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Your boss, as you surely know, is blind to God and the Bible and that's why he so adamantly speaks out against them. The Bible absolutely DOES NOT contradict itself; as a matter of fact, it fits together like perfect pieces of a puzzle, even though it was written by about 60 different authors over several hundred years. (What are the odds of that????) All you can do is let him see God's light through you and make him "jealous" to want what you have (spiritually).
You said: My question is this, is it boxing in God to say that evil is beyond him....That he CANNOT do evil? Psalms 52:1 says that God's goodness is continual, so I was wondering, is it possible that God's goodness is continual, while coexisting at times with an evil side?
We at The Refiner's Fire believe that God does NOT do evil, that He does NOT have "an evil side", and that He does NOT delight in it at all - but that He responds to our deliberate sinning; disciplining and judging His creation whenever needed. Because He gave us free will (knowing that we would be subject to evil, thanks to Satan and his hold on us since the fall of Adam and Eve), we often suffer the consequences of sin (i.e, if we murder someone we go to prison; if we start wars, we will have casualties; if we commit adultery, all those we love will eventually get hurt in the process....). God has been MORE THAN tolerant of our behavior! Every time he got the Jews back on track, they backslid. One king would get the kingdom right with God, the next would bring in the idols and veer from God's Word and lead all his subjects astray. Today, we are getting ever more decadent as time goes on; we've kicked God out of our schools, our government, out of everywhere, and we've condemmed what God said was good and decided that "bad" was "right on" (as evidenced, for instance, in the fact that homosexuals are being ordained as priests - when God clearly states, throughout the Bible, that He sees homosexuality as "an abomination"). God has, over and over again, given the Jews and the Gentiles plenty of chances to "get right" with Him - and we've failed miserably.
It appears that God has been tolerating "some situations, times, and people" thanks to His great love for us, as evidenced in the atoning death of His Son, Yeshua. Yeshua was our Final Sin Offering, and many have used that as "carte blanche" to sin (under the erroneous impression that we're free to do whatever we want).
Ref your question about Isaiah 42:25, if you'll read the passages before that, you will see that God is angry at man's deliberate sinning and He decides to let us know that He intends to put a stop to it. He's angry, simple as that. It's not that He delights in doing these things, but He's finally "had it" with us....
You said: When does Jeremiah 14:10 suddenly occur?
A friend of The Refiner's Fire has shed some light on that (answer below). However, in reading the entire passage, it is clear that God is simply angry and judging. That does not mean He "delights in evil". It's like our parents: They love us and let us get away with things sometimes but, when we've pushed them too far, they get mad and let us have it "for our own good". Man, in his sin nature, needs to know that God does have His limits when it comes to our misbehaving. He tells us, He warns us, and He loves us through it all, but there comes a time when He finally puts His foot down and says, "Enough! If you don't stop this behavior I'm going to zap you!"
You said: Also, what is the line for the end of God's mercy?
We don't believe that He has a "line". His mercy goes on forever and ever; that is why He sent us His Son. He could have destroyed us all, but He didn't because of Noah's righteousness. As long as there are righteous people in the world, He won't destroy us; He promised that after the Great Flood (Genesis 9). (We will be raptured by the time God finally pours it His full wrath on the world - which will leave only the unbelievers, and they will deserve what they get because they will have had plenty of chances to "get saved" before all that happens!)
The bottom line is, because of our limited human mindsets, nobody can know the mind of God completely. He has revealed Himself to us to a certain extent, and we won't have the answer to the rest of our questions until we've been raptured and have our new bodies and minds. Much of the Bible is such a "mystery" because it keeps us thinking, discussing, and talking about God and what He might have meant by this or that; it keeps our minds focused on Him.
Bible scholar Derek Blanton provides this additional information:
The only problem that I have with the King James Version is that you have to translate it into modern English. The biggest problem is that you are reading the old english with modern meanings. This is where a good concordance will really aid your studies. You assume that when it says "evil" that it means evil in the sense of being opposite good or even opposite God if God is good. That is not always what the word evil means in the King James English. I carefully studied the scriptures that you were questioning and would like to take them one at a time.
Job 2:10 "...Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity (NAS) (evil – KJV)?...."
As you can see, the New American Standard version translates this passage a little closer to the meaning of the Hebrew. This word in Hebrew means adversity, affliction, calamity, or harm.
Exodus 32:14 "So the Lord changed his mind about the harm (NAS) (evil – KJV) which he said He would do to His people...."
In this passage the New American Standard version again translates the word closer to the Hebrew meaning. The meaning of this word is again adversity, affliction, calamity, or harm. This is the same word in the Hebrew as in the previous text.
Exodus 33:3-4 "…for I will not go up in your midst, because you are an obstinate people, lest I destroy you on the way. When the people heard this sad word (NAS) (evil tidings – KJV)...."
This is again the same Hebrew word as the first two passages. All of these passages speak of adversity, calamity or trials and testing (in the case of Job).
Exodus 5:22 "…O Lord why have you brought harm (NAS) (evil – KJV) to this people?...."
The Hebrew word in this passage is different than that in the other passages. The meaning of this word is to spoil; to make good for nothing; physically, socially, or morally bad. You will notice that in the context, the Israelites are under greater hardship from the Egyptians due to the judgment of God on the Egyptians. God is judging the Egyptians. The natural repercussion is the Egyptians persecuting the Israelites.
Now let’s look at your other two scriptures where you claim that God delights in wrath.
Isaiah 42:25 "So He poured out on him the heat of His anger and the fierceness of battle; and it set him aflame all around, yet he did not recognize it; and it burned him, but he paid no attention."
This scripture is indeed speaking of chastisement and judgment. The question is why. In verse 24 it tells us why: ".... for they would not walk in His ways, neither were they obedient unto His law."
Isaiah 63:6 "And I trod down the peoples in my anger, and made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth."
This passage is specifically speaking of the Second Coming of Christ. This section actually begins in verse 1. Parallel passages are Revelation 14:18 –20, Revelation 16:21, and Revelation 19:11-16. Christ comes to tread the winepress of the fierce wrath of God. Why does he do this? God answers this for us in Revelation 9:20-21 – mankind did not repent.
So the evil (KJV) spoken of in these passages is actually calamity, affliction, harm, etc. It is not evil in the sense of being against God or contrary to God. The question now is why does God allow these things to happen?
The first reason is testing or trials. James tells us in James 1:2 that we should consider it joy when we encounter various trials because the testing of our faith produces endurance. James continues this thought in verses 12-18. He begins by stating "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial...." So these trials happen to us to test our faith. The book of Job discusses this subject quite thoroughly.
The second reason is judgment. The verse in Jeremiah that you mentioned deals with this quite well. Jeremiah 14:10 "Thus says the Lord to this people, ‘Even so they have loved to wander; they have not kept their feet in check. Therefore the Lord does not accept them; now He will remember their iniquity and call their sin into account."
"They have loved to wander." Jeremiah himself confesses this in verse 7: "Although our iniquities testify against us, O Lord, act for Thy name’s sake! Truly our apostasies have been many, we have sinned against Thee."
You speak of "boxing God in" by saying that He can’t do something – evil in this case.
Your assuming that God’s attribute of omnipotence means that God can, in fact, do anything that is possible to be done. This is not true, nor does scripture teach this. Scripture teaches that there are quite a few things that God cannot do. Consider the following:
- God cannot lie – Hebrews 6:17-19
- God cannot deny Himself – II Timothy 2:13
- God cannot be unjust or unrighteous – Romans 9:14
- God cannot be unfair – Romans 2:11
- God cannot break His Word – Isaiah 40:8
- God cannot be tempted by evil – James 1:13
- God does not tempt anyone – James 1:13
Now, let’s consider the nature of God as He has revealed Himself:
- God is good – Psalms 136:1
- God is just and righteous – Deuteronomy 32:4
- God is truth and life – John 14:6
So, God cannot be tempted by evil or be unjust. God cannot break His word or lie. God is good, truth, just, and righteous.
God has given us a choice to obey Him and gain life, or to do our own thing and gain our own ways (death, calamity, destruction). Consider Deuteronomy 30:15-19:
"See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgements, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish....I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life...."
When you choose life, heaven rejoices. When you choose death and judgement, it comes. Can God do any differently? God does not lie. God is not unjust. Can He not punish the wicked? God MUST punish sin. We are the ones that choose judgment.
God never sends judgment without giving us an opportunity to repent and avert the judgement. Consider Proverbs 29:1:
"A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy".
Read also Proverbs 1:22-33.
In short, no, it is NOT "putting God in a box" to say that he cannot do evil. God Himself tells us this and God does not lie.
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