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Before entering into the study of The Divine message to us, we must be under the influence
of our Mentor, The Person of God who teaches us, and by whom we grasp spiritual phenomena,
God The Holy Spirit. To worship God we must do it "in Spirit, and in truth (The Word)". But some reading this may be "carnal", or without The Spirit, which is easily corrected. IJn 1:9 is the "purification verse"; "If we cite our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us of all wrong doing (unknown sin)." Instantaneously we are filled with The Holy Spirit and ready to glean from The Word. |
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God loves Osama Bin Laden as much as he loves every Christian, and throw
every other desperado in the past 2000 years into the mix; Hitler, Stalin, Kahn,
Nero, Caligula, Pilat, Caiaphus, Ivan the Terrible, Torquemada.... Jesus Christ died for ALL sins, of all men. The only difference between us good guys, and those bad guys, eternally speaking, is that they all rejected the "salvation solution", faith in Jesus Christ. Let me qualify that statement; AS FAR AS WE KNOW, they all rejected Christ. God has done His part, if you will. He is "not willing that any perish", and there only remains the function of man's volition that determines our eternal destiny. None of us appreciates being included in the company of such scoundrels, and we should take offense, with one exception....and that is our common humanity. We are all damned at the moment of birth, and our sins, whether benign or heinous, are unrighteousness all the same. There is no relative level of sin in God's eyes where eternal salvation is concerned. In time, yes. Crime is to be severely punished, and more mundane sins are dealt with privately, but in eternity we are all there, no matter who we are, by faith in Christ...100% grace. What got me to thinking along these lines, and I remind myself of this doctrinal principle infrequently to keep my perspective on my own place in the scheme of things (nothing exalted), but this time around it was the realization that nothing in God's plan is destructive. Let me explain. It's an awesome concept to get one's head around, but EVERYTHING God does is CONSTRUCTIVE! You'll have to ponder this fact a good while, because we run up against scriptures that speak of God's advocacy of a powerful military, capitol punishment, the Last Judgement, scores of violent events and mandated actions. Where, for example, does this principle fit into the Christian support for the recent war in Iraq? (and this, by the way, is absolutely the proper attitude!). But how is that constructive (you may ask)? The answer is that all of God's thoughts and actions are positive, constructive; It is man whose influences are destructive and negative. So how does this answer the question at hand? Simply that God must intercede with what we call "damage control". Now, this may not line up with what some readers may call "constructive", but think about it for a moment. The key to this argument is the existence of our free will, a volition. God made us free, and with volition comes the onus of responsibility. We are all accountable for our decisions, and some of those decisions have eternal ramifications. Others have temporal ramifications. What we do in time can bring judgement down on us. Ask Saddam Hussein. Let's understand God's priority scale. At the top, in so far as the perpetuation of the human experiment is concerned, is freedom. Why? because this aspect of life is essential to the highest priority of all; "that none should perish". Only under freedom is the gospel of Jesus Christ openly spoken, and only under freedom are unbelievers given the opportunity to consider the message of salvation, and accept or reject it. No coercion, no persecution. A contrast to God's will are the Islamic governments. In Saudi Arabia it's illegal to even carry a Bible in public. In Communist China Christians are forced underground, and if they are caught they are tortured or executed. The sum result of these circumstances is that when God intercedes it is in the interest of freedom, which bears directly upon His desire to save all men. No freedom, and the opportunity for salvation is severely limited. Now a bull headed pacifist will rationalize his way around these principles, for arrogance is a Pandora's Box, anything can be compromised by human invention, excuses, exceptions. But the inescapable fact is that negative or positive is an issue that is determined by origin. If God encourages us to wipe out a scum bag like Bin Laden, it's because His motive is directed toward the positive end, freedom, salvation. It only becomes necessary for God to take a hand, as He did with the Pharaoh for example, when the opportunity of men to hear and accept the gospel will be compromised. THAT, God will never allow. |