Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Dear Gary,

This is a tough one. I haven't gotten that far in the book yet but I'll try to address your question. We are starting to get into the idea of "sin" and God's role in "sin." I think a lot of people don' t like the idea of God looking down from heaven and judging everything that they do. God was very present in the Old Testament. He spent a lot of time getting mad at people and meting out punishment. In the New Testament, that visible and personal relationship disappears. We are just left with grace.

You and I discussed the concept of grace offline. I told you about my favorite interpretation of grace. It goes like this:

"You go to school for the first time and you are feeling really nervous and inadequate. It almost seems like a sham that you are even in the classroom because you feel like you don't measure up and you'll never be able to keep up with the others. Then, the teacher comes in, looks at you and the others and says, "I'm giving you all an "A". Now, just do your best."

God is very much a father-figure for humankind. (or a mother-figure if you prefer) We are all God's children and He wants the very best for us. But God decided to give us free will. Like children, we have to make mistakes and try to learn from them. And that can be frustrating for everyone. Including God, I would imagine. We aren't perfect beings. We are going to make mistakes. But as long as we try our best, we're okay. That is the gift of grace. God gave us a model for behavior in Jesus. WWJD (what would Jesus do?) is kind of a trite guideline but it is still pretty useful. I use it myself quite often. The reason God doesn't make grand appearances anymore like He did in the Old Testament is because of Jesus. Jesus was both human and God. He gave God a firsthand look at what it means to be human. And Jesus was sacrificed for our sins. He gave us the gift of grace. So, now we turn inwards for our relationship with God. We trust in that relationship through faith alone. And we simply try our best.

Hope that helps a little bit. It's a very complicated issue.

I recommended the movie "The Last Temptation of Christ" to you recently. What did you think of it?

-Malady