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Exploring Christianity
Is God A Racist?
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<blockquote data-quote="aiki" data-source="post: 69088422" data-attributes="member: 178791"><p>I don't know that God is fair, but He <em>is</em> just. If God was fair would He have sent His only Son to die on a cross for sinners who hated him? Doing so doesn't seem very fair to me. But this is exactly what He did in order to satisfy the demands of His holiness, justice, mercy and love. I think if God had been concerned about human ideas of fairness, He would have just wiped out wicked humanity and started all over again. That would have treated everybody the same - that would have been fair - but it would not have been very loving or merciful as well as just.</p><p></p><p>I believe our innate moral sense does come from God. But it can be warped, and hardened, and diminished, and drift quite far from its divine origin, which is why, in part, we come to wonder at God's actions. We think our warped and diminished "morality" ought to be God's and suspect Him of evildoing when it isn't. But the problem is on our end, not God's.</p><p></p><p>I still ask you why God shouldn't do as He likes in His universe? Also, as I said, God can hardly be a racist when He is the <em>Creator</em> of all the various people groups.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Why does God choose a specific group of people to be His own special people? Well, because He wanted to. He could have done things differently, I suppose, but He didn't. And that is His right as Creator. He can do as He likes with what He has made. You have pointed out that God <em>could have</em> done things differently but you haven't shown why He <em><u>ought</u></em> to have done so.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>As far as God is concerned, "there is none righteous, no, not one." From the time of Adam until today humanity has walked in sin and darkness. Were it not for God's mercy, grace and love He would have wiped out all of humanity long ago. Instead, He has worked to provide a way for fallen humanity to be reconciled to Himself through Jesus Christ. There was, then, no truly innocent Egyptian. God would have been well within His rights to have annihilated the whole nation that had turned its back on Him and gone after false gods.</p><p></p><p>Imagine a father who drives his family home from a party in the family car when he is drunk. His drunkenness causes him to drive the car into an oncoming semi-truck and kill himself and his family. Is it fair that the family has died because of the wicked foolishness of the father? Did they deserve to be killed when it was only the father who had been drinking? Of course not. So, why didn't God just intervene and stop the drunken father from driving the car? Why did He allow the whole family to be killed? Because God honors our choices. Because if God intervened every time a human chose wrong, humans would not have genuine freedom to choose. And God is so determined that we should have genuine freedom (and responsibility) to choose how we will live that He honors the very worst choices that humans make - even choices that cause the death of others.</p><p></p><p>This is what happened with Pharaoh. He was like the drunken father driving the family car into a semi-truck. And when he did, a whole nation suffered terribly as a consequence. What is amazing, however, is that God gave Pharaoh <em>many</em> chances to make a better decision. It was only when Pharaoh demonstrated that nothing but the very worst consequences would make him change his mind that God resorted to the killing of the firstborn of Egypt. But this is a testament to the wickedness of Pharaoh, and to the terrible power we have to harm others through our bad choices, not to some evil on God's part.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But God didn't choose the Israelites because of their ethnicity. His promise to make a Chosen People set apart unto Himself was at first made to just <em>one man</em> - Abraham - out of whom the Israelite nation was born. God did not choose Abraham because Abraham was special; Abraham was special because God chose him. God could have chosen anyone to be the father of His Chosen People. He decided upon Abraham. That's God's divine prerogative.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>How can God be holy and just and not judge our sin?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>But this just isn't true. Every genuine Christian is a convert. There is no such thing as a person who is born Christian. Does being born in a hospital mean you have been born a doctor? Of course not. And being born in America or whatever other nation is considered to be "Christian" does not make you Christian.</p><p></p><p>Understand that Christianity developed under terrible persecution. In its beginning stages, the culture within which Christianity was born was extremely antagonistic to it. And this continues to be the case even today. There have been more Christians who have died for their faith in the last hundred years than in the entire two millenia over which Christianity has existed. And today Christianity is exploding in Africa, South America, and Asia - regions that have not been traditionally regarded as Christian. So, your idea that Christianity is just a consequence of where one is born doesn't prove to be true.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>God has given us all an innate sense of His existence. The Bible tells us, though, that humans "suppress their knowledge of God in unrighteousness." Anyone who truly wants to know God will know Him; God has promised to reveal Himself to all who seek Him with their whole heart. God has also given to us the testimony of Creation. We need only to look at the information, complexity, beauty and balance of the universe to see that God exists. No one, then, will stand before God one day and be able to say, "I had no idea you existed!"</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>God isn't limited by geography or culture. If there was ever a person who wanted to know Him, truly know Him, God would have seen to it that such a person did know Him no matter where they were. There are increasing stories of Muslims in countries where Christianity is forbidden who meet with Christ in dreams and are saved. The same is true of Asian people and African folk. God will save all who will be saved no matter who or where they are.</p><p></p><p>Selah.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="aiki, post: 69088422, member: 178791"] I don't know that God is fair, but He [I]is[/I] just. If God was fair would He have sent His only Son to die on a cross for sinners who hated him? Doing so doesn't seem very fair to me. But this is exactly what He did in order to satisfy the demands of His holiness, justice, mercy and love. I think if God had been concerned about human ideas of fairness, He would have just wiped out wicked humanity and started all over again. That would have treated everybody the same - that would have been fair - but it would not have been very loving or merciful as well as just. I believe our innate moral sense does come from God. But it can be warped, and hardened, and diminished, and drift quite far from its divine origin, which is why, in part, we come to wonder at God's actions. We think our warped and diminished "morality" ought to be God's and suspect Him of evildoing when it isn't. But the problem is on our end, not God's. I still ask you why God shouldn't do as He likes in His universe? Also, as I said, God can hardly be a racist when He is the [I]Creator[/I] of all the various people groups. Why does God choose a specific group of people to be His own special people? Well, because He wanted to. He could have done things differently, I suppose, but He didn't. And that is His right as Creator. He can do as He likes with what He has made. You have pointed out that God [I]could have[/I] done things differently but you haven't shown why He [I][U]ought[/U][/I] to have done so. As far as God is concerned, "there is none righteous, no, not one." From the time of Adam until today humanity has walked in sin and darkness. Were it not for God's mercy, grace and love He would have wiped out all of humanity long ago. Instead, He has worked to provide a way for fallen humanity to be reconciled to Himself through Jesus Christ. There was, then, no truly innocent Egyptian. God would have been well within His rights to have annihilated the whole nation that had turned its back on Him and gone after false gods. Imagine a father who drives his family home from a party in the family car when he is drunk. His drunkenness causes him to drive the car into an oncoming semi-truck and kill himself and his family. Is it fair that the family has died because of the wicked foolishness of the father? Did they deserve to be killed when it was only the father who had been drinking? Of course not. So, why didn't God just intervene and stop the drunken father from driving the car? Why did He allow the whole family to be killed? Because God honors our choices. Because if God intervened every time a human chose wrong, humans would not have genuine freedom to choose. And God is so determined that we should have genuine freedom (and responsibility) to choose how we will live that He honors the very worst choices that humans make - even choices that cause the death of others. This is what happened with Pharaoh. He was like the drunken father driving the family car into a semi-truck. And when he did, a whole nation suffered terribly as a consequence. What is amazing, however, is that God gave Pharaoh [I]many[/I] chances to make a better decision. It was only when Pharaoh demonstrated that nothing but the very worst consequences would make him change his mind that God resorted to the killing of the firstborn of Egypt. But this is a testament to the wickedness of Pharaoh, and to the terrible power we have to harm others through our bad choices, not to some evil on God's part. But God didn't choose the Israelites because of their ethnicity. His promise to make a Chosen People set apart unto Himself was at first made to just [I]one man[/I] - Abraham - out of whom the Israelite nation was born. God did not choose Abraham because Abraham was special; Abraham was special because God chose him. God could have chosen anyone to be the father of His Chosen People. He decided upon Abraham. That's God's divine prerogative. How can God be holy and just and not judge our sin? But this just isn't true. Every genuine Christian is a convert. There is no such thing as a person who is born Christian. Does being born in a hospital mean you have been born a doctor? Of course not. And being born in America or whatever other nation is considered to be "Christian" does not make you Christian. Understand that Christianity developed under terrible persecution. In its beginning stages, the culture within which Christianity was born was extremely antagonistic to it. And this continues to be the case even today. There have been more Christians who have died for their faith in the last hundred years than in the entire two millenia over which Christianity has existed. And today Christianity is exploding in Africa, South America, and Asia - regions that have not been traditionally regarded as Christian. So, your idea that Christianity is just a consequence of where one is born doesn't prove to be true. God has given us all an innate sense of His existence. The Bible tells us, though, that humans "suppress their knowledge of God in unrighteousness." Anyone who truly wants to know God will know Him; God has promised to reveal Himself to all who seek Him with their whole heart. God has also given to us the testimony of Creation. We need only to look at the information, complexity, beauty and balance of the universe to see that God exists. No one, then, will stand before God one day and be able to say, "I had no idea you existed!" God isn't limited by geography or culture. If there was ever a person who wanted to know Him, truly know Him, God would have seen to it that such a person did know Him no matter where they were. There are increasing stories of Muslims in countries where Christianity is forbidden who meet with Christ in dreams and are saved. The same is true of Asian people and African folk. God will save all who will be saved no matter who or where they are. Selah. [/QUOTE]
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