1. Where did evil come from?
2. Is evil the absence of God?
3. How can evil be the absence of God when God is everything?
4. Does infinite punishment justify a finite life?
5. Did Jesus die for our sins or did he die to prove a point?
6. Why is the God of the old testament a wrathful jealous God and the God of the new testament one of love and mercy?
7. How can they be the same?
When I get more questions I intend to continue to write them down. My goal is to eventually blog the conclusions that I come to for these questions. Hopefully this will help me in my life and maybe help whoever is reading in theirs as well.
4 comments:
1. Lets call evil sin. That makes it pretty easy. If we come to the conclusion that all things evil have a foundation of sin then then can easily define origin.
2-3. All good things come from God. Evil = bad. God simply allows evil. So evil is the absence of God within something. That is, something bound by sin is not bound by the slavery to God born out of love.
4. Not sure what you mean here. If your saying "why not just skip the here and now?" then that is not an easy question to answer. I would respond by saying that God, in his mercy, allows us the chance to answer rightly to the cross while on earth.
5. Isaiah 53:5, Romans 5 both declare LOUDLY why Jesus suffered the cross. We needed rescuing from our error and God gave up his son to make that happen.
6-7. Same God. Wrath was taken out on poor animals and wrongdoers in the OT. Now that wrath has been poured out on Jesus. God loved his people too. Look at those who put their faith in him. He kept his promises to them!! God is both completely just and completely loving throughout history.
Definitely want to see your feedback!
Questions like these are why you're wonderful. :)
Okay here are my current thoughts...
2-3. So, God created everything. If he didn't create evil/sin then that would mean there is another force out there undermining him or maybe equal to that created it? That just isn't plausible. Mainly, b/c it's just not a nice concept. Maybe there is really no such thing as evil in the way we are brought up and taught to see it. Then that goes back to number 1. Maybe all evil/sin is just the ignorance? That would make it much easier to understand how God created it in the first place.
4. I was basic asking a question on whether or not hell is real or if it isn’t eternal. The reason I ask is b/c of a parable Jesus taught in Matt 18:22-35. It put hell in a whole other light for me.
5. I think we as Christians fail to see the bigger picture of everything Jesus taught. I personally think the church today puts way too much emphasis on the death of Jesus rather than the life and actually teaching of Jesus. Teachings being that of unconditional love and so forth. That for me basically seems if we can’t take His teachings and apply them correctly then the sacrifice was for nothing. That’s a pretty rough and blunt statement to make but I just feel things are a little out of whack.
6-7. It was just a thought. You have to admit though there is a big contrasting difference in the way God dealt with people in the OT than in the NT.
5. There honestly isn't enough emphasis on the cross. If we focused more on our sin and the sacrifice it took to cover it, the teachings of Jesus would be more real to us. Our performance matters none without the cross. His teachings matter none without the cross.
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