Is it bad I don’t find God merciful?

[TommySoda]

Not to say I am an atheist or a non believer but just reading a good portion of the Bible, I don’t see much mercy. Most people who are sinned are punished and most areas that are sinful are destroyed minus a few like Nineveh. For the most part the Bible (especially OT) is a book of wrath. I believe God is real but not merciful

 

[brinny]

Is it bad I don’t find God merciful?

Not to say I am an atheist or a non believer but just reading a good portion of the Bible, I don’t see much mercy. Most people who are sinned are punished and most areas that are sinful are destroyed minus a few like Nineveh. For the most part the Bible (especially OT) is a book of wrath. I believe God is real but not merciful

Jesus the Christ, the only begotten Son of the living God, being crucified, shedding His blood, and dying on the cross, for you, and me, and all mankind, is not merciful?

 

[devin553344]

Not to say I am an atheist or a non believer but just reading a good portion of the Bible, I don’t see much mercy. Most people who are sinned are punished and most areas that are sinful are destroyed minus a few like Nineveh. For the most part the Bible (especially OT) is a book of wrath. I believe God is real but not merciful

You said it: Like Nineveh, if we become as little children, then God is merciful. Be like Nineveh and accept that we are sinners and in need of God!

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

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[MariaJLM]

I struggled with this for years and still do in some respects due to how God is depicted in certain Christian denominations. However, the way it was often explained to me is that: 1) God is not limited to the same standard human understanding of morality. We are finite beings so have no way of fully understanding all of God's actions. 2) Punishment is usually a result of our own actions since we were given free-will. 3) God's mercy and redemption is shown through Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross so we could all obtain salvation.

 

[Jon Osterman]

Not to say I am an atheist or a non believer but just reading a good portion of the Bible, I don’t see much mercy. Most people who are sinned are punished and most areas that are sinful are destroyed minus a few like Nineveh. For the most part the Bible (especially OT) is a book of wrath. I believe God is real but not merciful

He can be merciful, but there are certainly times when He is not. I think modern Christianity fetishizes the ideas of mercy and forgiveness, giving them too much importance. There are times when they are appropriate and times when they are not. Just look at the book of Obadiah.

 

[Jonaitis]

Not to say I am an atheist or a non believer but just reading a good portion of the Bible, I don’t see much mercy. Most people who are sinned are punished and most areas that are sinful are destroyed minus a few like Nineveh. For the most part the Bible (especially OT) is a book of wrath. I believe God is real but not merciful

God displays much of his holiness and solitariness throughout the Scriptures, but if you read enough of it you will begin to see God's heart in it and everywhere else.

My advice is to keep reading Scripture, because it seems that you are isolating certain portions with a pre-conceived idea what they mean.

 

[FireDragon76]

Not to say I am an atheist or a non believer but just reading a good portion of the Bible, I don’t see much mercy. Most people who are sinned are punished and most areas that are sinful are destroyed minus a few like Nineveh. For the most part the Bible (especially OT) is a book of wrath. I believe God is real but not merciful

I don't think that's reading the Scriptures in the proper way, which is to see them in terms of Law and Gospel. Much of the OT is about God's just demands which human beings, due to their sinfulness, fail to do.

Keep in mind the OT is also a book about a people and their own experience of a merciful God who gave them a land and a way to relate to him through laws and religion. Even though the book is filled with their ingratitude, neglect, complaints, and unfaithfulness. Judged in that light, God is very merciful.

 

[~Anastasia~]

I'm not seeking to argue, but my experience has actually been that due to misunderstanding (and some errors in the past millennium) ... much of modern Christianity actually misunderstands God and doesn't see Him as He is - which IS agape/love and yes, He is incredibly merciful.

That doesn't mean there won't be consequences for those who set themselves against God. God is the source of everything good, and by cutting themselves off from Him they can ultimately suffer for all eternity. But it's not because God isn't merciful, or that He demands/desires them to suffer. It's because they will reject the mercy God offers, and eventually even the fact of His mercy (which they reject) will torment them.

We should never try to understand God through the lens of the Old Testament only. Look how badly the Jewish people got it ... they utterly failed to recognize God in person when He showed up, and many actually hated Him.

Rather we should understand God as He has been revealed, in the Person of Jesus the Christ, Son of God. He is not different in character or will from God the Father.

 

[TommySoda]

I'm not seeking to argue, but my experience has actually been that due to misunderstanding (and some errors in the past millennium) ... much of modern Christianity actually misunderstands God and doesn't see Him as He is - which IS agape/love and yes, He is incredibly merciful.

That doesn't mean there won't be consequences for those who set themselves against God. God is the source of everything good, and by cutting themselves off from Him they can ultimately suffer for all eternity. But it's not because God isn't merciful, or that He demands/desires them to suffer. It's because they will reject the mercy God offers, and eventually even the fact of His mercy (which they reject) will torment them.

We should never try to understand God through the lens of the Old Testament only. Look how badly the Jewish people got it ... they utterly failed to recognize God in person when He showed up, and many actually hated Him.

Rather we should understand God as He has been revealed, in the Person of Jesus the Christ, Son of God. He is not different in character or will from God the Father.

Interesting

 

[Ttalkkugjil]

Not to say I am an atheist or a non believer but just reading a good portion of the Bible, I don’t see much mercy. Most people who are sinned are punished and most areas that are sinful are destroyed minus a few like Nineveh. For the most part the Bible (especially OT) is a book of wrath. I believe God is real but not merciful

We're sinful, fallen, broken humans. Who are we to judge if God is merciful or not.

 

[TommySoda]

We're sinful, fallen, broken humans. Who are we to judge if God is merciful or not.

By reading the Bible? And it isn’t judging if God is merciful or not it’s a personal opinion

 

[Ttalkkugjil]

By reading the Bible? And it isn’t judging if God is merciful or not it’s a personal opinion

A personal opinion about whether God is merciful or not.

 

[TommySoda]

A personal opinion about whether God is merciful or not.

Essentially

 

[The Righterzpen]

He's merciful to the broken, but resists the proud. It all depends on which set of glasses you have on when you read.

 

[starryshadows]

God is so, so merciful. He showed me mercy by even giving me life at all! I sure don't deserve the life He gave me, let alone the forgiveness He has shown me and the love and infinite mercy He showed me by giving His life on the Cross to save me!

One thing I have always thought is this: God is not a created human. He is not judged by our standards. We are judged by His. He made us, He gave us life, and we are the ones who fell against God, who is perfect in Holiness. We deserve death for our sins against God. He has every right to judge us by His wrath how he chooses. If He chose to strike me dead tonight, that would be His right! I accept the fact that He could do that, and what could I say against that? I am His completely, made by Him, and the very breath I breathe is a precious mercy and gift He gave me and has the right to take away.

 

[FireDragon76]

There's a video series by The Fuel Project that greatly explains the two sides of God: his merciful and just sides. God is a mixture of the hard and soft virtues. God's hard virtues was most prevalent in the Old Testament while God's soft virtues was most prevalent in the New Testament.

It's more like different cultures understanding God in different ways . The Bible spans from the copper and bronze age to the iron age, after all.

 

[Root of Jesse]

Not to say I am an atheist or a non believer but just reading a good portion of the Bible, I don’t see much mercy. Most people who are sinned are punished and most areas that are sinful are destroyed minus a few like Nineveh. For the most part the Bible (especially OT) is a book of wrath. I believe God is real but not merciful

Are you saying people don't need to follow rules? Society without rules is chaos. God mostly warned people of their sin and asked repentance before He allowed them to die.

 

[ViaCrucis]

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[ViaCrucis]

"If you have a true faith that Christ is your Savior, then at once you have a gracious God, for faith leads you in and opens up God’s heart and will, that you should see pure grace and overflowing love. This it is to behold God in faith that you should look upon his fatherly, friendly heart, in which there is no anger nor ungraciousness. He who sees God as angry does not see him rightly but looks only on a curtain as if a dark cloud had been drawn across his face." - Martin Luther

To see God in faith is to see God in Christ. Apart from Christ our view of God is going to be obscured, veiled, we're not going to see Him properly. Because apart from Christ we have the hidden God who is fearful, terrifying, "It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). Because God, hidden behind the veil of His glory and holiness seems angry, distant, and terrifying. So if we try to see God through our own efforts, our own power, our own works (etc) we will always and only find the fearful Judge, the judgment that we have fallen short in our sin. That is the wrath of God, God in His judgment against sin. But to see God in faith, to see God in Jesus, is not to see the wrath of God against a sinful world, but to see the love of God who gives Himself to redeem and heal the world. This is He who says, "Come to Me all you who are weighed down by burdens and I will give you rest." This is He who says, "Forgive them Father, they know not what they do." This is He who says, "Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God."

If you are looking to God apart from Christ you will find fire and terror, not because God is angry, not because God is mean, not because God is cruel (He is none of these things); but because the disparity between you in your sin and God in His glory are unfathomably distant; and no amount of trying will ever reach Him--which is why we never come to God, we can't. Rather God has come to us, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us," And so here is God, for you.

-CryptoLutheran