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There are different dimensions of what seems to us or is described in the Bible as God’s anger. None of these dimensions is a reaction of frustration or a vindictive response. Rather, they are the out-workings of God’s holiness, decreed justice, desires and love. Remember that the Bible uses anthropomorphisms (human language, representations and concepts) to describe divine realities. God's wrath is the purifying fury of his holiness. It is neither vindictive nor a reaction of frustration. You could picture God’s wrath as a purifying fiery furnace, such as is used for ore purification. Then you could picture sin as a mist of impurities. What the fiery furnace does to the mist is certainly not pleasant to the mist but the furnace is not frustrated or vindictive against the mist. It is simply the nature of the furnace to dissipate fine mists and it is the nature of a mist that it is inevitably dissipated with intensity inside a fiery furnace. So it is with God’s wrath and sin (the adulterating mist of ungodliness). It is inevitable that sin is dissipated with horrifying intensity in the midst of God’s holiness. This reality transcends the ordinary human understanding of anger that is a reaction of frustration or a vindictive response to undesirable situations, events or actions of others. There is God’s decreed justice. This is neither vindictive nor out of anger for that matter. It is in fact fair. This is the justice expressed in Gal 6:7. “…whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” Good begets good and evil begets evil. Relating to this point, the question is often asked: why then do bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people? Many writers have addressed this question. If you would like to find out what my thoughts are on this question, please send me an email through the address provided below and, by God’s grace, I will post another article to share my thoughts. Then there is God’s chastening of His children – Heb 12:6. God’s desire is to sanctify and purify His children. With this comes His chastening grace. It is seldom pleasant for the children to go through such chastening but God is certainly not vindictive or frustrated when He chastens His Children whom He loves dearly.
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Excerpts for this article were taken from the author’s other work. Further information is provided at www.afisservices.ca. Copyright © 2008 by Felix Amiri. All rights reserved. No portion of this article may be reproduced in any form, except for brief quotations in reviews, without permission from The Christian Article Resource or the author: felix@afisservices.ca
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