FRONT PAGE - here you will find the last 20 postings about recent conversations. Please pray for these people!

Love and Justice

12/2/13             Cameron               late 20’s

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Imagine beginning a conversation about eternity, and then finding out the person you are talking with has a terminal illness.  This has happened to me before, and again yesterday in a coffeeshop conversation with Cameron, a young man I met there.  It was hard to know what to say when he told me, because there is no way I could truly understand unless I were in his shoes, and I wanted to be sensitive to his feelings.  On the other hand, I am aware of my own mortality every time I see a grey hair, and the same is true of everyone -- none of us are guaranteed tomorrow.  Cameron's situation forces him to take that fact very seriously at a very young age, and as a result he has studied many religions, and seems to have come to a quiet confidence about his future. As we talked, however, I became aware that his confidence is seriously misplaced.  If you truly believe that the parachute someone puts on before they jump will not work, no matter how confident they are, what would you do?  I could blurt out well-worn religious sayings and familiar Bible verses, but lose his willingness to listen, or I could quietly try to explain just why it is I believe his "parachute" won't work.  So that's what I tried to do. 
Cameron said he would like to see this video when I post it, so I will try to briefly summarize here what I told him, and focus on some of his beliefs in the video to remind him of my concerns.  I believe Cameron's confidence is misplaced for two reasons: 1.) He has a human-centered (non-biblical) view of God's goodness.  He believes in a God who will allow bad things to happen, or who will temporarily punish sin, only if it will benefit us in the long run. He has studied criminal justice and, combined with the trauma of an abusive childhood, believes in a version of God who acts only in accordance with His love for us rather than also according to His love for justice.  But God is good, and a good God loves justice, and a perfectly good God loves perfect justice, and perfect justice requires a just consequence for our sins against Him.  He would not ignore the demands of justice or accept our unworthy bribes of good deeds to "pay" for our sins.  He would, however, because of His perfect love, be willing to pay the price of justice Himself, which is what He did on the cross.  2.) Cameron's mistaken confidence is also placed in his own goodness.  Compared to other people, his friends say he is a wonderful person and I don't doubt them on a human level, but God's standard, His law, is higher.  So high in fact, that it cannot save us, for we have already broken it, but fortunately its purpose is to show us our need to be saved and to show us the way to the Savior.  Like everyone, Cameron has broken God's laws and needs to be saved, and the Bible is clear -- salvation only comes through faith in Jesus Christ.  He is the only worthy sacrifice that can perfectly fulfill both God's love and His justice, and we all need to trust completely in Him -- no more, and no less.     Video - Cameron - Love and Justice

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