Your God is a Warrior (Addendum)
One post wasn't quite enough. I wanted to staple on a quick additional post answering some of the more specific arguments against the idea of the warrior God.
Read MoreYour God is a Warrior
It is becoming more and more popular these days to insist that the God of Bible is Himself a pacifist and that the passages that teach otherwise have been widely misunderstood.
But the glory and holiness of God revealed in the Scriptures declare something else entirely.
The God of the Bible is a warrior - and the King is coming back to rightfully reclaim what is His.
Read MoreTurn, Turn, Turn (Meditations in Ecclesiastes, Part V)
And so we are reminded by Solomon’s observations that the whole of life does not reside only upon the positive side of the ledger of human experience. It is not all about gaining, establishing, and building. It is not all about laughter, celebration, and love.
To be truly understood, life must be viewed and experienced in its entirety, with God trusted as the sovereign ruler over it all. Everything has its place. Everything is made beautiful in its time.
Read MoreBlessed Are the War Horses: On Christian Meekness
How does one balance this directive of Christ to be meek with others throughout the Bible exhorting us to be “of good courage” or “strong in the Lord and in His mighty power”? What are to make of the apostle’s command, “Be on the alert. Stand firm in the faith. Be men of courage. Be strong?” It would seem that the ideal of meekness is diametrically opposed to these characteristics. Which one is it? Are we to lay down as passive recipients of whatever comes our way or are we to develop courage and strength according to the might and power of the Lord?
The key lies in the original Greek.
Read MoreThe Rat Race (Meditations in Ecclesiastes, Part III)
Make no mistake: if anybody was going to acquire enough stuff and have great enough experiences to feel satisfied by them, it was going to be King Solomon of Israel. Such a notion should give us pause: if it didn’t work for him, what makes one think it’ll work for us?
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