Posted on 10/04/2014 2:42:21 AM PDT by HarleyD
A large part of Christianity does not understand the holiness of God and because they fail to understand His majesty, they have a very difficult time with God's judgment against sinners. What aggravates the problem even more is when people only talk about the love of God as if His wrath is outdated and wrong. I present that we will never truly understand nor appreciate just how much God does indeed love His people unless we understand how "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY" HE is which includes vindicating His name in pouring out His judgment on sinners. The beautiful thing about the Gospel is this: "And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him"(Heb 9:27–28). How's that for love and grace!
The cross is not only a demonstration of God's love but also His judgment in wrath. God has not ceased to be holy because of the cross, no, rather the cross is also a demonstration of His holiness. I have no favorite verse but if I did 2 Corinthians 5:21 might be close to being it: "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
The modern understanding of Calvary seems to be that it was simply a sentimental gesture of God. But without understanding God's judgment in wrath, the cross is meaningless. Were there sentiments involved at the cross? Of course. I don't think the Father was a Stoic without any type of emotion. However, we must not confuse our emotions with God's. We tend to be controlled by ours where God is not controlled by anything. He is perfectly and completely in control of all things. At Calvary God was both pouring out His wrath on Christ and at the same time, in love, He was saving His people. There is not one iota of wrath left for God's children. It was fully expended on Christ. We are no longer under the curse but rather blessed, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree'— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith"(Ga 3:13–14).
As I have been reading through Ezekiel what has caught my attention is that thus far every chapter (I could be mistaken) and I'm up to 22, has mentioned God's judgment on nations. Take this pronouncement [sic] on the Ammonites for example: "And I will pour out my indignation upon you; I will blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and I will deliver you into the hands of brutish men, skillful to destroy. You shall be fuel for the fire. Your blood shall be in the midst of the land. You shall be no more remembered, for I the LORD have spoken”(Eze 21:31–32). What is it that the author of Hebrews said- "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God"(Heb 10:31).
The judgment of God is still on the heads of the Christ rejecters. The New Testament verifies this in John 3:36- "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." This is why when we proclaim the Gospel we must never avoid mentioning God's wrath. It is a present reality for the unrepentant.
Finally [sic], in order to have salvation you must have condemnation but to preach condemnation without the offer of salvation is just cruel. This is why we love Christ because He alone is our salvation and there is no escaping God's judgment apart from Him. He not only freed us from the curse of the law but He freed us from our bondage to sin. Soli Deo Gloria!
Please accept this as a logical and biblical explanation.
While it may sound old fashioned, all the issues we’re facing today is due to God’s wrath being poured out on us. This wrath is meant to draw us closer-or it will push us (as a nation) away from Him. It’s simply because He is a holy God and cannot stand our sinning and contempt for Him.
How we respond is the question.
Personal interpretation of Scripture always makes me laugh a little. You protties sure have it tough.
Please accept this as a logical and biblical explanation.
Or in our personal lives it seems that the choices we made before we came to the knowledge of God and even the choices we make after we come to the knowledge of God affect the rest of our lives.
I heard some one remark that if we think we are living in the time of gods wrath then we better not be here when Gods wrath really starts being poured out.
John 3:17 -
“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
Romans 8:1 -
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
John 10:10 -
“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
1 John 1:5 -
“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.”
While you have a point about his interpretation being a bit off the mark, do you not also read Scripture and analyze it for content/meaning or do you just accept what others 'up-chain" tell you it means?
You've, no doubt, read about the Transfiguration, including all the details about those present falling asleep and what they witnessed when they were roused back to consciousness.
There had to be at least the briefest of moments, among any one of those present, that separated being asleep and being awake again, witnessing something quite extraordinary.
Or perhaps it's like that momentary "lag" before they were even able to be stunned, before they could react in any fashion whatsoever, like when lightning strikes very close by and that instant before most folks tend to jerk, before thunder envelopes them.
Without going burdening anyone with a windy commentary on the whole phenomena, let's just say I sometimes feel like my "response" must be similar.
Many things, of course, happen too fast for our minds to fathom, and we just don't have time even to formulate a reaction of any kind, except the feeling, so to speak (because it's really not a 'feeling,' as such - more of a "pre-feeling"), in what I'm laboring too hard to describe just goes on and on.
That is to say, I am Peter, perpetually in the interstitial place between his becoming fully awake to his transfigured Lord nearby and when he started babbling, trying to justify his being present, praising Jesus decision to invite them up the mountain to see this astounding scene and organizing a building committee.
You'll recall, of course, that a cloud descended on the scene and a voice from the cloud may have set things right about a proper, better response.
"This is my Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased," this voice is reliably reported to have said. "Listen to Him!"
And Saint Vincent Ferrer relays the story of an archdeacon in Lyons who died the same day and hour as Saint Bernard. After his death, he appeared to his bishop and said to him,
Know, Monsignor, that at the very hour I passed away, thirty-three thousand people also died. Out of this number, Bernard and myself went up to heaven without delay, three went to purgatory, and all the others fell into Hell. —From a sermon by St. Leonard of Port Maurice
Before I come as a just judge, I am coming first as “King of Mercy”! Let all men now approach the throne of my mercy with absolute confidence! Some time before the last days of final justice arrive, there will be given to mankind a great sign in the heavens of this sort: all the light of the heavens will be totally extinguished. There will be a great darkness over the whole earth. Then a great sign of the cross will appear in the sky. From the openings from where the hands and feet of the savior were nailed will come forth great lights—which will light up the earth for a period of time. This will happen before the very final days. It is the sign for the end of the world. After it will come the days of justice! Let souls have recourse to the fount of my mercy while there is still time! Woe to him who does not recognize the time of my visitation. —Diary of St. Faustina, 83
Many are invited, but few are chosen. (Matt 22:14)
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” (Matt 7:21)
There is no excuse. God has poured out every spiritual blessing upon us, and yet, we refuse to give Him our hearts! All of Heaven mourns for the days which are coming upon this humanity. Most grievous to the heart of God are the many who have walked with Him before, who are now beginning to harden their hearts.
The sifting is sweeping many souls from the pews.
The churches may be full, but hearts are not. Many have stopped going to church altogether and ceased thinking of God and the things of God, and have fallen into step with the march of the world.
It is easy, it comfortable. And it is deadly. It is a march which leads to eternal perdition! It leads to hell.
Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few. (Matt 7:14)
Those who find it are few! How can this word fail to stir into flame that gift of the Holy Spirit sealed in our Confirmation called “Fear of the Lord”?
“A large part of Christianity does not understand the holiness of God and because they fail to understand His majesty, they have a very difficult time with God’s judgment against sinners.”
I believe the Psalms truly capture the interplay of God’s wrath and his immense compassion (always there to save the day!). 106 and 107 really “go there”. The last line of 107 opened my heart and mind one day.
Hmm, I don't see where the account of God pouring out His wrath upon mankind's sins borne in Jesus' body on the Tree is hilarious. Explain it to me, please. And why are you scoffing at a Protestant's meditation on it?
I have believed for quite some time that the election of Obama was nothing less than God’s judgement on America.
1. Protestants are indeed allowed to personally interpret the Bible. THAT is PROBABLY why there are 30,000-40,000 DIFFERENT Protestant denominations. PROTESTANTS say that they have 40,000+ denominations. (Google)
2. To me it is SAD that their Christianity is so fractured, both by denomination AND interpretation of Scripture. VERY SAD.
I always thought that Jesus would want us to be united in His love.
3. The defrocked and excommunicated FATHER Martin Luther is no role model. Having a denomination named after him is no honor, IMHO.
There already IS a group of people who interpret the Bible for us. They have been doing so for almost 2000 years. They emanate from the Vatican.
Vatican Hill has always been there. It just happened to be where St. Peter was killed--CRUCIFIED upside down, his choice.
Church tradition has it that St. Paul asked Peter to come to Rome to help with conversions. The Romans didn't believe all that much in what St. Paul was saying about Jesus because Paul hadn't known Jesus as an Apostle, so he sent for Peter. THAT did the job.
ROME became the "home" of the VICAR of Christ and the horrible death of St. Peter happened on Vatican Hill.
4. Another the thing Protestants DON'T believe in is APOSTOLIC TRADITION.
Apostolic Tradition: Thus Paul tells the Corinthians, "I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I have delivered them to you" (1 Cor. 11:2), and he commands the Thessalonians, "So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter." (2 Thess. 2:15).
5. Protestants AREN'T "protesting" anymore, are they? Yet their NAME continues on as to the ROOT of their "tradition" a la defrocked and excommunicated FATHER Martin Luther.
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I sure as heck won't mock, pity or excoriate the Protestants. I ESPECIALLY won't JUDGE them. That is our good Lord's purview.
Jesus loves us no matter what we do. That is HIS blessing to us. All we have to do is say: YES, LORD.
Any questions?
His RE-ELECTION shows that even more.
I do not believe that the creator and sustainer of the Universe displays anger at certain animals on a small speck of material in His Universe..
According to Genesis, Elohim saw that our creation was “very good”.
Do you think it pleases our Savior when we mock the beliefs of other Christians?
As a Roman Catholic who is appalled when our beliefs are attacked on FR by non-Catholics, it shames me to see another Catholic make such remarks.
How do you know he is a Catholic, and not some troll mimicking Catholics from this site?
More gibberish, there is no 'protesting' going on because the secular sword is no longer in Roman hands. Christians no longer need to appeal to an emperor to show their compliance with Scripture to avoid facing death for their faith. Interestingly, Rome has that in common with Islam but Islam judges by the Koran, where Rome judged by their traditions since the practices 'protested', had no Scriptural warrant.
While Luther at one time was called 'Father', once he got his doctorate you can call him Doctor Martin Luther, late of the Catholic church and this world. The way some carry on around here about him, they should be charging him rent for living in their heads.
God bless you and yours.
He has.
Personal interpretation of Scripture always makes me laugh a little. You protties sure have it tough.
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As Paul said; Be like the Bereans and check back with the church hierarchy. So using your logic, why read the Bible if you have no idea what it’s saying to you? Sounds like a good excuse for the Caths to justify not spending time in God’s word. All you need to do is read what the fallible church leaders think it means. Christianity by Catholic Cliff notes
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