Not Judgment Day Yet

I'm sure you might've heard about the buzz around today, May 21st being Judgment Day. And that clearly has not happened. Jesus clearly states in the Bible that we will not know when he returns, only God does. Judgment day will sneak on us like a thief in the night. It's not something that can be predicted, and won't fulfill a prediction on a specific day. The Bible is clear as daylight on that:

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. - Matthew 24:36 (ESV)

Morever, Revelations speaks so much about what the Rapture will be like. Earth and its denizens will be deeply uprooted and put into turmoil by natural disasters and lack of faith. And although we have had numerous devastating natural disasters lately, this is nothing compared to what Revelations goes into detail about.

But more important than anything else is something my Dad was talking about. He heard this from a pretty well-known Christian radio speaker. This man explained in a letter to the people group believing in May 21st as Judgment Day, that though he hoped for Jesus to return and for us to be reunited with him on this day, it isn't how God says it will work. God will give us the ability to discern his son's coming. He will let us know that Jesus is back at the time of his return, because we will be ready and we will know, when other people may not know. As for predicting the day of his return, we will not be able to predict it and it's not our job to try and do it. And just as a good rule of thumb, we should live each day as the last. Because our lives can be taken away at any time and Jesus could return at any time as well.

Bottom line: we cannot ever possibly judge the day when God will judge us. But when it happens, we will know, and for those that are ready, it will be the best feeling of knowing ever.

Love is for Everyone

So, you'd be crazy if you didn't know that Osama Bin Laden died yesterday on May 1, 2011 in the hands of America. Obviously, there's been an enormous buzz on his death and a lot of jubilant celebration, as well as a reminder that the September 11 attack was around a decade ago.

I think it is absolutely reasonable to be happy with the rest of America that the leader, who caused so much pain, has been killed, but a part of me is wondering if that is the right way to respond. You see, I think it's good that "justice has been done", especially if this operation does end up helping disband the organization Bin Laden started, but as Christians we are called to love everyone and be forgiving and hope that people are able to enter Heaven and not face Hell. Here's a quote:

Christians, we never have a reason to rejoice over a soul going to Hell, no matter what they may have done to you or your country. 

- Jonathan Lewis

Now I'm not saying that I take one side over the other, I'm just kind of conflicted. Clearly, Osama Bin Laden was the cause of nearly 3,000 of deaths and his existence thus far would have projected the reason for numerous additional deaths, so it's a great thing that this noxiously powerful and influential man has been killed and hopefully is preventing more deaths. And as much as we should celebrate the justice aspect, I don't want to disregard the fact that Osama Bin Laden is probably in Hell right now and that idea right now is not something I am going to be jubilant over. But I talked to my parents about this, and they kind of concluded that yes, it's sad that he has to go to Hell, but clearly that's the judgment he deserves (and so do the rest of us), but it's because he never believed or trusted in the power and love of Jesus (which is what has redeemed us). And it's unfortunate, but it's reality. But I'd also love to hear what you think about this issue, and comment below.

All in all though, Jesus calls us to love everyone. We need to be forgiving and loving towards everyone no matter who they are and how they have persecuted us. There may be people who go against our beliefs, but we should still show our love towards them. Because our love has no discrimination and no boundaries. It is a love of unconditional high regard. Since that is what Jesus showed us in the first place, unconditional love that overpowers all the hate we've ever expressed and all the sins we've ever committed. He is love.

Sorrow to Salvation

Lately, I have been thinking about the tsunami in Japan a few weeks ago, and how that tragedy fits in with God's plans and God's actions. Also, I was looking back through my journal of devotions notes, and I realized that I wrote about the same verse twice, and I think it's quite fitting for this subject:

"The kind of sorrow God wants makes people change their hearts and lives, this leads to salvation, and you cannot be sorry for that. But the kind of sorrow the world has brings death." - 2 Corinthians 7:10 (NCV)

In essence, I do think that everything happens for a purpose, but whether the event that happened was in God's control or not could go either way, and we can never know. In church today, Professor Kowalski talked about this, and he called it "divine ambiguity". The fact that there are some doctrine things that we are given the benefit of the doubt. Because if we knew everything, we wouldn't need to have faith or place trust in God. And the truth that there are topics that people can take different ways, so that people can uniquely apply it to their lives.

So whether or not God's hand was involved in the earthquake and tsunami in Japan is something we will not be fully sure of while living on this Earth. And maybe God kept another natural disaster from coming somewhere else, but that's something we'd know even less. We could keep questioning and doubting, but that would get us nowhere, because God works on his own time and reveals certain things to us to guide us, but not to drag us. He gives us freedom, but he still actively pursues us!

But the foundation still stands that our world is broken by sin, and we don't deserve anything less than death and hopelessness. When God gave us everything, we turned away from his compassion and the chance to live with him. Our sin creates a barrier with him and with happiness. Luckily, God is compassionate and offers salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. So that even in our sorrows, we can find hope in Jesus' absolute love for us. And because of our sorrows and pain, we may realize that we are nothing without God.

That is what 2 Corinthians 7:10 is saying. God never gives us more than we can handle. He may allow us to go through sorrow, because he knows that in the end it will make us stronger and happier. But he never supports the sorrow or sadness that we feel, those worldly things that nothing good comes out of. Blessings can come out of bad things; and in the end God is not to blame, He is the one to behold.