Ecumenicist
New member
Balder said:Sorry, Chileice, I have actually been meaning to reply to it. You entered the conversation more politely, so your post doesn't stir up the same urgency to respond. You know how it is: unfortunately, it's the contentious posts that attract the most energy.
It seems to me that you are taking a middle ground between my position and Nineveh's. You admit that God allows certain things to happen and develop, using those things as a means of judgment.
The idea that he allows certain calamities to befall, for certain purposes, suggests that he is actively working in history also to prevent other calamities, directing things behind the scenes. Is this how you see it?
In my own arguments, I have not been saying that the people who attack, pillage, and rape other nations are without personal responsibility for their actions. I am just saying that the person who "uses" the actions of evil people for his own purposes also bears some responsibility for what is done, especially if he knows before hand exactly what it is they will do.
Best wishes,
Balder
Does / did God use the nations, or was God willing to take responsibility for these
actions?
The Bible is a witness, in the OT the prophets observe that God takes
responsibility for the most heinous, evil actions of humanity, even the actions
of nations outside Israel / Judah. In Christ, the gesture is cast into the fulfilled
light, yes God does take full responsibility...
Dave