via Christians Gift From God? Nazi Hitler? « Truelogic’s Weblog
I have stumbled across this blog before – and it is another angry anti-religious person, which is fine, but there is always hope to help him see the light.
He seems to understand all of Christianity in the light of the most strict Calvinist. He says,in questioning the compassion and mercy of God.
This very same God promises to torture billions with fire, to include children. Yes, with love and compassion and they again call this love? mercy? moral? Give me a break.
This very same God, according to the bible, Planned Everything from the beginning. This very God “appointed a time for every matter and every event”. That would include the actions of Hitler and the events of 9/11. Wow, Christians call this God love and moral? No wonder they support George Bush and John McCain’s war in Iraq that is known for it’s torture and killing (thou shalt not kill?). Ironic, isn’t it?
This very same God said “I create Evil” and he has to take credit for all evil because additionally he said, “if evil happens, have I not done it?” and we cannot blame men because the bible tell us “men’s steps are not of himself” and “you can do NOTHING but for the father (God)”.
As many of you may have guessed, I am an individual Arminian and a corporate Calvinism – in other words, I believe that the Church is predestined and elect, chosen, but the individual must make the choice (free will) to accept Christ. In saying that, I too would see a great darkness in Calvinism, but it should be noted by even the most unlearned agnostic that Christianity – as a whole, in every sense of the word – cannot be categorized by a single theological precept. It seems to me, from reading some of author’s posts, that he does put Christianity inside of the TULIP of John Calvin.
Let’s first answer the ‘God creates evil’ charge. Let’s examine this verse (and idea):
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. (Isaiah 45:7 KJVA)
I form the light and create darkness,
I make peace and create calamity;
I, the LORD, do all these things.’
(Isaiah 45:7 NKJV)I am the one who creates the light and makes the darkness. I am the one who sends good times and bad times. I, the LORD, am the one who does these things. (Isaiah 45:7 NLT)
It is adul statement – like most Hebrew poetry – where God creates light and darkness; He brings peace and calamity. This is not the creation of sin – murder, rape, crime – but the punishment against the sin. He creates grace and justice. It is the idea that God alone will create punishment.
Notice what the author says, twice, concerning God and children,
We must remember, Christians believe God is moral and compassionate. The same God that murdered most all life on earth in a flood…..even infants and the unborn child. Christians call that moral?
This very same God promises to torture billions with fire, to include children. Yes, with love and compassion and they again call this love? mercy? moral? Give me a break.
From here (no sense in re-inventing the wheel):
Does the Bible teach that babies go to hell when they die? In order to answer this question, we must find a biblical example in which an infant died, and in which his or her eternal destination is recorded. To do such is not difficult. In 2 Samuel 12, King David’s newborn son fell terminally ill. After seven days, the child died. In verses 22 and 23, the Bible records that David said: “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” It is clear that David’s dead infant son would never return to this Earth, but David also said that one day, he would go to be with his son. Through inspiration, David documented that his own eternal destination was going to be “in the house of the Lord” (Psalm 23:6). Therefore, we can conclude that “the house of the Lord” would be the eternal destination of his infant son to whom David would one day go. King David was looking forward to the day when he would be able to meet his son in heaven. Absolutely nothing in this context gives any hint that the dead infant son’s soul would go to hell.
Furthermore, Jesus said in Matthew 18:3-5:
Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.
And in Luke 18:16-17, Jesus remarked: “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”
Therefore, we have been given a specific example in the Old Testament of an infant who died and would live forever in heaven. And Jesus Christ Himself, in the New Testament, stated that little children retain the qualities that make a person eligible to inherit the kingdom of God. We see, then, that infants and small children that die are in a safe state, and will live eternally in heaven.
Further – and this helps to prove my point about Christians and hatred of the Church engendered by politics – he tries to draw all of Christianity into the Evangelical Christian Right and their support for George W. Bush, John McCain and the Iraq War. What is their witness to the world but one of hate, murder, war, and indeed, evil.
My fellow blogger is wrong to make his idea of Christianity inclusive of all beliefs that purport to hold to Christianity – and he allows his anger against those that have used Christ as a banner of war to overshadow any sense of reality. His perception of Christianity is that of a political force, bent on control, but the truth is far from his reality. To be honest, I don’t blame him – this is the nature of the beast, so to speak – this is the result of what happens when Christians are more politically active than focused on spreading the gospel.
