I’m late to this discussion – but I just can’t seem to move past where I’m at.

It comes down to this – Christians are no better/worse than the average _____ (pagan, atheist, hindu, muslim, etc.), and I have a really hard time imagining God treating us different based on our religious upbringing. I was raised fundamentalist Christian (protestant) by loving parents. I didn’t have a traumatic childhood, other than believing what the Bible has in it (demons, Satan, the majority of the world going to burn forever and ever in hell with no hope of a second chance b/c they didn’t believe in a specific story about a specific deity).

So although I’ve begged God to give me grace, mercy and salvation – and in the past really believed he did – at some point my mind just couldn’t accept it’s OK for me to go to heaven but the entire world’s gonna burn.

So I guess I’m left with Option #3: Do any of us really know a ____ thing about God, what he wants, etc?

Obama is not the anti-Christ. Anti Christ is much smarter , slicker, with much more power.

I will give you that Obama is an exceedingly evil man, and would probably love to be the Anti Christ, but it is not yet time for the man of lawlessness to be revealed. Rather, Obama is a “type” of the Anti Christ. Having a form of godliness but denying its power.

Many people thought Adolf Hitler was the Anti Christ and he came to nothing. Not yet time.

Thank you for another great article, Michael. I’ve tried to point out this love vs. apathy truth to several friends over the years, but this is the first time I’ve heard anyone else explain the contrast. In my explanations I use the word “disinterested” instead of “apathy”, but…same path, same destination (and same pain). The opposite of love is truly not hate, but disinterest/apathy. I wish my beautiful and wonderfully Christian daughters hated me….Then again, perhaps you just inadvertently brought back too many sweet memories–that I’ve learned, by necessity, to box.
Thank you. Truly, Thank you.
Richard

Also, I’m surprised there was no mention of God’s response to anger directed towards God. How did He respond to Adam (Hey, the woman you gave me…) or Moses (why did you bring us up out of here..) or Job (Where were you oh man…)

I don’t think it very wise to communicate anger towards God without first fully understanding whether your anger is justified, appropriate, and not misplaced. For to do so is to be at enmity with God and didn’t Christ blood purchase us peace with God?

Anger towards God is always centered on our disappointment with God and that is an attitude of self-centered self-worship. It decries God as unjust, as wicked.

To have compassion on one who so incorrectly sees God that they are willing to judge God is one thing. To counsel them in that foolish pursuit is quite another. (although I don’t think you would continue in that direction today)

Just a comment on the hate versus love versus apathy argument.

The argument that hate is not the opposite of love but apathy focuses on the energy involved. But energy is not what defines love. Love is an action, an emotion, a committment, a direction, a lot of things, and all these things require energy.

Hate is also an action, an emotion, a committment, a direction, etc… and all those things require energy.

Apathy is the absence of either hate or love. It is not the opposite of anything, but the absence of everything.

Saying that apathy is the opposite of love is just as valid as saying that apathy is the absence of hate. It is a non sequitur.

But forgive me, I used to argue for a living, so little arguments that sound good but have no basis in logic irritate me unnecessarily. Your blog point is valid regardless of my point. Good job, keep up the good work.

Tell that to your wife. See how that works out.

Not married, engaged.

Also, I don’t expect to love my wife the way I love God, for one I won’t be “obeying” her.

However the concept of love as allegiance and loyalty is found in marriage. Romantic love is a thrill (well it would be a thrill to someone capable of emotions) but I think it should always be seen as icing rather than cake. If you based a marriage on romantic love it’d be a real roller-coaster ride.

David Zook,

I think that it is healthy to wrestle with God, but never lose sight that He is the Maker of the heavens and the earth and that he rules and reigns from above.

Hmm…

Outside Christ, we wrestle with God in order to master him. Inside Christ, we wrestle in order to be mastered.

This post does not say that we cannot get angry or do not, it is just that we should not attempt to justify that anger as something that is healthy. Anger ultimately attempts to put your judgment above God’s, but that is only if you are angry at him, not the situation. I think we must learn to separate the two. Ultimately it is an issue of trust which we all struggle with. The struggle is a necessary evil that can birth deeper trust, apathy, or an strangled theology. Ultimately, it can also lead to a complete departure from the faith.

My point in this post is that we should not be accepting of our own anger toward God. We must deal with it rather than letting it become who we are.

This is personal therapy in some sense.

The two greatest commandments – love God, love others. Studied that once and was amazed at the result. I knew that obedience was part of loving God, but was shocked at how that concept fills Scripture; it’s everywhere. Loving God is centered on obedience and to my mind, obedience=worship.

We can be obedient even if we are angry. I think kids do that with parents when they do the right thing even though they don’t want to and are angry about it.

I get angry at my wife sometimes, but I do not stop loving her.

I am amazed how David works through his emotions with God. He starts off with some sort of beef or a serious question, but by the end of the Psalm he is praising God to one degree or another.

I think that it is healthy to wrestle with God, but never lose sight that He is the Maker of the heavens and the earth and that he rules and reigns from above.