of Yahweh", looking at stories from both the Old and New Testaments to discover GOD's innate character. I also want to spend a month going over the basics of the gospel. Sunday's lesson is on the quiet, gentle, and kind character of GOD as revealed to Elijah in the cave at Mt. Horeb and Jesus' kindness towards the children (for Jesus is Yahweh; when we confess Christ as Lord we are, if you look at the root of the Greek words, confessing him to be Yahweh). Next week is the wrath and chastisement of GOD as the manifestation of another facet of His character (justice). I am excited about this summer, though I will sorely miss my C.C.U. friends.
I am really considering going for a Master of Arts in Old Testament studies. Please pray that GOD will show me if this is what He wants me to do. With it I would be able to teach at private schools, public colleges, and private colleges, as well as be hired as a minister somewhere. My passion for the Old Testament intensifies with each day, and my passion for GOD grows likewise. I want people to connect with GOD and experience them in their ordinary, mundane--yet radical--lives. I need to decide soon so I can start taking classes (an Exodus class and beginning Hebrew).
You only have one life on this fallen earth. Don't waste it; make it count.
I am really considering going for a Master of Arts in Old Testament studies. Please pray that GOD will show me if this is what He wants me to do. With it I would be able to teach at private schools, public colleges, and private colleges, as well as be hired as a minister somewhere. My passion for the Old Testament intensifies with each day, and my passion for GOD grows likewise. I want people to connect with GOD and experience them in their ordinary, mundane--yet radical--lives. I need to decide soon so I can start taking classes (an Exodus class and beginning Hebrew).
You only have one life on this fallen earth. Don't waste it; make it count.
One love, one blood, one life
you've got to do what you should.
One life with each other,
sisters and brothers,
one life, but we're not the same.
We get to carry each other,
carry each other.
[We are] one.
you've got to do what you should.
One life with each other,
sisters and brothers,
one life, but we're not the same.
We get to carry each other,
carry each other.
[We are] one.
6 comments:
It is wondeful how God provides financially.
Hebrew is probably one of the most beautiful languages to learn! I'm considering to study Hebrew too. Now I'm still in -well in Holland they call it- Middelbare School. And I follow English, French, German and Latin classes.So Hebrew sounds great to me :)
I knew I had heard those lignes before! U2 One, beautiful song!
You said this:
'The scriptures clearly say that God does not hate anyone (unless you proof-text and twist the meanings of verses),'
which I'm having an incredibly difficult time reconciling with this:
'Psa 5:5 The boastful cannot stand in Your presence; You hate all evildoers.'
What proof-text or twisting is going on when I read 'You hate all evildoers' as 'You hate all evildoers'?
Am I to read it as something other than God hating evildoers?
Help me out here.
Also, you said this,
'He is forced into judgment by the actions of creatures whom He has endowed with free will.'
Pardon me? I was unaware the supreme being in the universe, the ultimate power, the king of kings, could be 'forced' by anything. Perhaps I was thinking of His omnipotence (all power) as something other than Him being all powerful.
Help me out.
Please don't think I'm being rude or hateful here. I love to discuss. I welcome you to the pub to discuss more. Please show your face some more.
Hey, thanks for commenting! You brought up a very good point, so I did some research, and found several other verses where it is spoken of GOD hating people (Psa 5.5, 11.5, Lev 20.23, Prov 6.16-19, Hosea 9.15). At the same time, there are scriptures in the New Testament that say that GOD loves everyone (take John 3.16, which the Messiah said). So I guess I've found there to be some sort of paradox: GOD hates some people yet loves everyone?
I pulled out some Old Testament commentaries and leafed through the scriptures, and this is what I think the scriptures might be saying: God hates people in the sense of all his ACTION love being withdrawn--mercy and favor--from them. So to say, "God hates some people" is to say, "He does not show them mercy and favor," although He does love them despitem their wickedness. Hosea 9.15 shows this well:
All their evil is at Gilgal;
Indeed, I came to hate them there!
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of My house!
I will love them no more;
All their princes are rebels.
God's hatred of the people is equal to His driving them out of His house (either out of the land of Israel or the congregation of God) and His not loving them anymore (withdrawing favor and mercy from them).
That's where I'm coming from. I hope that makes sense :)
I just realized I forgot to look at the objecting regarding GOD’s being “pushed” into stuff. Here’s what I meant:
Yahweh, while He is a tender and loving and compassionate God, is also a God of justice. He must punish sinners for their sins (either in this life or the next). He has given human beings free will to either fear/love Him or not. If they do fear/love Him, they will not be punished for their sins. If they do NOT fear/love Him, they must be punished for their sins. GOD is a Being with a heart, and His heart for justice is immense. Because of this facet of His character, He simply cannot let sins go unpunished. For Christians, that punishment was put onto Christ. For those who are not Christians, that punishment meets them in this life and the next. So when people do not fear/love Him and their sins stack against them, God is “forced” to judge in the sense that this is the way He has set up the world with free will. He is “forced” but yet “not forced.” This “forcing” GOD to action is not a bullying type of force. It is the choice of GOD. I should probably find another word for “force” (such as “leading GOD to judgment”) because it can be taken in the way I don’t wish for it to be taken.
It’s a paradox. As the gospels professor here at college says, “If you want a religion without paradox, don’t be a Christian.”
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