- Now, I don't know about you,
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but there are
these moments in life
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when I'm in a
really stressful situation,
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and I can feel my
temperature start to rise,
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and I'm pretty sure
if I don't walk away
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from that situation
right then and there,
00:00:11.97\00:00:14.68
I'm gonna blow my stack.
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And then, of
course, a few minutes later,
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I'm gonna hate
myself for doing that.
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Today on
"Authentic", we're gonna talk
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about getting
unjustifiably angry.
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[soft pensive music]
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[soft pensive music continues]
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The other day I was running
over to the hardware store
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to get some furniture polish,
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when I think I probably
met the angriest guy in town.
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Now, right up front, I
should probably confess my sins.
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I was in a hurry, and
I was obviously breaking
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parking lot
protocol, because the lot
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was almost completely empty.
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So, like I've done in the
past, I cut across the lot
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diagonally to get to the
spot where I wanted to be,
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and my infraction was more
than this guy could handle.
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He was pushing a cart
with what looked to be
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some bags of
garden soil, and honestly,
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I came nowhere near him.
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I'm not even close.
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But I could hear him cursing me
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through the
closed windows of my car.
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Now when I stopped
and rolled down my window,
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he was ready for me.
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And because this
is a family show,
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I cannot repeat what he said.
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But man, he was hot.
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It was the weirdest case
of road rage I've ever seen.
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Obscene gestures, foul words,
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and when I tried to talk to him,
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it only made things worse.
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He just got madder.
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Eventually, I gave up.
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I told him I'm sorry he
was having such a hard day,
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and I hoped that
things would start to improve.
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And I walked away.
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It was one of those
rare times when you see
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somebody coming
completely unglued.
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And who knows what was
going on in this poor guy's life
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before I got there?
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Maybe he'd just discovered
his spouse was leaving him,
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or maybe he'd just been fired,
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or maybe he's quitting a
long time habit, like alcohol,
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or cigarettes, or
even prescription drugs,
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and his body
chemistry was all out of whack.
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I mean, who really
knows what kinds of things
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lead up to that moment when
the camel's back finally breaks?
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I mean, if we're
honest, we'd have to admit
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we've all been there.
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There comes a moment
when your bottled up stress
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finally gets to you,
and you start to dump
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on some poor victim who
just happens to be there
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when you finally hit the limit.
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I've seen it
happen in workplaces,
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on the freeway,
in a shopping mall,
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and more and more and
more, I've been seeing it
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happen in
airports and on airplanes.
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It's as if the stress of travel
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suddenly pushes some
people over the precipice.
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Now from where I sit, it seems
like our collective anxiety
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in this society is rising.
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People are more frustrated,
they're more anxious,
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and of course, that
means that a lot of people
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are getting angrier, too.
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And if we're honest
about this, we'd have to admit
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that we've all made
contributions to the overall
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problem. I mean, if
you're human, you've done it.
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And then when
you're finished blowing up,
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you suddenly pass
through several different
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phases of thinking.
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First, you kind of hate
yourself for losing control,
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and then you
justify what you did,
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identifying the
people who provoked you,
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or the circumstances
that shouldn't have been
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allowed to happen.
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And then, as your
anger begins to dissipate,
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you find yourself
mentally revisiting that moment
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30 seconds before
you lost your cool,
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and you wonder what you
might have done differently.
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Then, after some time goes
by, there's a pretty good chance
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that you begin to
realize that you probably owe
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somebody an apology.
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I mean, they did
do the wrong thing,
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but it really wasn't
worth the level of anger
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you expressed, and
maybe you even escalated
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the situation
unnecessarily until it lost
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all sense of proportion.
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When you and I get
angry, we often lose control,
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which can lead to an awful lot
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of shame and regret.
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And because of the
way we experience anger,
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a lot of people have
trouble with the idea
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that God might also get angry.
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"I don't know what
kinda god you worship,"
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I've heard some people say.
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"But my god doesn't get angry."
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As if we all get to
reinvent or redefine God
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to suit our own sensibilities.
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But let me ask you this.
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Does God actually get angry?
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That's what I
want to explore today,
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the concept of God's wrath.
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For this generation, that's
become an uncomfortable subject,
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because over the
centuries, the Christian church
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has often painted
a very unfair picture
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of who God is
and what he's like.
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Preachers have been
known to describe God
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as a severe,
unforgiving, angry deity
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who can't wait to
deliver his wrath on your head.
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Just make one wrong
move, and that angry God's
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gonna strike you dead.
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All he needs is
the slightest excuse.
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We preached a God who can't
wait to be rid of human beings,
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a God who even hates
us, and maybe, just maybe,
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he'll accept
you into his kingdom
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if you somehow manage
to find a legal loophole,
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but it's gonna be begrudgingly.
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It's a
regrettable portrait of God
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that isn't really supported
by the writers of the Bible.
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After all, the
most pointed explanation
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of the character of God
that you find in the Bible
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is one single word.
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That word is love.
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And if there's one
thing that some preachers
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have been guilty of,
it's skipping right past
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that definition
of love to preach
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about the
condemnation of sinners.
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But you know, there's
another ditch that we fall into
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sometimes, and that's
ignoring what the Bible
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actually says
about the wrath of God.
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It's an uncomfortable
subject, to be sure.
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And here in America, a lot
of consumer-driven churches
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don't seem to think that
God's anger is good advertising.
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That concept sometimes
leads to a one dimensional
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meaningless God who
always seems to think
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that everything's A-okay,
no matter what happens to who.
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But in our more honest
moments, we have to admit
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there's no way to read the Bible
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and avoid what it says
about God getting angry.
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Let me give you just one example
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from the Book of Numbers,
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where it tells
us that God decided
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to punish the nation of Israel.
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It says, "And the Lord's anger
was kindled against Israel,
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"and he made them wander
in the wilderness 40 years
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"until all the
generation that had done evil
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"in the sight of
the Lord was gone."
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Now let's be honest about that.
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There's no way of
getting around what it said.
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You can't just
dismiss that as some kind
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of semantic misunderstanding.
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It tells us that
Israel provoked God
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to the point of anger,
and what exactly was it
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that made him angry?
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Evil behavior.
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So, maybe the
preachers of yesterday
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who pointed to the wrath
of God kind of had a point.
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Sometimes, the almighty
God really does get angry.
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And I think there are
reasons we tend to squirm
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when we think about that.
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First of all, most of us
realize that when the Bible
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says that every one of
us falls dramatically short
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of the glory of God,
and we think about the way
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we've chosen to live,
the decisions we've made,
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the people we've hurt,
well, it's not too hard
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to understand that could
easily be directed at us,
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and we would have it coming.
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So from that perspective,
we'd like God's anger
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not to be true.
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But then, you know, I
think there's another reason
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that some people find
the idea of an angry God
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to be really unsettling.
00:07:44.13\00:07:45.99
It's because
they've been the victim
00:07:45.99\00:07:47.56
of some human being's
anger, and they were hurt by it.
00:07:47.56\00:07:50.87
Maybe they spent their
childhood in an abusive home,
00:07:50.87\00:07:53.44
or they've just escaped
from an abusive marriage,
00:07:53.44\00:07:56.14
or maybe they're the
ones with an anger problem,
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and they know full
well they have victimized
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an awful lot of people.
00:08:01.08\00:08:02.91
So, of course, when they
read about the wrath of God,
00:08:02.91\00:08:05.51
that can stir up a lot of
painful emotions and memories,
00:08:05.51\00:08:08.62
because they're
projecting unjust human anger
00:08:08.62\00:08:11.62
onto the character of God,
00:08:11.62\00:08:13.49
and to some extent,
that's understandable,
00:08:13.49\00:08:15.62
because all we
really have in this world
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is a human perspective.
00:08:17.59\00:08:19.73
When we wanna
know what God is like,
00:08:19.73\00:08:21.23
we tend to compare
him to our own experience,
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and that's kind of
where the problem lies.
00:08:24.30\00:08:26.84
Of course we
anthropomorphize God,
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because that's what the
writers of the Bible do.
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God relates to
us in human terms.
00:08:31.81\00:08:34.34
And then, of course, he
suddenly shows up in Bethlehem
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as one of us, and
encourages us to learn more
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about him as a
real live human being.
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Then what we sometimes
do is run the comparison
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in the wrong direction.
00:08:45.55\00:08:47.09
We compare God to ourselves
instead of the other way around.
00:08:47.09\00:08:51.23
I'll be right back after this.
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[soft music]
00:08:54.00\00:08:56.36
[bright music]
00:08:56.36\00:08:57.67
- [Announcer 1] Here
at the Voice of Prophecy,
00:08:57.67\00:08:59.07
we're committed to
creating top quality programming
00:08:59.07\00:09:00.87
for the whole family, like
our audio adventure series,
00:09:00.87\00:09:03.67
"Discovery Mountain".
00:09:03.67\00:09:05.41
"Discovery Mountain"
is a Bible-based program
00:09:05.41\00:09:08.01
for kids of all
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00:09:08.01\00:09:10.35
Your family will enjoy
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With 24 seasonal
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and fresh content every week,
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00:09:20.62\00:09:23.83
- You know, I think
one of the trickiest bits
00:09:26.59\00:09:29.06
about learning to read the Bible
00:09:29.06\00:09:30.57
is the tension
between the fact that God
00:09:30.57\00:09:32.40
is somewhat like
us on the one hand,
00:09:32.40\00:09:34.80
because we're made in his image,
00:09:34.80\00:09:36.64
but then on the
other, we have the fact
00:09:36.64\00:09:38.01
that God is not like
us, because we're fallen.
00:09:38.01\00:09:40.88
So, when the Bible
tells us in 1 John 4 Verse 8,
00:09:40.88\00:09:44.55
that God is love,
we can, to some extent,
00:09:44.55\00:09:47.82
grasp that concept,
because human beings
00:09:47.82\00:09:50.32
also practice love
and tend to treasure it.
00:09:50.32\00:09:53.32
But then once you really
start to examine it carefully,
00:09:53.32\00:09:56.89
the Bible suddenly
reveals that God practices love
00:09:56.89\00:09:59.73
in a way that you and I can't.
00:09:59.73\00:10:02.16
His love is bigger, it's better,
00:10:02.16\00:10:04.30
and it's completely selfless,
00:10:04.30\00:10:06.90
which leaves you wondering.
00:10:06.90\00:10:08.57
What would pure love,
completely uncompromised
00:10:08.57\00:10:11.84
by human
brokenness, actually look like?
00:10:11.84\00:10:15.61
The same thing
happens with the Bible's
00:10:15.61\00:10:17.31
treatment of anger.
00:10:17.31\00:10:18.85
There's just no
getting around the idea
00:10:18.85\00:10:20.92
that God gets angry.
00:10:20.92\00:10:22.22
It gets mentioned in
the Bible far too often
00:10:22.22\00:10:24.55
to just dismiss it.
00:10:24.55\00:10:26.49
And of course our
natural tendency is to compare
00:10:26.49\00:10:29.09
God's wrath to our own,
just like we do with love,
00:10:29.09\00:10:33.19
and what we
discover is that God's anger
00:10:33.19\00:10:36.00
is not exactly like ours.
00:10:36.00\00:10:38.60
There's a very brief statement
00:10:38.60\00:10:40.37
over in the Book of
Psalms that kind of underlines
00:10:40.37\00:10:42.34
this concept.
00:10:42.34\00:10:43.54
"Be angry," it
says, "And do not sin.
00:10:43.54\00:10:46.41
"Ponder in your own hearts
on your beds and be silent."
00:10:46.41\00:10:50.15
Now, tell me that
description isn't different
00:10:50.15\00:10:52.31
from your human anger.
00:10:52.31\00:10:54.12
I mean, how many
times have you been upset,
00:10:54.12\00:10:56.58
and the way you handled
it was completely selfless,
00:10:56.58\00:11:00.22
completely sinless?
00:11:00.22\00:11:02.56
This is what makes you suspect
that anger is always wrong,
00:11:02.56\00:11:05.79
no matter what
the circumstances,
00:11:05.79\00:11:07.23
but according to the Bible,
00:11:07.23\00:11:08.90
anger is actually a
perfectly valid emotion.
00:11:08.90\00:11:12.57
But it can become
wrong very quickly,
00:11:13.67\00:11:15.60
the way that you and I do it.
00:11:15.60\00:11:17.31
In a fit of anger, it's
easy to let selfish concerns
00:11:17.31\00:11:20.41
start to dominate, and
it's easy to lose control
00:11:20.41\00:11:23.21
of our rational
faculties, so that we start
00:11:23.21\00:11:25.35
to act in irrational ways.
00:11:25.35\00:11:28.15
The task that challenges
the student of the Bible
00:11:28.15\00:11:30.59
is to learn to
exercise legitimate anger
00:11:30.59\00:11:33.62
in a Godly way, what some would
call righteous indignation.
00:11:33.62\00:11:38.39
And I know, there are
people who really struggle
00:11:38.39\00:11:41.10
with the idea of a
God who gets angry,
00:11:41.10\00:11:42.80
but again, it's
really, really important
00:11:42.80\00:11:45.80
not to take our own
experience with anger
00:11:45.80\00:11:47.80
and project it onto God.
00:11:47.80\00:11:49.87
God gets angry, all right,
but not the way that we do,
00:11:49.87\00:11:52.94
and honestly,
let's think about this.
00:11:52.94\00:11:55.14
Would you really want a
God who never gets angry?
00:11:55.14\00:11:59.71
Many years ago, I went
to this New Year's Eve party
00:11:59.71\00:12:02.72
where there was an elderly
woman sitting in the corner
00:12:02.72\00:12:05.35
watching TV.
00:12:05.35\00:12:06.82
Sadly, she was
struggling with dementia,
00:12:06.82\00:12:09.02
so that was about all she
could handle, just to sit there.
00:12:09.02\00:12:12.49
And of course,
because it was New Year's Eve,
00:12:12.49\00:12:14.30
a lot of TV stations were
showing the year in review,
00:12:14.30\00:12:17.63
the highlights, the
news stories that happened
00:12:17.63\00:12:19.97
over the last 12 months.
00:12:19.97\00:12:21.77
And at one point,
they came to the case
00:12:21.77\00:12:23.91
of a notorious serial
killer who'd been executed
00:12:23.91\00:12:26.91
during that year, and
they were very briefly
00:12:26.91\00:12:30.35
listing some of
the terrible crimes
00:12:30.35\00:12:32.25
he'd committed against children.
00:12:32.25\00:12:34.35
Now, this lady was understanding
enough of that broadcast
00:12:35.62\00:12:37.95
that she started
to fidget in her seat.
00:12:37.95\00:12:40.22
She was getting visibly upset,
00:12:40.22\00:12:42.46
and at one point, to
the surprise of the people
00:12:42.46\00:12:45.13
who were not watching that
TV, she suddenly blurted out
00:12:45.13\00:12:48.60
her indignation, telling
us exactly what she thought
00:12:48.60\00:12:51.17
of that guy.
00:12:51.17\00:12:52.70
It was a pretty good example
of righteous indignation.
00:12:52.70\00:12:57.04
So of course, it makes
us angry when an evil person
00:12:57.04\00:13:00.14
hurts the innocent.
00:13:00.14\00:13:01.38
And of course it
makes us especially angry
00:13:01.38\00:13:03.38
when children are involved.
00:13:03.38\00:13:05.31
This ministry is
currently involved
00:13:05.31\00:13:07.35
in rescuing young girls
from the sex trade in India,
00:13:07.35\00:13:10.15
and I'm not sure I
can adequately describe
00:13:10.15\00:13:12.62
how it makes me feel
when I hear about grown men
00:13:12.62\00:13:15.76
who use these young
girls for unspeakable things.
00:13:15.76\00:13:20.03
That kind of stuff
should make us angry.
00:13:20.03\00:13:22.83
I mean, what kind of a person
just shrugs their shoulders
00:13:22.83\00:13:25.47
and chooses to be
completely indifferent?
00:13:25.47\00:13:28.70
So think about this.
00:13:28.70\00:13:30.51
Why would we think that
God should never get angry,
00:13:30.51\00:13:33.34
especially when you consider
the fact that he has to witness
00:13:33.34\00:13:35.98
all of our evil acts combined?
00:13:35.98\00:13:39.25
Would you even want a
God who isn't bothered
00:13:39.25\00:13:42.22
by pain and suffering?
00:13:42.22\00:13:44.22
I like how
Garrett Kaiser puts it
00:13:44.22\00:13:46.59
in his book,
"The Enigma of Anger".
00:13:46.59\00:13:48.79
He writes, "The
thoroughly gentle God,
00:13:48.79\00:13:51.43
"the unceasingly kind God,
the God of the unalterable smile
00:13:51.43\00:13:55.16
"is also the fairy
God, the clown God,
00:13:55.16\00:13:57.53
"the stuffed animal
God, perhaps not a great deal
00:13:57.53\00:14:00.34
"more helpful than the
threadbare little giraffe
00:14:00.34\00:14:03.00
"that a child
clutches in his dark room
00:14:03.00\00:14:05.41
"as he winces with every cry
00:14:05.41\00:14:06.91
"from his
battered mother's throat,
00:14:06.91\00:14:09.44
"the God who never gets mad
for fear of offending the abused
00:14:09.44\00:14:13.15
"must sooner or later
be construed as the God
00:14:13.15\00:14:15.75
"who never gets
mad at the abuser."
00:14:15.75\00:14:18.59
A god who never
gets angry would be
00:14:19.59\00:14:21.96
a
one-dimensional work of fiction,
00:14:21.96\00:14:23.59
a god without real personhood,
00:14:23.59\00:14:25.76
a vague, impersonal presence,
00:14:25.76\00:14:27.96
a nebulous deity whose more
like the force from "Star Wars"
00:14:27.96\00:14:31.30
than he is the god of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
00:14:31.30\00:14:34.90
And of course,
ultimately, he would be a god
00:14:34.90\00:14:37.01
who didn't really
care about the suffering
00:14:37.01\00:14:39.71
of his own children.
00:14:39.71\00:14:40.91
Maybe you've noticed some
of those passages in the Bible
00:14:42.31\00:14:44.65
where Jesus himself
is said to get angry.
00:14:44.65\00:14:47.32
Like this one, found
in the Gospel of Mark
00:14:47.32\00:14:50.39
when he realizes
that the religious leaders
00:14:50.39\00:14:52.72
are more worried about their
interpretation of the rules
00:14:52.72\00:14:56.22
than they are about people.
00:14:56.22\00:14:58.03
Listen to this.
00:14:58.03\00:14:59.59
It says, "And he said to them,
'Is it lawful on the Sabbath
00:14:59.59\00:15:03.30
"'to do good, or to do
harm, to save life or to kill?'
00:15:03.30\00:15:07.04
"But they were silent.
00:15:07.04\00:15:08.40
"And he looked
around at them with anger,
00:15:08.40\00:15:11.71
"grieved at their
hardness of heart."
00:15:11.71\00:15:14.94
So here's the important question
00:15:14.94\00:15:16.54
I really want
you to wrestle with.
00:15:16.54\00:15:18.25
What exactly is it
that makes God mad?
00:15:18.25\00:15:21.88
Let's start to
piece together an answer
00:15:21.88\00:15:23.82
from the pages
of the Bible itself.
00:15:23.82\00:15:26.15
In the Book of
Revelations, Chapter 16,
00:15:26.15\00:15:28.26
we find a
description of God's final wrath
00:15:28.26\00:15:31.16
as its poured out
during the seven last plagues.
00:15:31.16\00:15:34.20
And the chapter opens like this.
00:15:34.20\00:15:37.00
"Then I heard a loud
voice from the temple
00:15:37.00\00:15:39.13
"telling the seven angels,
'Go and pour out on the earth
00:15:39.13\00:15:42.54
"'the seven bowls
of the wrath of God.'"
00:15:42.54\00:15:46.74
According to John, this
will be the final display
00:15:46.74\00:15:50.45
of God's wrath against sin,
00:15:50.45\00:15:52.25
right before the
second coming of Christ.
00:15:52.25\00:15:54.88
And back in Revelation 15,
00:15:54.88\00:15:57.12
these seven bowls are
called the seven last plagues.
00:15:57.12\00:16:00.92
Why are they the last ones?
00:16:00.92\00:16:03.22
It's because they're emulating
another set of plagues,
00:16:03.22\00:16:06.06
one that you
probably know about.
00:16:06.06\00:16:08.26
In the Book of
Revelation, John uses language
00:16:08.26\00:16:10.40
from the Old Testament.
00:16:10.40\00:16:11.83
About two thirds
of what he writes
00:16:11.83\00:16:14.04
is actually imagery from
other parts of the Bible,
00:16:14.04\00:16:16.91
and one of the books
that it draws on most heavily
00:16:16.91\00:16:20.38
is the Book of Exodus.
00:16:20.38\00:16:21.84
In fact, if you
glance through Revelation 15,
00:16:21.84\00:16:24.98
you'll see a description
of God's redeemed people
00:16:24.98\00:16:27.35
singing something
called "The Song of Moses".
00:16:27.35\00:16:30.95
[soft piano music]
00:16:30.95\00:16:32.35
What it's doing is comparing
the ultimate liberation
00:16:32.35\00:16:35.32
of this world to
Israel's liberation from Egypt.
00:16:35.32\00:16:39.46
And you remember that
right before Israel left
00:16:39.46\00:16:41.40
for the Promised Land, God
sent 10 devastating plagues
00:16:41.40\00:16:45.37
on a Pharaoh who refused
to let his people go free.
00:16:45.37\00:16:48.80
That would make
these the first plagues,
00:16:48.80\00:16:51.37
and they were also an
expression of God's anger.
00:16:51.37\00:16:54.64
Somebody was
harming his children,
00:16:54.64\00:16:57.11
and they refused
to stop doing it.
00:16:57.11\00:17:00.05
Which brings me to
the original encounter
00:17:00.05\00:17:02.22
between God and
Moses, the one you find
00:17:02.22\00:17:04.65
at the burning bush.
00:17:04.65\00:17:06.32
It takes place
right before Moses goes
00:17:06.32\00:17:08.72
into the Pharaoh's
palace to deliver the news
00:17:08.72\00:17:11.19
that God intended
to free his people.
00:17:11.19\00:17:13.93
And as soon as we take
another really quick break,
00:17:13.93\00:17:16.73
I'll come back to
liberate you from the suspense
00:17:16.73\00:17:19.40
of not knowing what
I'm gonna read next.
00:17:19.40\00:17:21.74
I'll be right back after this.
00:17:21.74\00:17:23.97
[soft music]
00:17:26.94\00:17:28.24
- [Announcer 2] Life
can throw a lot at us.
00:17:28.24\00:17:30.21
Sometimes, we don't
have all the answers,
00:17:30.21\00:17:33.58
but that's where
the Bible comes in.
00:17:33.58\00:17:35.98
It's our guide to a
more fulfilling life.
00:17:35.98\00:17:39.12
Here at the Voice of
Prophecy, we've created
00:17:39.12\00:17:41.39
the Discovery Bible Guides
to be your guide to the Bible.
00:17:41.39\00:17:44.39
They're designed to
be simple, easy to use,
00:17:44.39\00:17:46.90
and provide answers to many
of life's toughest questions,
00:17:46.90\00:17:49.86
and they're absolutely free,
00:17:49.86\00:17:51.90
so jump online
now, or give us a call,
00:17:51.90\00:17:54.20
and start your
journey of discovery.
00:17:54.20\00:17:57.14
- All right.
00:17:57.14\00:17:58.31
Just before the
break, we were headed
00:17:58.31\00:17:59.57
to Exodus Chapter 3,
where Moses talks to God
00:17:59.57\00:18:02.71
for the very first time.
00:18:02.71\00:18:04.61
Of course, this takes
place right before Pharaoh
00:18:04.61\00:18:07.52
refuses to liberate the Hebrews,
00:18:07.52\00:18:10.15
at which point, God
delivers the plagues,
00:18:10.15\00:18:12.95
which reveal his displeasure
with the Egyptian prince
00:18:12.95\00:18:16.02
in a really tangible way.
00:18:16.02\00:18:18.83
So listen to this.
00:18:18.83\00:18:19.96
As God is about to tell Moses
00:18:19.96\00:18:21.66
to go to Egypt to
confront the Pharaoh,
00:18:21.66\00:18:23.93
you'll find this
in Exodus Chapter 3.
00:18:23.93\00:18:26.70
It says, "And now,
behold, the cry of the people
00:18:26.70\00:18:30.47
"of Israel has come to
me, and I have also seen
00:18:30.47\00:18:33.04
"the oppression with which
the Egyptians oppress them.
00:18:33.04\00:18:36.44
"Come, I will send you to
Pharaoh that you may bring
00:18:36.44\00:18:39.08
"my people, the children
of Israel, out of Egypt."
00:18:39.08\00:18:43.52
So what is it that
provokes God's anger?
00:18:43.52\00:18:46.92
Suffering.
00:18:46.92\00:18:48.19
It's the
individuals who use other people
00:18:48.19\00:18:50.56
for their own selfish purposes.
00:18:50.56\00:18:52.66
God essentially tells Moses,
look, I know that some people
00:18:52.66\00:18:56.06
think I don't respond
when people are suffering,
00:18:56.06\00:18:58.93
but I haven't missed a thing.
00:18:58.93\00:19:00.84
I have heard the
cries of my people,
00:19:00.84\00:19:03.54
every single one of them.
00:19:03.54\00:19:05.84
A couple of verses earlier,
00:19:05.84\00:19:07.71
God says this.
00:19:07.71\00:19:09.58
"Then the Lord said, 'I
have surely seen the affliction
00:19:09.58\00:19:12.75
"'of my people who are in Egypt,
00:19:12.75\00:19:14.28
"'and have heard their cry
because of their taskmasters.
00:19:14.28\00:19:18.02
"'I know their sufferings.'"
00:19:18.02\00:19:21.16
So what is that
really angers God?
00:19:21.16\00:19:24.26
It's the way that sin
and selfishness hurts us.
00:19:24.26\00:19:27.66
I mean, I know it's impossible,
00:19:27.66\00:19:30.00
but for a moment, try
to look at all of this
00:19:30.00\00:19:32.00
from God's perspective.
00:19:32.00\00:19:33.94
When the human race
was ushered into existence
00:19:33.94\00:19:36.34
back in Genesis
Chapter 1, God stood back,
00:19:36.34\00:19:39.91
looked at the entire creation,
00:19:39.91\00:19:41.74
and said,
"Behold, it is very good."
00:19:41.74\00:19:44.85
[soft music]
00:19:44.85\00:19:46.08
In the beginning,
there was no suffering.
00:19:46.08\00:19:47.85
There was no pain, no
funerals, no hospitals,
00:19:47.85\00:19:52.35
no broken people
sitting on a sidewalk,
00:19:52.35\00:19:54.82
hoping for a
little bit of change
00:19:54.82\00:19:56.46
so that maybe today,
they won't have to rummage
00:19:56.46\00:19:59.33
through a trash bin.
00:19:59.33\00:20:01.13
God's children, you and
me, we were designed for joy,
00:20:01.13\00:20:05.47
and when we had
children, it was the same thing.
00:20:05.47\00:20:08.24
That was
supposed to bring us joy.
00:20:08.24\00:20:10.91
There was no such thing
as neglect or child abuse.
00:20:10.91\00:20:15.11
But now, in sharp
contrast to the way
00:20:15.11\00:20:17.11
that we tend to see the
world, God sees everything,
00:20:17.11\00:20:20.75
all of the pain,
all of the suffering,
00:20:20.75\00:20:23.12
all of the heartbreak,
and he knows full well
00:20:23.12\00:20:25.92
this is not what he intended.
00:20:25.92\00:20:28.42
You and I have
taken something marvelous,
00:20:28.42\00:20:30.23
something designed
to reveal a god of love,
00:20:30.23\00:20:32.79
and we have twisted it,
making it about us instead.
00:20:32.79\00:20:36.36
So then you've got to
wonder, why doesn't God
00:20:37.63\00:20:39.13
just blow the
whistle, and stop it?
00:20:39.13\00:20:42.44
That's probably the
number one question I get
00:20:42.44\00:20:44.67
as a minister, why doesn't
God just put a stop to it?
00:20:44.67\00:20:48.18
And I'll be honest, sometimes
I've been hurt so badly
00:20:48.18\00:20:52.21
that I find myself
asking the same thing.
00:20:52.21\00:20:54.22
Why don't you just stop it, God?
00:20:54.22\00:20:56.92
But then it occurs to
me, if God were to start
00:20:56.92\00:20:59.19
systematically eliminating evil,
00:20:59.19\00:21:01.12
where exactly
would I want him to stop?
00:21:01.12\00:21:04.13
Before he gets to me?
00:21:04.13\00:21:06.09
Because as much as
I'd like to tell you
00:21:06.09\00:21:07.66
I'm not a part of
the problem, I know I am.
00:21:07.66\00:21:10.87
So are you.
00:21:10.87\00:21:12.57
Oh, for sure, maybe
you and I haven't committed
00:21:12.57\00:21:14.47
the kind of unspeakable
crimes that people remember
00:21:14.47\00:21:17.64
when they're talking
about the year in review,
00:21:17.64\00:21:20.58
but you know full well
you've contributed to the mess.
00:21:20.58\00:21:23.55
I mean, let's just be honest,
00:21:24.41\00:21:26.28
just how certain are
you that you've never, ever,
00:21:26.28\00:21:29.02
ever hurt somebody?
00:21:29.02\00:21:30.72
How confident are
you that your actions
00:21:30.72\00:21:33.22
haven't been a major
source of discouragement
00:21:33.22\00:21:35.56
for somebody else?
00:21:35.56\00:21:37.13
How do you know for
sure that somebody out there,
00:21:37.13\00:21:39.76
when they think
back about how hard
00:21:39.76\00:21:41.46
their life has been,
when they're trying to assess
00:21:41.46\00:21:44.43
just where
everything went wrong,
00:21:44.43\00:21:46.40
and how they got
hurt, how sure are you
00:21:46.40\00:21:49.30
that you never come to mind?
00:21:49.30\00:21:51.67
"The Lord looks down from
heaven on the children of man,"
00:21:51.67\00:21:54.31
it tells us in
the Book of Psalms,
00:21:54.31\00:21:56.08
"To see if there
are any who understand
00:21:56.08\00:21:58.41
"who seek after God.
00:21:58.41\00:22:00.32
"They have all turned aside,
00:22:00.32\00:22:01.78
"together they
have become corrupt.
00:22:01.78\00:22:03.62
"There is none who
does good, not even one."
00:22:03.62\00:22:08.59
Can I really
convince myself that my sins
00:22:09.76\00:22:11.93
are less serious
than somebody else's?
00:22:11.93\00:22:14.36
I know the
temptation to think that
00:22:14.36\00:22:16.70
is pretty overwhelming,
and it's easy to point
00:22:16.70\00:22:19.13
to the serial killers and the
architects of the Third Reich
00:22:19.13\00:22:21.94
and say, "At least
I'm not like that."
00:22:21.94\00:22:24.91
But then I'm reminded of
that parable that Jesus told
00:22:24.91\00:22:27.34
about the
Pharisee in the public.
00:22:27.34\00:22:30.45
"Two men went up into
the temple to pray," he said.
00:22:30.45\00:22:33.95
"One, a Pharisee, and
the other, a tax collector.
00:22:33.95\00:22:37.75
"The Pharisee, standing
by himself, prayed thus.
00:22:37.75\00:22:40.36
"'God, I thank you that
I am not like other men,
00:22:40.36\00:22:43.02
"'extortioners,
unjust, adulterers,
00:22:43.02\00:22:46.70
"'or even like
this tax collector.'"
00:22:46.70\00:22:49.23
You know, even the pride we feel
00:22:50.13\00:22:53.13
when we think that our behavior
00:22:53.13\00:22:54.84
isn't quite as bad
as somebody else's,
00:22:54.84\00:22:57.61
well, that
constitutes yet another crime
00:22:57.61\00:23:00.14
against the God of heaven.
00:23:00.14\00:23:01.74
I mean, let's suppose
that the entire human race
00:23:01.74\00:23:04.78
is on a bell curve, and
you've got the righteous life
00:23:04.78\00:23:07.55
of Christ on the
right-hand side of the curve,
00:23:07.55\00:23:11.09
and all the rest of
humanity to the left.
00:23:11.09\00:23:14.06
Where exactly do you
think your dot would be
00:23:14.06\00:23:16.09
on that line?
00:23:16.09\00:23:17.63
Do you really think
that you'd make it up
00:23:17.63\00:23:20.66
out of the bottom
two or five percent?
00:23:20.66\00:23:23.93
Am I so far ahead
of the guy on death row
00:23:25.07\00:23:27.34
that I'd be able
to see a difference
00:23:27.34\00:23:29.00
from the perspective of heaven?
00:23:29.00\00:23:30.64
From what I've read in
this book, I'm guessing no.
00:23:31.94\00:23:33.94
And just imagine
the pain God must feel
00:23:33.94\00:23:36.04
when he sees the collective
pain that you and I have caused,
00:23:36.04\00:23:39.78
when he sees the
tear-soaked pillows
00:23:39.78\00:23:41.48
of the people we've hurt.
00:23:41.48\00:23:43.45
You and I get justifiably angry
00:23:43.45\00:23:45.75
when we see
somebody hurt our children.
00:23:45.75\00:23:48.22
How exactly would you
expect a loving God to feel
00:23:48.22\00:23:51.19
in the same situation,
when you and I level hatred
00:23:51.19\00:23:54.96
against each other?
00:23:54.96\00:23:56.70
I'll be right back after this.
00:23:56.70\00:23:59.33
[soft music]
00:23:59.33\00:24:02.04
[soft tense music]
00:24:02.04\00:24:03.30
- [Announcer 3] Dragons,
beasts, cryptic statues.
00:24:03.30\00:24:07.11
Bible prophecy can be
incredibly vivid, and confusing.
00:24:07.11\00:24:11.71
If you've ever read
Daniel or Revelation
00:24:11.71\00:24:13.92
and come away scratching
your head, you're not alone.
00:24:13.92\00:24:16.95
Our free Focus
on Prophecy guides
00:24:16.95\00:24:19.35
are designed to help you unlock
the mysteries of the Bible
00:24:19.35\00:24:22.12
and deepen your
understanding of God's plan
00:24:22.12\00:24:24.56
for you and our world.
00:24:24.56\00:24:26.19
Study online, or
request them by mail,
00:24:26.19\00:24:28.63
and start bringing
prophecy into focus today.
00:24:28.63\00:24:32.30
- Okay, let me tell
you what I'm not saying,
00:24:32.30\00:24:34.60
just so I'm
perfectly clear and don't get
00:24:34.60\00:24:36.60
a bunch of letters.
00:24:36.60\00:24:38.17
I really do think
there's a world of difference
00:24:38.17\00:24:40.88
between what somebody
like John Wayne Gacy did
00:24:40.88\00:24:44.38
and what most of you
do, at least, I hope so.
00:24:44.38\00:24:47.55
Is there a moral difference
between killing somebody
00:24:47.55\00:24:50.32
for the sake of entertainment
and say, I don't know,
00:24:50.32\00:24:53.46
taking a pen home from
work, or cheating on your taxes?
00:24:53.46\00:24:57.13
Yeah, probably.
00:24:57.13\00:24:59.33
But all of us,
absolutely all of us,
00:24:59.33\00:25:02.23
are part of the problem,
00:25:02.23\00:25:03.97
and we're
fortunate that God's wrath
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against the pain and
suffering we've caused
00:25:06.07\00:25:08.00
is tempered by his
unbelievable love and mercy.
00:25:08.00\00:25:12.67
One of my very
favorite statements in the Bible
00:25:12.67\00:25:14.91
comes from
Peter's Second Letter,
00:25:14.91\00:25:16.71
where he's talking
about the line in the sand
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that God has drawn,
the line where he finally
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brings it all to an
end, because he cannot stand
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the suffering, and
he reveals the reason
00:25:26.05\00:25:28.69
that God has not yet
started to systematically remove
00:25:28.69\00:25:31.59
everything that's evil.
00:25:31.59\00:25:33.60
Not yet.
00:25:33.60\00:25:34.73
Just listen to what he writes.
00:25:34.73\00:25:36.80
"The Lord is not slow
to fulfill his promise
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"as some count slowness,
but is patient towards you,
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"not wishing that
any should perish,
00:25:43.67\00:25:45.47
"but that all
should reach repentance."
00:25:45.47\00:25:48.54
That statement, if
you think about it,
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it's really almost
beyond all comprehension.
00:25:51.18\00:25:54.35
If you would take the
time to read this whole book,
00:25:54.35\00:25:57.42
you'd discover that God
has actually figured out
00:25:57.42\00:25:59.49
how to stop evil without
having necessarily to lose you.
00:25:59.49\00:26:04.56
God really can
be perfectly just,
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and perfectly
merciful, at the very same time.
00:26:08.46\00:26:12.47
But us, you and
me, on the other hand,
00:26:12.47\00:26:14.87
we haven't even gotten close,
00:26:14.87\00:26:17.11
because when we get mad,
00:26:17.11\00:26:19.44
it's usually not
righteous indignation.
00:26:19.44\00:26:22.11
In fact, that's pretty rare.
00:26:22.11\00:26:24.55
It does happen,
there is such a thing,
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but not most of the time,
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and we all kinda know that.
00:26:29.15\00:26:30.52
We all kinda know
what we're made of
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if we're honest for a moment.
00:26:32.85\00:26:34.96
[soft music]
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So, how could I
learn to be angry
00:26:36.06\00:26:38.13
and not sin at
the very same time?
00:26:38.13\00:26:40.96
Maybe the answer is here.
00:26:40.96\00:26:43.26
Maybe the
answer is understanding
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the patience of God with me.
00:26:44.90\00:26:47.50
Maybe the answer is this thought
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found in the 103rd Psalm.
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Here's what that says.
00:26:52.07\00:26:53.68
"The Lord is
merciful and gracious,
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"slow to anger and
abounding in steadfast love.
00:26:56.01\00:26:59.08
"He will not always
chide, nor will he keep
00:26:59.08\00:27:01.08
"his anger forever.
00:27:01.08\00:27:02.68
"He does not deal with
us according to our sins,
00:27:02.68\00:27:05.05
"nor repay us
according to our inequities,
00:27:05.05\00:27:08.39
"for as high as the
heavens are above the earth,
00:27:08.39\00:27:10.83
"so great is his
steadfast love toward those
00:27:10.83\00:27:13.96
"who fear him."
00:27:13.96\00:27:15.13
For if you forgive
others their trespasses,
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Jesus taught during
the sermon on the mount,
00:27:18.23\00:27:20.67
your heavenly father
will also forgive you.
00:27:20.67\00:27:24.21
Now that kinda puts it all
in perspective, doesn't it?
00:27:24.21\00:27:27.21
Personally, I'm pretty
sure I've got as much reason
00:27:27.21\00:27:29.68
to be sorry as I do
to be mad in this world,
00:27:29.68\00:27:32.68
and I'm guessing that's
probably true for you, too.
00:27:32.68\00:27:35.38
How to conquer
anger, focus on Christ.
00:27:36.42\00:27:39.75
How to understand
God's anger, focus on Christ.
00:27:39.75\00:27:42.99
At the foot of the
cross, it's gonna start
00:27:42.99\00:27:45.19
to make a lot of sense.
00:27:45.19\00:27:47.30
Thanks for joining me today.
00:27:47.30\00:27:48.76
I'm Shawn Boonstra.
00:27:48.76\00:27:50.17
You've been watching
another episode of "Authentic".
00:27:50.17\00:27:54.07
[soft pensive music]
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[soft pensive music continues]
00:28:06.68\00:28:10.69
[soft pensive music continues]
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