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Question on the Justice of God
Assuming
a man will live a life of wickedness for 100 years during his entire
lifetime. Comparing that 100 years to eternity and without having the
belief in God and the Bible as the standard, isn't it unthinkable that
a loving and a just God would punish a man for eternity in hell for
wickedness of a man for such a short time?
Answer
A similar example here would be a
man on trial for rape and murder. He was brought on trial due to the
overwhelming evidences against him--the murder weapon with matching
his thumbprint, witnesses who saw him leaving the scene on the night
the incident occurred and his admittance of it. Just before the
verdict, the man on trial was allowed to say his final statement. He
speaks, "Sir, I am basically good, this is the first and maybe my
last act of bad deed, I have been a model citizen all my life, as
testified by those who know me personally, I have never been accused
of anything against the law and I have never hurt anyone before this
one. Because of my 'great love' for her I did such act. But I am now
sorry and remorseful; I confessed because I want to pay the penalty of
my sin, but don't send me to the gas chamber to die. I want to change.
I will change!" Now, the Law explicitly states that any heinous
crime committed must be penalized by death and the people are all
aware that the Judge will give him this just verdict. But after that
statement, what if, for the sake of argument, the judge declared this
instead, "Young man, because you are sorry, you showed remorse
and you confessed, I will lessen the sentence to 10 years."
Now, if you are the kin of the
victim would you suppose that's fair? Is that just? Wouldn't the Judge
be breaking the Law if he lessen the just punishment required by the
Law? Wouldn't you care if other criminals would say this, "Ah,
let's rob bank but no murders. Anyway this act is less henious and the
court of law will certainly lessen our punishment?"
Recent survey tells us that the
average human life today is 65 years. A child will reach the stage
where he can distinguish right from wrong, say, at the age of 12, now
that would leave him 53 years remaining for wicked life, that's even
shorter compared to infinity. Just for argument's sake let's agree
that he'll live a life of wickedness for a 100 years. I am convinced
he will still get the JUST punishment of eternity in hell. Why? You
see, the unthinkable is this: Why
would a man live a life of wickedness here on earth if he understands
that he will get punished for that in eternity if he can live a life
of obedience to God for such a short time and enjoy him for the rest
of the infinity.
You see the Bible is even more
stern than that of our mindset. Paul’s letter to the Romans says,
"for the wages of sin is death," would you believe
that--death for just ONE sin. Adam and Eve was banished from Paradise
out of one disobedience--eating a fruit that is not
allowed for them to eat. Here we will even see how compassionate
God is. We are sinning, and filling the book of life with wickedness
and still God allows us to live and waits for us to repent and turn to
him.
Another problem arises when we
don't consult the Bible concerning the Will of God, men get weird
notions of how to please God. Without the Scriptures we get the idea
that somehow God will be pleased if we would sit in a cross sitting
position for about a whole day and paint ourselves, or wear weird
clothing or starve ourselves by not eating meat of a livestock we
believe that might be our ancestors living another life; or, God might
forgive our sins if we will mumble repeatedly some sort of paganistic
prayers and torment ourselves walking from Baclaran to Antipolo
barefooted. You see, not all who live a life of austerity may be
pleasing to God. According to the Bible, "obedience is better
than sacrifice."
Not all who are poor or austere
can be pleasing to God, again Bible says that Jesus came, "so
that you [or we] may have life and live it to the full." The
Westminster cathechism stated man's chief end: "To glorify God
and enjoy him forever." We can enjoy, love, and prosper out of
obedience to God. Isaiah 1:18ff. declares, "Come now, let us
reason together," says the LORD, "though yours sins are like
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as
crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you
will eat the best of the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will
be devoured by sword." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. Also
there is “righteousness, peace and joy” in the Kingdom of God.
You
see the decision is ours, we can enjoy God and live a life of
prosperity here on earth and still get the reward in full in heaven or
live a life of disobedience or wickedness and get our deserved
punishment of eternity in hell. We need to understand that we have
another gift, the gift of free
will.
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your comments to AbuGian
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