A Sinner in the Hands of Angry Liberals

Over the years, I've had a lot of discussions with liberals and atheists on the subject of judgment. Sometime in the past century the term passed from a relatively common noun or verb into linguistic purgatory. The word is still around, but many in polite company seem to consider it just short of a swear word without the smell. Others consider it much worse.

No longer content simply to declare people unfit for judgment, a great many secular types (and some claiming to be religious) seem to think that God, worshipped as the creator of the universe, either has disdained the task Himself or is incapable of exercising the authority in a "fair" manner. The most common complaint I recall in this regard (at least as far as Christianity is concerned), is a standard for salvation deemed too arbitrary. People are offended that by rejecting Christ, God offers no other path for salvation. There is no weighted scale, no balancing of deeds. Their fate stands or falls on a single act. The decision of the Judge is final. No appeal.

I have to say that I sympathize with this view. Who would not? No one likes the idea that anyone could be condemned for eternity.  The idea that a merciful God could allow it is inconceivable. And so the secularist rejects God as "immoral," never realizing the flaw in his perspective. In the life that is to come after this one, our sin has already condemned us for eternity and only by God's mercy do some of us escape. As Christ proclaimed, "The Son of Man came not into the world to destroy men's lives, but to save them."

So much of the secular antagonism toward God is based on this misunderstanding, this belief that it is God who condemns rather than people who choose to be condemned. And yet, for all of this moral outrage, the same group goes out and commits the same type of action they claim to find so repugnant: condemning people. Judgement. The assignment of value to people as human beings based on little or no evidence without regard to context or balance.

The most recent case that has appeared in the news has been the owned of the Los Angeles Clippers. There have been others. I won't comment on the remarks made here. They speak for themselves. I won't comment on Mr. Sterling. He can speak for himself. I can only speak for me.

I pray that I never find a day on this earth when all that I am and all that I own will be put on trial based on one conversation, and a private conversation at that. I'm afraid I've become quite cynical about my belief in the goodness of people over time, and my trust in many friends has become tempered by experience. That such things can happen in America, that property can be forfeited based on a taped private statement, makes me mindful of what we have lost in this nation. I am grateful now more than ever that God operates on a system of mercy. I would not have been able to stand up to the justice of God, and He is good. Heaven help all of us with what is becoming of the "justice" of men.