Sometimes the judgment of God is brought about by evil acts. As some of you guys have been preaching to me for the last decade, nothing happens that isn't ordained of by God. Do you believe your own words? I have oft seen the following verse quoted theologically, but are you willing to quote from it on a practical basis? Is it applicable to this situation?
That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. (Isaiah 45:6-7 KJV)
If anything, Tiller and Roeder serves to show to what level we can sink if it were not for God's substaining hand.
Some people sink lower than others. There are levels of evil. I can only pray that there are levels of punishment in hell.
Tiller..................... 60,000
Buchenwald........ 56,000
Dachau................. 36,000
Osama Bin Laden...3500
Ted Bundy...................35
Roeder ...........................1
Here's the part of predestination you may be overlooking.
It is possible Roeder was meting out God's justice.
But if that is true, most likely (although all things are possible with God) Roeder, having taken another man's life, will not be rewarded by God for his efforts, but will be punished for breaking God's law.
This is not contradictory. God may well have used Roeder to accomplish something, but in that act Roeder has forsaken his own soul. Moses never reached the Promised Land because he challenged God. Paul was not considered a child of God until he stopped bringing about death.
Harley is right. For Roeder to have done this surely God removed His hand from him and said, "Go do what you naturally desire." And that desire may well condemn him. All according to the will and purpose of God.
From this we should pray God never removes His hand from us. And by His word, we have a reasonable certainty He won't.
Absolutely. Why things happen the way they do is a mystery. However, we know they happen this way for the very best-at least for Christians.
I have oft seen the following verse quoted theologically [Ish 45:6-7], but are you willing to quote from it on a practical basis? Is it applicable to this situation?
Sure it's applicable. The Lord is involved in all things. Consider the following verse:
God allows our evil to bring about His good. That doesn't excuse our evil nor does it make God the author of our evil. It only means that God removed His hand of grace to allow it to occur to bring about His purpose.
For some unknown reason, God has allowed evil men (disguised as church deacons) to commit these barbarous acts and for us to witness this holocaust. Perhaps it's to help Christians understand how precious life is. Perhaps its to get Christians off their duffs and speak out. Perhaps it's to remind us of what is evil-somthing that is sorely lacking these days. Maybe its for us to wake up to the fact that we need to kick these kinds of people out of our churches-er?
We sometimes don't truly understand the ramifications of these events until years after when we're gone and others mourn over what we have done. How many people who have abortions come to know Christ in a personal way because of it?
People have too narrow of a focus. Everything is about the here and now. The 70, 80 or 100 years we spend here are really insignificant when measured against the eternal clock. It is not my place to say but I suspect all those babies who were murdered at the hands of Tiller are enjoying Paradise at this moment and will always continue to enjoy Paradise. And perhaps their good deed for which they've received a crown is that they were martyred for this very cause. I'm not so sure that the same can be said about Tiller, even though he was an usher in church and probably gave them lots of money.
Some people sink lower than others. There are levels of evil. I can only pray that there are levels of punishment in hell.
You can stop praying. There are levels of judgment although how this works in hell I'm not sure.