By the Numbers

Friday, March 11, 2011

God's A Cruel Tyrant and Killjoy!

God‘s A Cruel Tyrant And Killjoy!

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People have their own idea of God and I don’t know who’s right. But I don’t like the Bible’s God. I don’t mind a Creator who made the world to run on its own steam or natural laws and then abandoned us. He doesn’t bother me one bit since I can do my own thing and its okay. And the God who is all love and forgiveness lets me do anything I like so he’s okay too. But I don’t need Him unless I get into trouble or things don’t go right. I’ll pray for help when caught and maybe even go to church and say I’m sorry. But the Bible’s God of judgment I don’t like--He’s a killjoy, a tyrant. He wants to restrict my freedom, impose rules for me to obey, and spoil my fun. Well, I don’t trust that God and I want to live my own life. I’m just being honest.
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So I take a few drinks, gamble and use drugs sometimes. And yes I like sex partners but I’m just normal as others do the same things. I haven’t robbed a bank, rapped or killed anybody. I’m polite and respectful to people except when I’m drunk, and then I can’t help it. I’m a good person and it’s impossible to be perfect. If others go to Heaven, I ought to go too. So why does God have to make me feel guilty and spoil all my fun? He’s just a cruel tyrant and killjoy.
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Many people feel this way and don’t think they’re terrible sinners. I’m not condemning them; they condemn themselves. I just want them to think honestly about the God of the Bible they feel is a condemning judge and killjoy. If you should be such a person, will you let me ask you some important questions?
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Does forbidding us to destroy ourselves make God a cruel tyrant?
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Many people call tobacco, alcohol, and drug use fun and party and it makes them feel accepted with the crowd. Such things destroy our health; wreck our minds and bodies with diseases and misery, and cause highway accidents that would otherwise not occur. We pay a high price that enslaves us in a slow painful regretful death.
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Parents out of concern for their children’s well-being warn against their use knowing the harm and yet may teach its okay by their example. Advertisements present their use as sophisticated and fashionable and never picture the consequences of broken homes, lost jobs, ruined lives and their children following their footsteps. Of course, we can excuse this saying everybody does it, or a little indulgence won’t hurt, or it’s no worse than overeating, not exercising, or stressful work. Yes, but these things call for responsible living as well.
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The point here is that God designed our bodies, knows their proper function and warns us that they are His temple and we are responsible for their care. God is not a cruel killjoy or tyrant to warn us to be responsible for our own good--we know it. God is for us to have fun but enjoy wholesome activities that protect us and honor the bodies and minds He gave us. Our loving God has a higher standard for His people. 
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“Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual   immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy  Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a  price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1Cor. 6:18-20
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“Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Cor. 10:31
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Does allowing us free choice make God a cruel tyrant?
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It’s strange, but true. We tend to blame God for all the evils in the world—the abuses, robberies, rapes, muggings, murders, wars. Why does He allow it? But the fact is we commit these evils or sins ourselves, not God. In fact, God warns and pleads with us not to do such things. It’s the old story of Adam and Eve all over again. Both disobeyed God when they ate the forbidden fruit. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. We’ve been at it ever since. We’re prone to ask, why doesn’t God put a stop to all these terrible evils? Think about it; is that what we really want? Where would we draw the line of how much evil can be allowed? We’re all guilty of different sins and to various degrees. To get rid of evil God would have to wipe us all off the map.
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Further, we’re in God’s spiritual image immortal, free and with responsibility. It’s what distinguishes us from mere animal with instinct. To take away our freedom would make us puppets on a string. That would destroy our humanity and dignity. It would deny God His glory in His creatures. That’s not a good solution since force makes God a tyrant while freedom makes Him a friend to love and trust. 
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Does offering us Heaven make God a cruel tyrant?
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How could it? God makes the rules but allows us sinners our own way. Persons who suppress the witness of creation and the witness of conscience won’t accept the witness of Christ. We can ignore, deny, rebel against and reject God to the very end, and God lets us have our own way—eternal existence without Him is Hell. What most persons never stop to realize is that with God go all His blessings that they enjoyed and took for granted during life. Our own choice makes us forever alone in darkness to know God’s wrath toward all our life’s unholy attitudes and acts.  

 “And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than  light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the   light lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.” John 319-21
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Does paying for our crimes in a cruel death make God a cruel tyrant?
Jesus came to seek and save the lost from God. He took tremendous sacrifice to leave Heaven’s glories, enter a cruel sinful world, be beaten and hung naked on a torturous cross as a condemned criminal. Prophets predicted it centuries before (Isa. 53; Ps. 22; Acts 2:23). Because Jesus was both God and sinless man, He could both feel our pain and pay the price of our sin. He showed humanity unspeakable love and is our only hope of redemption. Before Jesus, people couldn’t imagine a God who loved them. Jesus’ death was the very opposite of a tyrant.
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“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, (unique God-man) that whoever believes in his has everlasting life (John 3:16).
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Does putting away all evil and persons who could harm us make God a cruel tyrant?
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Civilized governments don’t allow known robbers, rapists, killers to run loose on their streets terrorizing their people. They jail the guilty according to their degree of crime to secure society’s safety and sanity. The all-knowing Lord will achieve the justice seldom achieved in human courts. Heaven will be an eternally safe haven for all who trust in the Savior who is humanities salvation and hope. In no way is God a cruel tyrant and killjoy.
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 “There shall by no means enter it (Heaven) anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie,  but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” Revelation 21:27
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Today is your opportunity. Today can be a new start. Today you can be a repentant sinner trusting Christ to receive eternal life and to follow Him the rest of the way. He has promised to never leave or forsake us. Say, Lord, you’re love, not a tyrant. Forgive me a rebellious, uncaring, self-willed person, a sinner. Thank you, Lord.

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