by Jerry Bangert | Jun 1, 2020 | Articles, Mentors Corner
The Books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon The Books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon comprise the Hebrew wisdom literature and form a unit. As such, they offer deep insights into the biblically legitimate ways to understand both life and the Author of life. This series will examine each book in successive order. JOB The book of Job views life as suffering. All suffer, though in varying degrees. What is the origin and source of pain? People everywhere instinctively associate it with sin, which accords with God’s purposes since He linked sin to pain in the curses of Genesis 3. Sin and pain do not have a one to one correspondence; but by decree God connects the two in our minds and sometimes in our experience. Why would He do that? God’s purposes toward His elect are redemptive rather than punitive. Pain and suffering are not expressions of His wrath. Rather, they are the loving and gracious inventions of God, whose purpose it is to alert us to the presence and danger of sin. Suffering is one of those rare direct conduits to the soul that bypasses reason and goes directly to the soul itself. Suffering is not an intellectual exercise. All of our being is enveloped in a black shroud, all peace is banished, and sense of well-being lost, while the soul endures its dark night. One must be convicted of sin, not pain. But if it is the soul itself that pain targets, what is its intended effect? Pain compels questions and the first question is usually, “What did I...
by Jerry Bangert | Jul 30, 2018 | Articles
THE LOVE OF GOD “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (1 Timothy 1:5) The cruelty of God is more loving than the love of men. If this were not so why do we need an entire Bible to teach us to love? In Christianity there are two “Gods.” The first is God as I wish Him to be and He is simply an extension of myself and He is very easy to love. He thinks and acts like I do but He does not exist except in my imagination. The second and true God is the One who is revealed in scripture and being quite unlike me is much harder to love, not because of a deficiency in Him, but of one in me. He violates my conception of love in a thousand ways and on every page of the Bible from causing calamity (Isaiah 45:5-7) to killing babies who have done no wrong (2 Samuel 12:13-18). And in this and countless other examples He demands that we affirm not just His right but His goodness in all of this. GOD IS LOVE! Love is a seamless garment and can only be defined by Him. Our’s is an all too human love. The commandments are the backbone of what it means to love God and man and when we ignore some of them that we don’t like we rend the garment that is love. The commandment to discipline the body of Christ is illustrative of this(Matthew 18:15-20 & 1 Corinthians 5). To discipline is to...
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