Lūcēbint tū domus ducō

Thursday, April 06, 2006

A balance.

Hm. I was reading in Numbers tonight before bed (I'm not supposed to be up, but I knew if I didn't type this now I'd forget), about how if anyone but Aaron and his sons even so much as glanced at the Altar, they would die instantly.
I was just thinking how weird it is. It's like, God's no longer the powerful God of the 1800's. He's been crammed and smushed into the new form of this "best friend"God. The one who loves you unconditionally, who always forgives you, and who's always there for you. Sure, that's all wonderful and comforting, but we're forgetting that God is God. God is all-powerful, all-seeing, and all-knowing. God created this entire universe, and all the other universes that may exist. He created infinity. He /is/ Infinity Infinity. He's the Beginning that has no beginning and the End that has no end. He is GOD. We're so immersed in the making God your best friend that we forget about all that. Of course God wants to be your best friend! Of course He loves you infinatley! But he's also God and is to be respected in the utmost way. We're so obsessed in showing the world how wonderful and forgiving He is that we forget to show them how powerful he is. He's the one who created us with a thought, who knew us before the beginning of time. He's the one who created Heaven and Earth in a week. He's the only one who is /can/ create and who knows how.
It was quite the opposite 200 years ago. God was an unapproachable, huge, powerful Being who ruled the earth with an iron hand. He was not to be messed with, and was to be respected.
But those were times of cold, lifeless religion. Of boring, limp, unintresting Gospel full of "thee"s and "thou"s and pretty much inunderstandable chapters and verses.

We don't have a "happy medium". We try to cram God into whatever shape we think will look most appealing to people. God needs our help to bring people to Him! Stretching the truth a bit is okay, it's for God!
Don't forget the thousands of Christians that were burned/beheaded/tortured/killed in the name of God.
You can SAY it's for God.
You can do good works, lead people to become Christians, tell them about how loving God is.
But in the end, God is God.
Not the soft, fluffy, loving, "I'd never really hurt you, I love you too much" God of today.
Not the cold, cruel, "If you put one toe out of line I'll crush you like a bug" God of Bible times.
But the God that loves strictly, punishes mercifully, and judges fairly. It's not supposed to be compadible, you know. Justice and mercy. But they are. Because God is God.
The God who healed the sick also heals your broken heart.
The One who brought back to life the dead can bring back to life your dead heart.
The God who crushed the Isrealite's enemies can also crush yours.

But don't forget that He isn't soft and fluffy, nor cold and cruel.
He's God.