Awakened07
What if Carl not only chooses to bless some Hispanics, but, some from every race. Then adopt them into his family.
Would you still call Carl a racist
Is Love Unjust?
by Satanus 24 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Awakened07
"Carl" = (biblical) God.
"Neighborhood" = Earth.
"Hispanics" = Mankind.
"Some hispanics" = Christians (well, Jews first).
"Carl being a racist" = Showing prejudice; tarring an entire population [mankind] with the same brush based on the 'flaw' of a few.
It's a principle thing.
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Deputy Dog
Just one problem
"Carl" = (biblical) God.
Human not = to "Carl" = (biblical) God.
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CandleLight
Is Love Unjust?
Since the question was limited to the christian sphere.. as it pertains to God I will address it from that angle.
First, If we are to understand the statement made by John "god is Love"... then we should look at the entire book for context. For he explains his statement. We have to look at it from God's Justice, because that is whom we are talking about. We humans like to measure God by our standards of Justice. That is impossible. We are the creation. God teaches us, not the reverse. But he is patient with us, and tries to explain himself to us in ways that we can understand.
I agree with DD, there are many facets to love. One of the greatest given in the example of Jesus, who is the manifestation of God's love. He is described as the way, truth, and life. So these things would encompass the facets of God's Love. The one I want to note here is Truth. Really Truth and Justice are tied together. God's word is truth. He does not lie, therefore he has to be Just. Because he is the defination of Love also, he links these things together so that we can see there relevance in how we understand God's nature.
So if love is unjust, it is not God's love. I have noticed some like to pull out old testement example and state, but see, this is an example of how god was unjust and unloving, Ignoring the numerous examples of his love. Is that conclusion accurate? Does our words and judgement make it so? Well, I am afraid not, for we have not the vision, or knowlege to make such judgement.
CL
2Jo 1:3
Grace will be with you, mercy and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. -
Awakened07
I fail to see how "God = mightier than man" changes the result of the principle. Might is right?
If I put myself into your universe for a moment, we were after all created in His image. And even if we're in a 'fallen' state, our core must be the same as before: whatever emotions and ethical faculties I have, I must have gotten from my creator. Where else from? So, God can't be "any worse" than I am when it comes to justice and love. He has to be waaay better, actually.
"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these [things]." (Isa 45:7 (KJV)).
But can we judge him by at least the same standard we judge humans? No, apparently:
"Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! [Let] the potsherd [strive] with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?" (Isa 45:9 (KJV)).
Then again, Yes, apparently:
-Moses - a mere, 'fallen' man; a "potsherd" - made God 'repent of the wicked thing which he thought to do to his people' (Exd. 32:9-14 (KJV)). In other words, Moses made God reconsider, which means Moses' moral judgment in this instance was wiser or better than God's, otherwise He would not have 'repented' and dropped his plans.
Abraham did similarly, regarding the potential 'body count' in Sodom & Gomorrah (Gen. 18:23 - 32).
David did similarly, when God 'smote' several thousand people because David started a census: "And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite. | And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house." (2 Sa. 24:16,17 (KJV)).
It seems to me, there is room to claim that the biblical God can be advised by fallible men, repent, and follow their advice, however flawed they may be. This to me suggests that he is not necessarily so ethically superior to humans as you suggest. If he was, there'd be no need to ask him to change course of action, and he definitely would not then follow that human request and repent of something He had thought of. He, the moral, ethical compass of the universe (and beyond) would always know better, and the results of his plans would always be better. But according to the above, that was not always the case.