"Even if God didn't direct it to happen, He allowed it to happen."
It's called "free will."
I simply have one other question for all you people alleging that the events of 9/11 were an act of God's wrath (because that's what God's judgement is: the outpouring of His wrath.)
Someone on another thread wrote, in essence, that this was God's "payback" for abortion in this country. While I am staunchly pro-life, I wonder why it took almost 40 million innocent babies slaughtered and almost 30 years for God to judge America this way?
Did God intend to hit all those abortion clinics with a fleet of planes and just miss? Or did He intend to kill thousands of people who may never have had anything to do with abortion (some may have even been pro-life and Christian, for all we know)?
All of you who are alleging that 9/11 was an act of God's wrath, please tell me, is God a bad shot, or is He unjust?
I anxiously await your answer.
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.