About

Per Fidem Intrepidus means "Fearless Through Faith". My courage isn't my own, it comes from the Holy Spirit, it's my faith in God and my personal savior Christ Jesus that calms my fears and allows me to move forward in this fallen world. Personally I'm afraid of a lot of stuff, but having the faith that Jesus adopted me as his little, sin filled, brother keeps me going.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Bill Cosby, Martin Luther King, Abortion and Injustice

Reposted from The Cripplegate

Bill Cosby, Martin Luther King, Abortion and Injustice

by Jordan Standridge
In an incredible change of development, Bill Cosby could get away with rape. Allegedly, over the course of the last 50 years, Cosby has drugged and raped over 50 women. But a recent story came out claiming that Bill Cosby admitted to using sedatives to drug women back in 2005, but was promised by the prosecutor that it would never be used against him in court, and there is an email to prove this agreement. It is very likely that his confession, as well as any evidence gathered as a result of that confession, will not be allowed in court. If this turns out to be true Bill Cosby could go free. If the allegations are true, I can’t help but wonder what those women would go through if he ends up getting away with it.
martin-luther-king-mug-shotDealing with injustice is one of the most difficult things for people to go through. This situation with Bill Cosby is only one example of injustice out of a multitude this week alone. In celebrating Martin Luther King Jr Day yesterday, we were reminded yet again about millions who have been affected by the evil of American slavery. Later this week hundreds of thousands will be invading the streets of Washington D.C. to participate in the March For Life and protest the Roe v. Wade decision. Millions of babies have since been killed and their murderers, instead of being locked up in jail for selfishly and callously murdering their babies, are not only free, but applauded for their decisions, and given a platform to encourage others to do so as well.
How do we deal with all of this? How do we think about injustice in the world? Here are six thoughts I need to remind myself with in order to deal with terrible injustice.

God sees everything
David, in 2 Samuel 11, after committing incredible evil, and trying to cover it all up, seems to get away with it, and yet the last verse of the chapter tells us not only that God saw everything but that he was not pleased. David obviously learns his lesson in Psalm 139:7-8 when he asks, “Where Can I flee from your presence?” he concludes that God is omnipresent. While God’s omnipresence is a terror to the wicked, it is an encouragement to the righteous. I’ve heard the word “integrity” defined as someone who is the same in private as he is in public, but I think it should be taken a step further, true integrity should be defined as the constant knowledge that you are never in private, you are always in the presence of One. God is always watching, and ultimately He is the only audience member that matters.
God will punish all evil
Proverbs 11:21 says, “Assuredly, the evil man will not go unpunished, But the descendants of the righteous will be delivered.” If Solomon’s wisdom isn’t enough, God himself says in Isaiah 13:11, “I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.” While it’s hard to wait for God to bring justice, we must remember that not only will God punish all evil but he also knows the best timing for everything. And even if Cosby gets to enjoy his millions for another decade or longer, apart from repentance and trust in Christ, he will suffer eternally in Hell for his sin. God’s incredible and inimitable patience should not cause us to think that his wrath is not coming.
Life is short
Creating-and-animating-a-dandelion-in-Autodesk-Maya-and-ZBrushWhen someone is suffering, the worst thing we can do is barge into their life with a sentence like, “suck it up, and quit being so earthly minded!” But one way I have been shepherded through injustice in my own life has been to consider eternity. We have to train our minds to think about heaven. It is incredible to sit down and think about eternity. We spend so much time worrying about this life, earthly comforts and decisions that will ultimately be meaningless 100 years from now. James 4:14 warns us that life is but a vapor.  Likewise, Jesus, who always calls us to value heaven more than this life, reminds us in Matthew 6:28-34 that it is the pagans who worry about tomorrow. We instead should seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness first. Responding to injustice with an unmovable trust in God, is a symptom of a life lived with eyes fixed on Christ with a desire to please Him and be with Him above all else.
People are worse than you think
While no one deserves to be raped, tortured, taken apart limb by limb, or murdered by fellow human beings, it is important to remember that we all deserve worse from God Himself. There is no such thing as an innocent person. Paul reminds us in Romans 3:10-23  that “There is no one righteous”, “there is no one who seeks after God”, “their throat is an open grave”, “their feet are swift to shed blood”, culminating in the reminded that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. The depravity of man is essential in the moment of injustice. We must remind ourselves that ultimately there is no such thing as an innocent person. Leaving the death of Jesus as the only pure form of injustice the world has ever seen.
We deserve Hell too
In the moment of obvious injustice, it is very tempting to get angry. It is also very easy to judge the evildoer. We love seeing the bad guy get what he deserves. Hollywood has made a fortune in giving the audience what they want, namely, the death of the bad guy. Usually, unless the director wants to go against the grain, it ends badly for the bad guy. In dealing with injustice we must remind ourselves that we too, if it were not for the power of the gospel, would be capable of the same if not much, much worse. Having a proper view of our own sin, and our guilt before God, is something that will help us understand and deal with people’s sin around us.
God uses injustice to sanctify the believer
injusticeJames 1:2-4 says that we should, “consider it all joy when you face trials of many kinds (including injustice) because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” Romans 8:28 suggests that God works in all things (including injustice) to work for good in the lives of His children. And Joseph, despite having suffered terrible injustice, is an example of maturity when he says, “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.” A godly response to injustice always leads to a more sanctified life.
Evil surrounds us. I’m sure you’ve been affected by injustice in your life. We cannot allow Satan and the world to take away the joy we have in knowing the Lord. The temptation to complain is great, the inclination to lose hope is strong and the impulse to get angry and exact revenge can be powerful. But we must remember the word in Romans 12:17-21 where it says,
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

3 comments:

  1. It's so easy to forget these things when we're confronted with others doing evil to us or the ones we love.

    Vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord Romans 12.19

    Thank you Doug. I'm glad to read this today.
    Alec

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello, I was wondering if I might ask some questions about your thoughts?

    I found your site through some mutual sites we both visits and, in case you haven't noticed me, I will say up front that I am one that you would probably call a part of the Christian Left and that Neil and Glenn (who I see both comment here) will be glad to tell you that I'm a heretic (in their opinion) and Neil has even dedicated a page where he attempts to discredit me (a page where I can't post to defend myself against his false charges, I will note).

    Nonetheless, I am a Christian, a believer in God and follower of Jesus, the risen son of God... I am one who is saved by God's grace. And, at the same time, while I grew up quite conservative/traditional, in my walk with Jesus, I have moved to more progressive beliefs. To that end, I have grown suspicious of that belief I used to hold, the traditional "depravity of man" thinking. I have come to believe this is not a rationally consistent or biblically consistent opinion to hold. So, where you say...

    While no one deserves to be raped, tortured, taken apart limb by limb, or murdered by fellow human beings, it is important to remember that we all deserve worse from God Himself.

    I would ask, do you see how this seems contradictory? No one deserves, you say, to be tortured, etc, by fellow humans AND YET, we "ALL deserve" worse from God. How so?

    I believe that the traditional view of this evangelical/calvinist tradition of Christianity is that even if we only commit one sin as a child and died at the age of say, 16, we would still, then be monstrously evil or "depraved," and "deserving" of an eternity of torment (torture? Being burned alive forever??!) for that one sin.

    Is that a fair understanding of this notion of "deserving worse from God..." in your opinion?

    If so, why?

    Do you agree that part of the definition of Justice is that any penalty for an offense needs to be proportionate to the crime? If we were to cut off a child's hands for the crime of slapping a classmate, do you agree that this would be monstrously unjust? If so, then how do we recognize a perfectly just and perfectly loving God with the idea of such a disproportionate penalty?

    I'm asking because I've tried to get many conservative brothers to give me any kind of reasonable answer and don't feel I've ever got one (indeed, mostly, it seems the question goes ignored).

    Are you interested in discussing this with one considered a "heretic..."?

    Respectfully,

    Dan Trabue

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm not sure why you blame John Calvin - it's clearly in the bible, "For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality" (Colossians 3:25) Jesus himself said “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41)

      I truly do believe that the bible is the word of God. I may not have much time left on this earth, so I can't go about cherry-picking bible verses claiming that one doesn't fit my world view while another one does, and I don't have the guts to tell God "You're wrong!" when He tells us exactly what we are required to do and what He will do if that doesn't happen.

      I must conform to the word, and not expect God to make an exception for me just because my puny brain can't wrap around His all knowing all seeing vision. Do I hold this belief because I'm part of the elect? I don't know - Calvin is dead, God is Alive, and Jesus is my Lord, Savior, Brother, and Kinsman redeemer. It's Him I serve.

      I also don't see God as merely Perfectly Loving. I also see Him as Perfectly Merciful (Psalm 103:8–17) - you ask for mercy and you get it. I see Him as Perfectly Just (Psalm 119:137) - what He says goes, with no exceptions and no favoritism. I see Him as Perfectly Holy (Leviticus 19:2; 1 Peter 1:15) - we sinful creatures are not fit to stand in His presence He is so Holy, it's only Jesus' atonement that allows that to happen. I see Him as Perfectly Wise - (Proverbs 3:19; 1 Timothy 1:17) His intellect and capacity to reason is far beyond anything we can imagine. He's so much more than a narrow view of a fluffy Love diety that many people seem to have

      God is Eternal
      God is Perfect
      God is Gracious
      God is Compassionate
      God is Jealous
      God is Merciful
      God is Mighty
      God is Almighty
      God is Slow To Anger
      God is Righteous
      God is Awesome
      God is Holy
      God is Truthful
      God is Faithful
      God is Just
      God is All Powerful
      God is a Consuming Fire

      God gave me everything - life, a planet to live on, 6 beautiful children, two beautiful grandchildren, air to breath, food to eat, a healthy brain so I can reason for myself His wonder, a disabled body so I can learn dependence on Him and not my puny self. He gave me decades without interference so I was able to explore this world learn for myself the horrors of the part of this world where atheism slaughters its people and Muslims slaughter everyone.

      Deserving worse from God? In my opinion we are an ungrateful, stiff necked, hard headed infestation that turned our back on our creator and master. He sacrificed His own son for us to save us and we dare question His word? This is the problem with the "God is love only" mindset - people start thinking that "God couldn't possibly find anything to punish in me" and worse "God is incapable of feeling anything but love toward me" Oh yeah? That's called pride, the worst sin of all. Also known as "Haughty eyes"

      16 There are six things which the Lord hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: 17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, 19 A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers. (Proverbs 6:16-19)

      We need to stop asking "Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people" and as a question that isn't nonsense: "Why does God allow good things to happen to us bad people?"

      Delete