{"id":1286,"date":"2013-02-25T08:35:33","date_gmt":"2013-02-25T14:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.returningking.com\/?p=1286"},"modified":"2013-02-25T08:35:33","modified_gmt":"2013-02-25T14:35:33","slug":"what-kind-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/?p=1286","title":{"rendered":"What Kind of God?"},"content":{"rendered":"

[original article published in Fort Bend Herald, Sunday, February 24, 2013]<\/p>\n

\"\"An age old question has found new life in recent debate concerning the seeming incongruity of an all-loving, all-powerful God being willing to bring the harshest of judgments upon his creation.\u00a0 To be exact, the debate is generally kick started by some rendition of the question, \u201cWhat kind of God would send people to an eternal judgment in Hell?\u201d\u00a0 The question is of course baited and the outcome presumed self-evident.\u00a0 Supposedly one should nominate only a malevolent God as capable of such judgment.\u00a0 Surely a loving God couldn\u2019t be responsible for such harsh condemnation.<\/p>\n

The answer tends to fall in one of several templated responses.\u00a0 One group, believing the sentiment of the question, would say that in fact God does not send people to Hell at all.\u00a0 Either Hell is an humanly-imposed product of the misinterpretation of Jesus\u2019 (and the Old Testament Prophets, Apostles, church fathers, etc) words or in fact it is in some way a temporary sentence by which man can be properly refined, finding ultimate escape into eternal life.\u00a0 Some believe in a form of annihilationism; that unbelievers will simply die without hope for Heaven, yet without judgment in Hell or any other punitive resort.\u00a0 Some contend that God doesn\u2019t \u2018send\u2019 anyone to Hell, but that men choose <\/em>to go to Hell, as if they put their name in the wrong column of a sign-in sheet.\u00a0 And some still hold to the classic Christian position that \u2013 in fact \u2013 we do<\/em> serve the \u2018kind of God\u2019 who would sentence people to Hell and carry out such sentence first hand.<\/p>\n

The question is only valid, of course, if in fact the scriptures claim that Hell is real and that God sends people there.\u00a0 In the short space allotted, it can be quickly noted from the words of Christ himself that such is true.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 account of his return and judgment speaks of the fate of the sinful in these terms: \u201c(The King) will say to those on his left, \u2018Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.\u2019\u201d (Matthew 25:40-41)\u00a0 Jesus affirms this position also in Matthew 10 and 23, along with numerous other references, yet from this text alone three things can be clearly seen: First, that Jesus proclaims a literal judgment of fire, second, that this judgment is eternal and third, that the King himself issues the sentence.\u00a0 Other New Testament authors concur in clear language, such as Paul\u2019s note in 2 Thes. 1:8-9, \u201cHe will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.\u00a0 They will be punished with everlasting destruction\u2026.\u201d Thus, according to the scriptures, the question is valid: Just what kind of God would<\/em> sentence people to Hell?<\/p>\n

The question is actually answered clearly in the earlier portion of the 2 Thes. text above.\u00a0 Verses 6-7 note, \u201cGod considers it just to repay with affliction\u2026 those who do not do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 Romans 3 concurs, noting that until Christ took the full weight of the guilt of sin for the believer upon himself that in God\u2019s forbearance \u201che had passed over former sins.\u00a0 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.\u201d (v25-26)<\/p>\n

Rarely does one question a judge who sentences a child molester to a life sentence in prison.\u00a0 We consider the penalty of such sin justly carried out by the utter segregation of the offender for the duration of his life.\u00a0 What kind of judge issues such a sentence?\u00a0 A just one \u2013 who upholds the law and considers the crime truly reprehensible.\u00a0 No further examination need be sought out for God\u2019s upholding of his<\/em> sentence for sin.\u00a0 He is just.\u00a0 He hates sin.\u00a0 He will satisfy its sentence.<\/p>\n

Thanks be to God that He is in fact also a loving and forgiving God.\u00a0 In Christ he has taken out his full retribution on sin for those who trust Christ alone as their sacrifice of atonement.\u00a0 But he remains yet just.\u00a0 Every man\u2019s sins will be punished: either through Christ or the sinner himself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[original article published in Fort Bend Herald, Sunday, February 24, 2013] An age old question has found new life in recent debate concerning the seeming incongruity of an all-loving, all-powerful God being willing to bring the harshest of judgments upon his creation.\u00a0 To be exact, the debate is generally kick started by some rendition of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9,14,18],"tags":[],"series":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1286"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1286\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1286"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/returningking.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fseries&post=1286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}