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“For there is a love, that blazes up and is forgotten; there is a love that unites and divides-a love until death. But then-in death, in death’s decision, there is born a love that does not flame up, that is not equivocal, that is not-until death, but beyond death, a love that endures.”
— Soren Kierkegaard
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Loading ...God’s Love: The Story of the Prodigal Son
Posted on March 9th, 2010 by uberlumen.
Categories: Apologetics, Bible Study, Evil and Suffering, Love, Men on the Path, Parenting, Sermons, Spiritual Growth, Vital Signs of Healing, marriage.
Mike Erre gives us a special glimpse into what the parable of the prodigal son truly meant to a 1st century audience. It was an incredible picture of God’s outrageous love for us.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Part #4: Burdens, Rest, and Meekness: Matthew and The Pursuit of God
Posted on January 20th, 2010 by uberlumen.
Categories: Bible Study, Book Reviews, Evil and Suffering, Sermon Notes, Spiritual Growth.
Part 4 artificiality
Tozer points out one final source of burden: Artificiality.
“Another source of burden is artificiality. I am sure that most people live in secret fear that some day they will be careless and by chance an enemy or friend will be allowed to peep into their poor empty souls. So they are never relaxed. Bright people are tense and alert in fear that they may be trapped into saying something common or stupid. Traveled people are afraid that they may meet some Marco Polo who is able to describe some remote place where they have never been.This unnatural condition is part of our sad heritage of sin, but in our day it is aggravated by our whole way of life. Advertising is largely based upon this habit of pretense. `Courses’ are offered in this or that field of human learning frankly appealing to the victim’s desire to shine at a party. Books are sold, clothes and cosmetics are peddled, by playing continually upon this desire to appear what we are not.”
Finally to conclude our miniseries, Tozer points out the solution, once again, to our artificiality, pretense, and pride: meekness. Only through meekness will our burdens be lifted and only then can we find rest for our souls.
“Artificiality is one curse that will drop away the moment we kneel at Jesus’ feet and surrender ourselves to His meekness. Then we will not care what people think of us so long as God is pleased. Then what we are will be everything; what we appear will take its place far down the scale of interest for us. Apart from sin we have nothing of which to be ashamed. Only an evil desire to shine makes us want to appear other than we are.The heart of the world is breaking under this load of pride and pretense. There is no release from our burden apart from the meekness of Christ. Good keen reasoning may help slightly, but so strong is this vice that if we push it down one place it will come up somewhere else. To men and women everywhere Jesus says, `Come unto me, and I will give you rest.’ The rest He offers is the rest of meekness, the blessed relief which comes when we accept ourselves for what we are and cease to pretend. It will take some courage at first, but the needed grace will come as we learn that we are sharing this new and easy yoke with the strong Son of God Himself. He calls it `my yoke,’ and He walks at one end while we walk at the other.”
Part #3: Burdens, Rest, and Meekness: Matthew and The Pursuit of God
Posted on January 14th, 2010 by uberlumen.
Categories: Bible Study, Book Reviews, Evil and Suffering, Healing, Sermon Notes, Spiritual Growth, Vital Signs of Healing.
Part 3 Pretense and Little Children
Tozer proceeds to share another of our burdens: Pretense.
“Then also he will get deliverance from the burden of pretense. By this I mean not hypocrisy, but the common human desire to put the best foot forward and hide from the world our real inward poverty. For sin has played many evil tricks upon us, and one has been the infusing into us a false sense of shame. There is hardly a man or woman who dares to be just what he or she is without doctoring up the impression. The fear of being found out gnaws like rodents within their hearts. The man of culture is haunted by the fear that he will some day come upon a man more cultured than himself. The learned man fears to meet a man more learned than he. The rich man sweats under the fear that his clothes or his car or his house will sometime be made to look cheap by comparison with those of another rich man. So-called `society’ runs by a motivation not higher than this, and the poorer classes on their level are little better.”
Tozer then points the solution to our pretense. The way of the child.
“Let no one smile this off. These burdens are real, and little by little they kill the victims of this evil and unnatural way of life. And the psychology created by years of this kind of thing makes true meekness seem as unreal as a dream, as aloof as a star. To all the victims of the gnawing disease Jesus says, `Ye must become as little children.’ For little children do not compare; they receive direct enjoyment from what they have without relating it to something else or someone else. Only as they get older and sin begins to stir within their hearts do jealousy and envy appear. Then they are unable to enjoy what they have if someone else has something larger or better. At that early age does the galling burden come down upon their tender souls, and it never leaves them till Jesus sets them free.”
Part #1: Burdens, Rest, and Meekness: Matthew 5 and Chapter 9 of The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer
Posted on January 7th, 2010 by uberlumen.
Categories: Bible Study, Book Reviews, Evil and Suffering, Men on the Path, Sermon Notes, Spiritual Growth, marriage.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Matt.5:5a
I started the New Year resolved to read through the Bible (again). As I read Matthew chapter 5, I was struck (again and again) by its beauty and transforming power. On the same day, I just happen to pick up A.W. Tozer’s book: The Pursuit of God that I have been reading for months and turn to chapter 9 which starts with a discussion of the beginning of Matthew chapter 5–’coincidence’? Unlikely.
Tozer points out that most of what constitutes evil, pain, and suffering in our world comes from you know who….you and me!
“In the world of men we find nothing approaching the virtues of which Jesus spoke in the opening words of the famous Sermon on the Mount. Instead of poverty of spirit we find the rankest kind of pride; instead of mourners we find pleasure seekers; instead of meekness, arrogance; instead of hunger after righteousness we hear men saying, `I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing’; instead of mercy we find cruelty; instead of purity of heart, corrupt imaginings; instead of peacemakers we find men quarrelsome and resentful; instead of rejoicing in mistreatment we find them fighting back with every weapon at their command…these are the evils which make life the bitter struggle it is for all of us. All our heartaches and a great many of our physical ills spring directly out of our sins. Pride, arrogance, resentfulness, evil imaginings, malice, greed: these are the sources of more human pain than all the diseases that ever afflicted mortal flesh.”
His words are oxygen to a patient gasping for air. Christ alone knows how to ease our suffering, our pain, our burdens…
“Into a world like this the sound of Jesus’ words comes wonderful and strange, a visitation from above. It is well that He spoke, for no one else could have done it as well; and it is good that we listen. His words are the essence of truth. He is not offering an opinion; Jesus never uttered opinions. He never guessed; He knew, and He knows.”
“`Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’ (Mat 11:28-30) Here we have two things standing in contrast to each other, a burden and a rest. The burden is not a local one, peculiar to those first hearers, but one which is borne by the whole human race. It consists not of political oppression or poverty or hard work. It is far deeper than that. It is felt by the rich as well as the poor for it is something from which wealth and idleness can never deliver us. The burden borne by mankind is a heavy and a crushing thing. The word Jesus used means a load carried or toil borne to the point of exhaustion. Rest is simply release from that burden. It is not something we do, it is what comes to us when we cease to do. His own meekness, that is the rest.”
In coming posts we will examine our burdens…
Coming Home for Christmas
Posted on January 5th, 2010 by uberlumen.
Categories: Bible Study, Sermons, Spiritual Growth.
This is one of the most moving and creative sermons that I have heard describing God’s love for us….God running to us with open arms…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Men on the Path 2010
Posted on January 3rd, 2010 by uberlumen.
Categories: Bible Study, Men on the Path.
Why bother? It is so EARLY? I would rather be sleeping. Church on Sunday is enough.
Really? I would agree….10 years ago. But then…I had no friends that really knew me, that I could share my deepest fears and joys with…I had a marriage that was ok…I was lonely, anxious….
Men’s Group has rescued and transformed my life: I have friends that KNOW me…that I share my fears and joys with…who help guide me…who make me a better husband and a better father. I have a marriage that is filled with joy. I have men who have surrounded me with love, prayer, and fellowship and who have rescued me.
What is the trick? Just show up. Yes. It is that easy. Join us.
We are starting up again and going to have an exciting study from the Biblical book of Timothy with an emphasis on Leadership.
- WHEN: Wednesday’s from 6:45am-8:00am
- STARTING: January 5, 2010
- WHAT: 1 Timothy
- WHERE: North Park Community Center (NOTE: It is best to enter the housing complex off of Portola Parkway because then when you go through the gate the club house where we are meeting is straight ahead of you.
View North Park Community Center in a larger map
New Year’s Quiet Time
Posted on January 1st, 2010 by uberlumen.
Categories: Bible Study, Book Reviews, Prayer List, Spiritual Growth.
Any part of a New Year would not be complete without the challenge and encouragement to refocus on what is important. Find a devotional (suggestions below) and walk deeper with God this year. 2 key parts to any quiet time are prayer and devotional reading. Please click on the links here to review:
1. How to Pray
2. Devotionals
As for my New Year’s Devotional, I will be using a free Bible application on my droid phone that gives you the readings for each day so you can read through the Bible in a year. I have thankfully read through the Bible in a year several times, and it has always been a blessing. However, there are those dry spells during which I find myself struggling to accomplish my goal. Don’t give up! And if you have any questions about what you are reading along the way please don’t hesitate to ask us about them at uberlumen or uberlumen@uberlumen.com
The Christmas Story: Then and Now Luke 2:1-20
Posted on December 27th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Apologetics, Bible Study, Book Reviews.
Now:
- Jesus birth was a late night, imminent, delivery
- Joseph and Mary had a hard time finding a place
- Jesus was born in a ‘manger’
- There was no room at the ‘inn’
Then:
- Joseph and Mary were not in a rush, and there was no late night, emergent delivery.
- Joseph was of the royal line of David (in fact, Bethlehem was known as ‘the city of David’). Joseph’s arrival would be welcomed and he would have been shown the respect of someone from the royal line of David. Mary had relatives in a neighboring town, and in the middle eastern culture at the time, a pregnant women would have been shown respect and utmost care. Mary would have been welcomed with open arms.
- Jesus was born in a family room of a friend or relative’s home. A manger was a cut out in the floor of the family room. In the Middle East in the 1st century, the home was structured in such a way that the animals were placed inside the home at night to provide warmth and protect them from robbers. There were several mangers in the family room for the animals. Jesus would have been wrapped in warm clothes and placed in comfort in a manger in the family room of the home.
- The Greek word for ‘inn’ (katalyma) used by Luke was also used by him in Luke 22:10-12 and was translated more accurately there as ‘guest room’. If Luke meant a commercial inn or hotel, he would have used the Greek word: pandocheion. Many families would have a main living area (with a manger) and a guest room attached. The attached guest room was occupied to the home of the family that Joseph and Mary were staying with so that is what is meant by ‘no room in the guest room’ in the Biblical text.
reference: Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth E. Bailey
Covetousness, Jealousy, Gratitude
Posted on December 15th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Bible Study, Evil and Suffering, Healing, Parenting, Sermons, Spiritual Growth, Vital Signs of Healing, marriage.
Jeff Pries does a beautiful job teaching us in this sermon on covetousness.
- The 10 commandments are for our benefit. God wants us to know as Christians the path that will benefit us.
- Coveting leads to jealousy which is a painful dead end
- Life is unfair sometimes
- Be grateful for what you have
- YOU are enough!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
The Power of Forgiveness: Matthew 18
Posted on December 1st, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Bible Study, Book Reviews, Evil and Suffering, Healing, Men on the Path, Parenting, Sermons, Spiritual Growth, Uncategorized, Vital Signs of Healing, marriage.
I know that I am getting a nudge to post when I am reading a chapter about forgiveness and I also happen to start listening to a podcast on forgiveness. These notes are a summary of a chapter on forgiveness in “You Were Born for This” by Bruce Wilkinson (Chapter 12: The Forgiveness Key), and the podcast is a sermon done by Mike Erre. As always, share your thoughts with us.
Forgiveness is VERY important to God and for us to embrace.
There is only ONE thing that we are called to do in the entire Lord’s Prayer: ”Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors…”-Matthew 6:12
God, as represented by the King in Matthew 18, gets angry with those He has forgiven of an payable debt refuse to forgive others of a very small debt:
“…so My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trepasses…”-Matthew 18:35 (see also Matthew 6:14-15)
What will God do to us if we don’t forgive? He will ‘hand us over to the torturers’ (Matt 18:34). What?! What does this mean?! It means that God turns His people who refuse to forgive others over to the painful consequences of their own unforgiveness until the person, from their heart, forgives others their trespasses (debts). We will torment OURSELVES until we open our hearts and forgive.
3 key points to remember:
- Jesus: “Jesus forgave you. You can choose to forgive others.”
- Justice: “Vengeance belongs to God, not to you or me.”
- Jailer: “You are your own jailer. Your torment won’t end until you forgive. Then it will end immediately. You will be free. And that is what God wants for you.”
2 gifts occur when we forgive:
- “The person who brought injury has been forgiven…”
- “and a person who offended God by not forgiving has also been forgiven…” (see this post for a powerful story about this interchange)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Men on the Path, November 4, 2009: True Success
Posted on November 4th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Bible Study, Book Reviews, Evil and Suffering, Men on the Path, Parenting, Sermon Notes, Spiritual Growth, marriage.
We were in session #3 from a quiet strength a men’s Bible study by Tony Dungy and our question for today is: How is God’s definition of success different from how most people define it?
We looked at five key verses: Psalm 1:1-3; one Samuel 16:7; Micah 6: 6-8; Matthew 22:34-40; acts 1:8; Philippians 1: 21
God’s definition of success is “to live is Christ to die is gain” only when we can die to ourselves can we truly be successful. J. C. Ryle in his book titled Holiness points out what it costs to be a true Christian (to gain true success).
“For one thing, it will cost us our self righteousness. We must cast away all pride and high thoughts and conceit of our own goodness… for another thing it will cost us our sins. We must be willing to give up every habit and practice which is wrong in God’s sight. We and our sin must quarrel, if we and God are to be friends….For another thing, it will cost us our love of ease…we secretly wish we could have a vicarious Christianity, and could be good by proxy, and have everything done for us. Anything that requires exertion and labor is entirely against the grain of our hearts… in the last place, it will cost us the favor of the world… surely a Christian should be willing to give up anything which stands between him and heaven…A religion that costs nothing is worth nothing! A cheap Christianity, without a cross, will prove in the end a useless Christianity, without a crown…”-pg 82-86
“We must seek to have personal intimacy with the Lord Jesus, and to deal with him as a man deals with a loving friend. We must realize what it is to turn to him first in every need, to talk to him about every difficulty, to consult him about every step, to spread before him all our sorrows, to get him to share in our all our joys, to do all as in his site, and to go through every day leaning on and looking to him.”-pg 113
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Men’s Group: Why show up? What is in it for me? The storms will come.
Posted on September 24th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Bible Study, Evil and Suffering, Men on the Path, Spiritual Growth, marriage.
We had a football quiz to kick off our fall series: Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy (The Bible Study), and then we spent some time talking. Mostly small talk….but we also spoke of the importance of being in a men’s group. Do you ever wonder why? Do you worry about not fitting in? Do you have ‘better’ things to do with your time? I don’t blame you. I understand. I had those thoughts myself, but I took a risk and started to show up and my life has never been the same. The men in my life have rescued me.
We discussed Matthew 14:22-33. Jesus calms the storm. 75% or more of men in America don’t have a friend that they can turn to in a ’storm’. I am reminded of 2 men who shared with me that they knew each other very well and were close friends, but when we started going deep under the surface, it became clear very quickly that they didn’t truly ‘know’ each other much at all. This is the norm. We walk through life completely alone with the facade of knowing each other.
10 years ago, I jumped out of the boat by sharing with a friend one of my deeply held ’secrets’, and little by little we continued to grow closer and closer knowing everything about each other, our past, present, and future struggles, fears, and dreams. I have never felt so free, peace filled, and truly alive knowing that there is someone that I can turn to with ALL my fears.
Then the storms came….and I had a friend who was there with me when I was drowning, suffocating, and had no where else to go….he held onto me and kept me from drowning when the waves were crashing over me.
I don’t know any other way to tell you. One day, I decided to just show up to a men’s group even when I really ‘couldn’t'–too busy, bad time of the day, too early, etc. By showing up, my life has been transformed–my marriage, my family, EVERYTHING–I now have friends that know more about me than I know about myself. Join us! AND bring a friend along for the adventure of a lifetime.
The storms will come. Who will be there for you? How will you survive?
“But what if your heart be right with God, and yet you are pressed down with a load of earthly trouble? What if the fear of poverty is tossing you to and fro, and seems likely to overwhelm you? What if pain of body be racking you to distraction day after day? What if you are suddenly laid aside from active usefulness and compelled by infirmity to sit still and do nothing? What if death has come into your home, and taken away your Rachel or Joseph or Benjamin and left you alone, crushed to the ground with sorrow? What if all this has happened? Still there is comfort in Christ. He can speak peace to wounded hearts as easily as calm troubled seas. He can rebuke rebellious wills as powerfully as raging winds. He can make storms of sorrow abate, and silence tumultuous passions, as surely as He stopped the Galilean storm. He can say to the heaviest anxiety, “Peace, be still!” The floods of care and tribulation may be mighty, but Jesus sits upon the waterfloods, and is mightier than the waves of the sea (Ps. 93:4). The winds of trouble may howl fiercely round you, but Jesus holds them in His hand, and can stay them when He lists. Oh, if any reader of this message is broken-hearted and care-worn and sorrowful, let him go to Jesus Christ, and cry to Him and he shall be refreshed. “Come unto Me,” He says, “all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).”-excerpt from Holiness by J.C. Ryle
Men of Pathways: Get in the Game!
Posted on September 24th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Bible Study, Men on the Path.
Join us this Wednesday as we open God’s word and learn from Super Bowl winning Head Coach of the Indianapolis Colts, Tony Dungy, as we go on a six week journey to becoming the men that God created us to be. Come join us and connect with other men in authentic ways and find your answers to the six questions that men often deal with…..
1. What is my Game plan?
2.Where’s my security?
3. What’s my strength?
4. What’s my significance?
5. What’s success?
6. What’s my legacy?
Wed. mornings from 7-8 at the Northpark Club House (10 Meadow Valley, Irvine, 92602)
Please RSVP so I can have a study book ready for you.
Blessings Bucky
A Day in the Life of Jesus: The Path to REAL Life
Posted on September 23rd, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Bible Study, Evil and Suffering, Sermons, Spiritual Growth.
Join my 2 friends as they describe to us how to delete from our mind’s data banks all the garbage of the world: stress, anxiety, worry over finances, relationships, health etc. by uploading the path to REAL Life.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Cornerstone: Christ is ALL & without Him there is NOTHING!
Posted on September 14th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Apologetics, Bible Study, Evil and Suffering, Sermons, Spiritual Growth.
This is a powerful sermon by Greg Boyd about the Messianic prophecy regarding Christ being the cornerstone. He points out the emptiness, void, and nothingness that we have without Him. Without Christ, we try to fill the void and despair of our meaningless existence by so many fleeting and worthless endeavors.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Men on the Path: Men’s Group on Wednesday’s
Posted on September 5th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Bible Study, Men on the Path.
We are starting up again and going to have an exciting study from Dungy’s Book.
- WHEN: Wednesday’s from 6:45am-8:00am
- STARTING: September 23, 2009
- WHAT: Dungy Bible Study
- WHERE: North Park Community Center (NOTE: It is best to enter the housing complex off of Portola Parkway because then when you go through the gate the club house where we are meeting is straight ahead of you.
View North Park Community Center in a larger map
Guy’s Night Out: Mobster’s Story
Posted on September 3rd, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Bible Study, Men on the Path.
Monte has invited all men who can make it to a Mariners Church event:
After dinner, you’ll hear the unbelievable story of former mobster, Michael Franzese – a story of hope and redemption. You may have heard him before and now your friends need to hear Michael’s story as he paints a picture of his former life and his life today.
The Mercy of God in the Old Testament
Posted on August 12th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Apologetics, Bible Study, Evil and Suffering, Spiritual Growth, doctrine.
I continue to search for brief articles pointing out the true God of the O.T. A friend and fellow physician who has an AMAZING website has a GREAT article summarizing key points: 1. God of O.T. is merciful; 2. God of O.T. NEVER killed innocent people 3. God of O.T. ALWAYS asked/pleaded with people to repent.
I have also cut and pasted it for you here:
The Mercy of God as Found in the Old Testament
by Rich Deem
Introduction
Jonah and God’s Mercy
Most Christians know Jonah as the reluctant prophet who was swallowed by a whale in order for God to convince him to go to Nineveh. Atheists often get caught up in the whale part of the story, not realizing that the story reveals that the ancients believed that God was merciful, although, at time, they often wished He hadn’t been.
Rich Deem
According to Richard Dawkins, Yahweh, the God of the Bible, is “jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”1 Absent from any of Dawkins’ description of God is His mercy. People tend to think of the God of the Old Testament as cruel and unforgiving, whereas the God of the New Testament is seen as the God of mercy, who sent Jesus to atone for the sins of the world. The Old Testament prophets were always warning the people about the wrath of God should they stray from the path of righteousness. However, what is usually ignored by atheists is God’s mercy for those who did repent of doing evil. Yes, God judged many people groups, but not before warning them.
Jonah and God’s mercy?
For those of you who only remember the whale part of Jonah’s story, here is a brief synopsis to get you a better background about Jonah. God called Jonah to travel to the city of Nineveh to warn them about their impending judgment, because of their wickedness.2 Jonah had different ideas, and attempted to flee from God by paying for passage on a foreign ship.3 However, God was not amused and sent a violent storm.4 The sailors were terrified and eventually figured out that Jonah was the cause of their endangerment, which he eventually admitted to them.5 Jonah was thrown overboard and God directed a great fish (or whale – the Hebrew is not that specific) to swallow Jonah and take him to the shore.6 Once expelled from the whale, Jonah decided to do what God had originally requested and travelled to Nineveh to preach repentance from their evil.7
A number of Christians assume Jonah was reluctant to go to Nineveh because they were known for their cruelty, and he feared for his life. However, the account gives a different reason why Jonah did not want to go. Jonah actually wanted God to judge the city of Nineveh and kill all their inhabitants. He was disappointed that the king and the people repented of their evil and were spared from God’s judgment.8 In fact, Jonah was so angry with God that he asked God to kill him.9 After that conversation, Jonah left the city and sat outside of it hoping that God would still destroy the city.10 God caused a plant to grow overnight to give Jonah shade during his watch, but then caused the death of the plant the next day. Jonah was furious about the plant.11 God pointed out that Jonah’s priorities were completely messed up, since he was more concerned about a plant that gave him shade than the fate of 120,000 souls in Nineveh:
Then the LORD said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?” (Jonah 4:10-11)
So, it was clear to Jonah that God was merciful and He would reconsider His judgment of evil if the people repented.12 Since Jonah wanted no part in God’s mercy, he tried to avoid following God’s instructions to warn the people.
Did God warn others?
Atheists would like you to believe that the God of the Old Testament just randomly killed people for no good reason and without warning. It turns out that atheists often don’t present the entire stories about God’s judgment. For example, in the greatest story of judgment, God sent a flood to kill all humanity except Noah and his family. However, Noah preached to the people of the coming judgment during the 100 years he was building the ark.13 In another famous example, God destroyed the cites of Sodom and Gomorrah, because of their evil. In fact, all the men of Sodom (including both young and old) attempted to rape the two angels who came to warn Lot of the impending judgment.14 Although warned,15 the men attempted to harm Lot, but were prevented when the angels caused them all to become blind.16 In many lesser known stories, God warned the people prior to executing judgment. Some of these warnings were heeded17 and others not,18 with the expected consequences. God’s own people were often recipients of God’s judgment, when they refused to heed His warnings.19 Here is a short list from the writings of the prophets:
| Prophet | Warning to | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Isaiah | Judah | Judgment |
| Jeremiah | Judah | Judgment |
| Lamentations | Jerusalem | Judgment |
| Ezekiel | Jerusalem, Tyre, Egypt | Captivity in Babylon |
| Hosea | Israel | Judgment |
| Joel | Tyre, Sidon, Philistia | Judgment |
| Amos | Israel | Judgment |
| Obadiah | Edom | Judgment |
| Jonah | Nineveh | Repentance |
| Micah | Israel | Judgment |
| Nahum | Nineveh | Judgment |
| Habakkuk | Judah | Judgment |
| Zephaniah | Judah | Judgment |
| Zechariah | Tyre, and other cities | Judgment |
It is a well known principle that God regularly warned people of impending judgment and He personally indicated that He would relent if they changed their ways.12 So, the atheists’ idea that God killed people without warning is false.
Does God kill the innocent?
Did God kill any innocent people along with the evil ones? In the two most famous examples of God’s judgment discussed above, the text clearly says that all the people God killed were evil.20 When God was about to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham asked God if He would destroy the cities if there were 50 righteous people in them.21 God said no. Then Abraham asked the same question if there were 45 righteous people. Every time he dropped the number and got the same answer. The fact is that God would not have destroyed those cities if there were any righteous people in them. The few righteous who were in those cities He warned ahead of time to get out.22 In another example, Abimelech, king of Gerar, took Abraham’s wife because he lied saying that she was his sister.23 However, God prevented Abimelech from sleeping with her and warned him in a dream. Abimelech heeded God’s warning and was spared from death.23 Eliphaz the Temanite, in his discussions with Job, acknowledged that God did not judge the innocent with the guilty, but that those who act sinfully will incur God’s judgment.24 So, God does not destroy the righteous along with the evil.
Conclusion 
In numerous instances, atheists cite the Old Testament for examples of where God killed “innocent” people. However, the texts show that the innocent are not judged, but only the guilty. In addition, virtually always, the guilty individuals were warned ahead of time about their sin. Jonah is often known as the reluctant prophet, although the reason for his hesitation was not due to the cruelty of Nineveh, but because he feared its people might repent and God might spare them. Jonah wanted God to kill all the people of Nineveh, but feared His mercy. So, Christians are not the only people who often seem to want to see God judge people for their evil, rather than praying for their reconciliation with God. Jonah reveals that God was known for His mercy even in Old Testament times. Even though God is merciful, His mercy extends only to those who heed His words of warning. There is no toleration for evil in God’s kingdom, so those who insist on testing God’s resolve toward sin will find themselves judged, and incarcerated in God’s jail.
Jesus Versus Jehovah: Understanding the Violent God of the Old Testament in Light of the God of the Cross
Posted on July 29th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Apologetics, Bible Study, Evil and Suffering, doctrine.
I have had several posts regarding God of OT vs. God of NT issues (post #1, post #2, Post #3). Here is a recent post from Greg Boyd’s blog on this issue (it sounds like he is going to write a book on the topic).
What about those grey areas?
Posted on July 29th, 2009 by uberlumen.
Categories: Apologetics, Bible Study, Sermons, Spiritual Growth.
Many believe that the Bible teaches us that all moral choices are black and white when in reality, the Bible teaches the reality that life is hard, correct moral choices are challenging, and there are plenty of grey areas.
Mike Erre teaches from a passage of 1 Corinthians that helps us to be able to navigate through those moral grey area choices that we ponder every day.
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