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09-28-2007, 06:49 AM | #1 |
Rose Garden
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 4,758
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So, when God gets angry...
does He ever get angry toward his children in a vengeful way? Just thinkin'. Because I struggle with two big things. Big things. Loving my children and not using punishment in a vengeful manner. I know God gets angry in Scripture. I'm thinking of the striking down of Ananias and Sapphira when they deceived the church (and God), and the many times in the OT when God defended His people by destroying their enemies. I'm thinking of the time Jesus threw over the tables in the temple. One thing is becoming clear to me, though, and I'd like your thoughts, and correction if I'm wrong. It seems to me that God's anger or frustration with His people was always acted out in ways that would win their love, not motivate them by fear. The times I see God acting in vengeance or inspiring fear were toward His enemies . The only exception I can come up with now is God showing His power to Job ...and to Elijah. I don't know. Help me out here . I am just really having a hard time accepting God not being punitive toward his own people when they were disobedient. ...Okay, so what about Jonah? Yes, God's actions ended up reconciling Jonah, but how else would you categorize what happened to Jonah if it wasn't God's punishment for disobedience?
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09-28-2007, 06:53 AM | #2 |
Deactivated
Yep. I'm a 3.
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 19,140
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Re: So, when God gets angry...
Well...if God was going to punish Jonah He could have sent the whale different GPS coordinates
Seriously, God gave Jonah a chance to rethink his actions, and transportation to try again Not trying to be frivolous here, but that's the way I've always viewed it |
09-28-2007, 07:12 AM | #3 |
Rose Trellis
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SE United States
Posts: 2,240
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Re: So, when God gets angry...
Well, my reply does not exactly answer your question, but I just wanted to comment on what you had mentioned about the example of Elijah. I have always really liked that particular Scripture.
Here it is below, quoted from the NIV. I Kings 19:11-13 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” See - what I think is neat is that the Lord showed Elijah all those powerful things - but He was not in any of them until the gentle whisper!! So with Elijah it was actually very much a time of reassurance, albeit seeing the preceding potentially frightening things. Maybe I'll do another reply in regards to what I feel in regards to the example of Jesus turning over the tables so this post won't be so long. |
09-28-2007, 07:29 AM | #4 |
Deactivated
Beware the gorgon, she's having a bad hair day
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: DFW area
Posts: 54,024
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Re: So, when God gets angry...
ITA with Rebecca on the Jonah story. Sounds a lot to me like GBD. God provided a way for Jonah to be successful in what He wanted.
As for the others, I am going to |
09-28-2007, 07:32 AM | #5 | |
Rose Trellis
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SE United States
Posts: 2,240
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Re: So, when God gets angry...
In regards to what you said
Quote:
Like what you said about Jesus turning over the tables in the temple - it was a display of his zeal for righteousness and His righteous anger and I don't believe, as you said, that it was done to frighten them. He was angry that they were not abiding by His temple being a place of prayer --and angry about their actions, which actually took advantage of the people who came to humbly worship God. |
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09-28-2007, 07:35 AM | #6 |
Rose Garden
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 79,607
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Re: So, when God gets angry...
A & S weren't saved--that's the point of that story imo. They were posers and the Lord revealed them--and took them down.
God is slow to anger. I even recently learned that in the margin notes of the Rabbinical OT it's revealed that there are 5 times Scripture was altered because the "suspected error" of a previous scribe was too egregious. One of them is that in the original text it was God who brought up with Abraham the topic of how many it would take to save Sodom--not Abraham trying to reason with and change God's mind. God judges because his character is just. But he IS love.
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09-28-2007, 08:01 AM | #7 |
Rose Garden
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 4,758
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Re: So, when God gets angry...
I think I just realized something (...I've been around too long to be this much of a GBD newbie ) ...the aim of punishment is not reconciliation. The aim of punishment is to associate misbehavior/disobedience/acting against the will of another with pain or suffering. In other words, "disobey me and I will hurt you". Discipline, on the other hand, is centered in reconciliation, instruction, and love. I think I get it now. Weirdly enough, I don't think of punishment as being entirely a negative thing, in part, because the punishment I was given as a child was also given along with discipline, if that makes any sense. There was little doubt that when we disobeyed, there would be unpleasant consequences, but we also understood that when we did wrong, mom and dad (and other authorities in my life) intended to help put us back on the path to doing right and reconciling us.
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09-28-2007, 08:05 PM | #8 |
Rose Garden
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 79,607
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Re: So, when God gets angry...
Shelbi--the whole point about punishments is that if you do them you STILL have to discipline in order to be a good parent. And the fact is you can discipline WITHOUT the punishment--and it's even MORE effective as punishment detracts from the discipline.
And you got it
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