Accidentally Ironic.

 

http://atitudeadventista.blogspot.com/2012/01/voce-daria-vida-de-seu-filho-por.html

I once read a book written by an atheist. I think I got the book free when I belonged to Bookbub, but I'm not sure. I can't remember the author or the title of the book. Even so, I think I deserve a break on this because I'm 72, but that's up to you. 

What I do remember was the shock I felt when I realized it was a book about prominent atheists throughout history. I'm a Christian, and somehow the title made me think it was a Christian book. I decided to read it anyway. What struck me was how many of the people he described had killed themselves. Meanwhile, he would write about how great it was to be an atheist. I had to laugh at the irony of that, but also felt very sorry for the ones who died that way.

I think of atheists sometimes and wonder how they can go through life believing there will be nothing for them after death. Just an eternal unconsciousness; never to see the ones you love again. My first husband's mother once asked me why on earth I would want to be a Christian. I answered, "Eternal life?" She did not think that was an important enough reason to lose her son. He wanted to leave me if I insisted on being a Christian. It wasn't really his fault. I gave myself to God after we were married for a year, and I changed. I wasn't the same party girl I was when we met and fell in love.

I believe the reasons for being an atheist is the unsound teachings of the churches. I know quite a bit about the teachings of different Christian churches, and I disagree with pretty well all of them. Not their entire dogma, but some of it. 

For instance, I don't believe God will throw unbelievers into a hell where they will be in pain forever. This is a horrible teaching that has probably kept millions of people from becoming Christians. I don't believe God waits around for us to screw up so he can punish us. I used to believe that because I come from a fundamentalist religion. So yes, I kept expecting lightening to strike me down every day.

I don't believe consensual sexual sins are worse than any other sins. Actually, I would bet they are not very important sins at all. Jesus barely mentioned them What he spoke about was the high and mighty people who took advantage of the poor, the widows and the orphans. He told people who thought they were better than others that they were not. He spoke a lot about money and how we must share it. He said loving money was a terrible sin that caused many people to be lost. 

He warned people about looking down on others for any reason. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in a righteous way and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.  Matthew 21:31,32 It was because of Jesus telling the elite religious people what they were doing wrong that they killed him. 

There is a verse in the Bible I think of when I think of atheists. "Taste, and see that the Lord is good." I wish those who don't believe in God would just give him a chance. Just pray and read the Bible, especially the New Testament. I'm not sure if that verse means, "Try God on, like you would a coat at a store." But I believe if you are sincere about wanting to know if God exists, ask him to let you know. He will. 

 

The Wrath of God? Why?

Who am I?

Have you ever wondered about the wrath of God?  What makes God angry?

Well, first we will look at the wrath of me, Belle.

I was reading Huffington Post last night and read an article about Pharmaceutical companies that made me so angry I could understand God's anger at sin.

The article began with Martin Shkreli, and how he has been arrested for conning wealthy investors. He was CEO of a drug company; they never said which one, which seems fishy to me. Here are just a few examples from the article.

"Shkreli took over a company with the rights to a 62-year-old drug used to treattoxoplasmosis, a devastating parasitic infection that can cause brain damage in babies and people with AIDS. He then promptly raised its price from $13.50 to $750 a pill.

Last month, Shkreli got control of a company with rights to a cheap drug used for decades to treat Chagas' disease in Latin America. His aim was to get the drug approved in the United States and charge tens of thousands of dollars for a course of treatment.

And the prices of new drugs are sky-high. Pfizer's new one to treat advanced breast cancer costs $9,850 a month.

... Big Pharma has wielded its political influence to avoid cost controls, to ban Medicare from using its bargaining clout to negotiate lower prices, and to allow drug companies to pay the makers of generic drugs to delay their cheaper versions."

You can read this article at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/of-rotten-apples-and-rott_b_8861526.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

When I finished reading, I was full of anger and pictured Jesus turning over the money tables of these corporations.

In Canada, the government tries to keep drug costs down, but guess what happened recently? My husband got an infection. He already has carcinoid syndrome, a rare form of cancer, so the doctors wanted to treat him with this special antibiotic. Well, there was none available. None available? I didn't understand that.

Then my mother needed another vial of Vitamin B12 because she has pernicious anemia. She said they didn't have any at her drug store. I was surprised, so I called around and yes, there was a shortage. I finally found a store that had two vials left so I got there as soon as possible and bought one.

When I got home, I was curious; why was there a shortage of drugs in this first-world country? I went online and found out the drug companies were slowing production. They wanted longer patent times and more money. They didn't care if people died, became sicker, had pain - nothing. All they cared about was money. Money, so they could buy a bigger house, a fancier car and go on vacations to Europe. Money, so they could buy the finest clothes, the best food and pay the nanny. Money, so their kids could go to the best schools, have the latest in technological gadgets and drive their own cars.

Remember Enron?  I heard a tape of two executives of that company laughing about Grannies in California who wouldn't be able to pay their electric bills. I wish Jesus had marched into Enron offices with a whip of cords.

These people had better enjoy their evil money now, because people who do these things for money will not be going to heaven. They wouldn't enjoy it there anyway because there is no money there. Everyone is equal there; there is love all around and through every being in heaven. Life there is selfless instead of selfish.

Who is God?

Well, he is someone who hates this kind of sin more than I do. His wrath is against sin why? Because sin always hurts people. Always. God does not want us to hurt people. Ever. We can't be that good though without God in us, so if you want to be a better person you have to ask God to come into your life and give you a new heart.

And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’

“But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord Almighty was very angry.

“ ‘When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it. This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.’ ”  Zechariah 7:8-14

The wrath of God is him leaving us to our own devices and reaping the cost.

So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired.  Romans 1:24

But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars.  
Acts 7:42

“But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.  Psalm 81:12

Like a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn; can the LORD now feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture? Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone.  Hosea 4:17

God doesn't want to let people go, but he must accept people's decision not to follow him. He works hard and for years on people's hearts, but there comes a day when there is no use in it and he turns away in sadness. 

"But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgement will be revealed. God "will repay each person according to what they have done."  Romans 2:6

God won't punish people by keeping them alive forever in a place called "Hell." No, each person will be punished according to what they have done in this life. Jesus said, "And a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn't prepared and doesn't carry out those instructions, will be severely punished. But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly."  
Luke 12:48

After punishment is an unconscious death lasting forever. They will be as if they had never been. "The LORD watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy."  Psalm 145:20

This gives God no pleasure, it is something he must do to preserve the universe; to make the universe finally free from sin and evil.  

"For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.”  Ezekiel 18:32