Path: cantaloupe.srv.cs.cmu.edu!rochester!udel!gatech!rutgers!igor.rutgers.edu!geneva.rutgers.edu!christian
From: db7n+@andrew.cmu.edu (D. Andrew Byler)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Serbian genocide Work of God?
Message-ID: <Apr.25.22.17.17.1993.5426@geneva.rutgers.edu>
Date: 26 Apr 93 02:17:17 GMT
Sender: hedrick@geneva.rutgers.edu
Organization: Freshman, Civil Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Lines: 57
Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu

D. Andrew Kille writes:

>Are you suggesting that God supports genocide?
>Perhaps the Germans were "punishing" Jews on God's behalf?
> 
>Any God who works that way is indescribably evil, and unworthy of
>my worship or faith.

The Bible does tell us that governments are ordained by God (Romans 13).
 And furthermore, God foreknows everything that would happen.  It is
just to difficult for humans to graps with our limited minds, the
inevitablity of the sucess of God's plan, and this is especially hard to
grasp when we see governemnts doing evil.  However, though they are
doing evil (and we should not cooperate with them when they do such), it
must be understood that what happens is what God wanted so as to lead to
the final sucess of His plan to save as many souls from hell as is
possible.  In short, the slaughter in Bosnia, though deplorable in the
eyes of God (maybe, then again, they might be getting their just deserts
now rather than later; there are plenty of examples of God killing
people for their sins - Onan in the Old Testmament for example, and
Annias and Spahira in the New) is what he willed to happen so that His
plan might be accomplished.
    But don't forget, it is not unbiblical for God to use one nation to
execute His just judgement upon another.  The Romans were used to
fulfill the chorus of "Let his blood be upon our hands" of the crowd in
Jersualem.  And Chaldea was chastised by Babylon, which got Israel,
which was inturn gotten by Persia, etc.  God does use nations to punish
other nations, as the Bible very clearly shows in the Old Testament. 
Don't you remember the words of God recorded in Daniel, "Mene, mene,
tekel, peres?"  Babylon had been weighed in the balance scales of God's
justice, found severly wanting, and was thus given over to the Persians
as their due punishment for their rebellion.  Another exammple is the
extirmination of the Cannanites, ordered by God as the task of Israel. 
The Cannanites had been given their chance, found severly wanting, and
the Great Judge, carried out His just sentence accrodingly.  I could go
on with more examples, but I see little need to do so, as my point is
quite clear.
Two things need to be remembered at all times. 1) It is not up to us to
question why God has ordered the world as He has.  In His divine Wisdom,
He made the world as was best in His eyes, and like Paul says in Romans
9, the clay is not one to tlak back to the potter.  2) The message of
Jesus Christ is as follows: "Repent now, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at
hand."  Jesus Christ did not allow any time for dilly-dallying - "Let
the dead bury the dead, come, follow me."  There is not an infinite
amount of time, rather Christ is passing by right now, calling people to
follow Him and become fishers of men.  He does not say, "well, alright,
you can call me back in a week and see if my Kingdom fits in with your
plans."  He said "Follow me."  His message is NOT "I'm just a sweety-pie
who would never hurt a fly, you've got all the time in the world, and
Divine Judgement, that's only a fairy tale."  "Our great God and Savior"
Jesus Christ (Titus 2.5) is also the just and righteous Judge of the
world.  And it is not up to the defendants in the trial to be
questioning his entirely just sentences of either chastisement or mercy.

D. Andrew Byler
"Does not He who ways the heart perceive [sin], and will He not judge
men according to their works?" - Proverbs 24.12
