Did you know that the morning of worship is the greatest hour of idolatry in
the Western world? If you were to enter most churches and ask people
to describe the God they are worshiping, you would find that it would
not resemble the God of the Bible. If you were to do a week long Bible
study on the attributes of God in most churches, teaching the classical,
historical view of the attributes of God, by the time you got to the
sovereignty, justice, righteousness, and wrath of God, you
would have church members standing up and shouting, "That's not my
god! I could never love a god like that." This is because most
self-professing nominal "Christians" worship a god made in their own
image to suit their own agendas and ideals. They do not know Who God is.
In the book of Psalms, God rebukes Israel because they thought God was
just like them. He is nothing like us and we would do well to stop
committing idolatry by trying to project our faults and limitations upon
Him. God is thrice holy. All his attributes are holy, from His love,
grace, and mercy to His sovereignty, justice, and wrath. One does not
trump the others. Those who worship God are to do so in spirit and in
truth. Of course these people could never love the biblical God, because
they have never been saved to begin with.
Did you know that because we are made in the image of God, every time we sin we are telling the universe, "That's what God is like." We are defiantly shaking our little fists at God in rebellion and disobedience. And then you want to argue that eternity is not a fair punishment for our sin? We sin against an eternally holy God. If you were to lie to your child, they can do nothing to you. If you were to lie to your husband or wife, you are probably sleeping on the couch. If you were to lie to your boss, you are going to lose your job. If you lie to your government, that is treason and you can expect to see the inside of a prison. What changed? It is the same sin, so why the difference in punishment? If you step on a bug, not much will happen to you. If you kill a puppy, you will probably be charged. If you kill a vagabond, you will do some time in prison. If you kill the President of the USA, you are getting the death sentence. What changed? It is the same sin, so why the difference in punishment? It is because of who you have sinned against. Because you have sinned against an eternally thrice holy God, eternal punishment for your sin is a just response.
If we, as fallen sinful beings, burn with indignation against real injustices in this world (not "social injustices"), how much more a perfectly holy God?
Did you know that because we are made in the image of God, every time we sin we are telling the universe, "That's what God is like." We are defiantly shaking our little fists at God in rebellion and disobedience. And then you want to argue that eternity is not a fair punishment for our sin? We sin against an eternally holy God. If you were to lie to your child, they can do nothing to you. If you were to lie to your husband or wife, you are probably sleeping on the couch. If you were to lie to your boss, you are going to lose your job. If you lie to your government, that is treason and you can expect to see the inside of a prison. What changed? It is the same sin, so why the difference in punishment? If you step on a bug, not much will happen to you. If you kill a puppy, you will probably be charged. If you kill a vagabond, you will do some time in prison. If you kill the President of the USA, you are getting the death sentence. What changed? It is the same sin, so why the difference in punishment? It is because of who you have sinned against. Because you have sinned against an eternally thrice holy God, eternal punishment for your sin is a just response.
If we, as fallen sinful beings, burn with indignation against real injustices in this world (not "social injustices"), how much more a perfectly holy God?