Once again, a disaster has occurred. Once again, an evangelical leader has referred to it as "the judgement of God." Once again, there has been a misunderstanding.
The Bible clearly states that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." It also clearly states that "the wages of sin is death." When you work, you expect wages, or payment. God tells us that our "work" here in earth does in fact deserves wages, which are handed out in the form of physical death. Every single one of those people in Haiti was a sinner, and therefore deserved to die. "Egad! How heartless you are." No, it's the simple truth. But there is more to the story.
In Luke 13.4, Jesus says, "Those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them - do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?" Perhaps there was a construction accident, which killed 18 workers. It was the big story of the moment, something everyone knew about. There really is nothing new under the sun, so surely someone, somewhere opined that it was the judgement of God. The answer that Jesus gave indicates that they were right. He did say they were "guilty." However, the point of his statement is that they were not MORE guilty than anybody else. His listeners should have drawn the conclusion that THEY were deserving of death, just like those eighteen.
It's funny how no one ever says, when a great Christian leader dies, "Well, at last he received the judgement of God." Why do we think in terms of judgement only when there is a disaster? That a great Christian leader dies is a sign that he was, in fact, a sinner, just like anyone else who dies, be it in an earthquake, terrorist attack, or tsunami.
One day, YOU will physically die. So will I. It will be the result of the judgement of God upon sinners everywhere. The Good News is that God has provided the way to escape spiritual death, or separation from God. "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved."
No comments:
Post a Comment