Posted on 09/30/2001 12:34:47 AM PDT by Mr. Mulliner
"Not that I'm sure it matters to any of you, but I am ashamed of you all nontheless!"
I understand your frustration Stingray...believe me I do.However I don't believe you really meant the above...not for one minute.Their words maybe...but not them.
"This is how ye shall know ye are my disciples,if you love the brethren"
It should matter to them what you think...and I hope they listen to what you are saying.
When we move away from God...we move towards the camp of the enemy.There are no bystanders in this.
grace and peace to you friend.
God bless all and God bless America.
Unfortunately, there are far too many Christians who believe our gospel comes from the pages of the Old Testament, and who have erased "Israel" there and replaced every instance with the word "America." It's ignorance, at best, and hubris, at worst.
These same people are no different than those Paul warned us about in Galatians.
I'm sure I will have to answer for many wrongs I've done, but I hope I will never have to answer for slander against God like this. It would be blasphemous were it not so laughable.
But I will try to chill, and thank you for you reason and good sense.
Later...
Thank you for a most timely post. Now that the US is creating some kind of "homeland defense" tsar, he could do a lot worse than put those words right on his office door.
Incidentally, the same text was used by Silvio Piccolomini, later Pope Pius II, in his Oratio contra Turcos.
I don't think anyone here has ever alleged that the terrorist attack is intended to serve any sort of redemptive purpose. You seemed to think that I or others thought so. You've pointed out a very important point about Jesus taking the full wrath of God so that God's wrath against man's sin has been satisfied on the cross.
When we make references to the Old Testament we are making references to God's character, not to dispensations. I would say that Isaiah 45:7 is to be understood to be speaking about God's character and relationship to the world, not just toward Israel in a specific dispensation. That verse says,
I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity an create disaster, I, the LORD, do all these things.That's NIV and I apology if you don't like that translation cuz it's all I got on the computer at the moment. The KJV, I recall, says, "good and evil" for prosperity and disaster. But the point is that God is saying that is very difficult for us to understand or accept. He is declaring His sovereignty and so in some case He does not want us to look past Him when we look for causes for disaster. Not that He's capricious or enjoys to toy with human lives. But He has a purpose in all things and is involved in even the worst disasters in the sense that He is working out His overall purposes and we need to find out what they are.
Where does repentance come in? Repentance is coming to the throne of grace. It's our way of making sure that we don't miss what God is saying and doing in all sorts of otherwise unexplainable events. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Repentance is simply an act of humility that turns our hearts from everything else and directs them toward God. Without repentance, it is not possible, I believe, to appropriate God's grace for the horrendous situation our nation is now facing.
May I say one more thing, Stingray? It's not easy on any of us to go through this tragedy. We don't delight in this by pointing out blame. I'm not blaming Bill Clinton, the Democrats, the victims of the attacks, or anyone else in particular. We all are responsible to live our lives according to the light that we are given. For those who are without Christ, I don't expect them to live saintly lives. If anything, I feel that the church in America needs to repent of attitudes that have actually stayed the hand of God at a time when America sorely needed a revival. Peter said that "it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?" Where does that fit into your dispensationalism, I'd like to know.
Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, in the name of your Son Jesus we ask you to thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.
Bump
The "LIGHT" is all encompassing and cannot be completely comprehended by us; IT/HE is not responsible for the attacks on 09/11. Those in the Twin Towers (in my opinion) are not responsible but it is rather those "evil-doers" that orchestrated and planned the attacks who are SOLELY responsible.
Man's inhumanity to man is the root of all evil and the opposite of "love your neighbor as yourself," as preached in both the New and Old Testaments. (BTW, this same short-circuit in the universe was responsible for the destruction of both the first and second Temples in Jerusalem.)
These crazies who caused this need to be identified, sequestered and permanently removed from society (however that can be accomplished) so they're never able to do it again.
Since we're on the same page, "let us take care of the terrorists." In the immortal words of Brave Beamer on board Flight 93, "Let's roll!"
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