[Worship] Angry God?

Date:

Sep 5 2010 - 10:00am

Location:

Worship Center

Speaker:

Chip Bell

Keywords:

grace
forgiveness
wrath
mercy

Series

Series:

Psalms

Segment:

Angry God?

It’s frightening how much of our theology we get from watching cartoons! The images stain our imagination as if they were drawn with permanent markers: Saint Peter sitting at the Pearly Gates, checking in new arrivals. The Devil in a red suit with pointed tail and pitchfork. God as an old man floating in the clouds, ready to cast bolts of lightning on unsuspecting sinners who step out of line.

When you think about God—when you picture him in your mind—does he wear an angry frown? Many people assume so—especially when it comes to the God of the Old Testament. In fact, many imagine that the loving, forgiving, tolerant God they find in the New Testament is decidedly different than the vengeful, merciless, wrathful God of the Old Testament. Is that true? Did God experience a major personality transformation? Did he decide one day that a “kinder, gentler” deity would probably be more attractive to imperfect human beings who couldn’t help but sin?

Or, maybe we don’t really understand God’s characteristics in either part of the Bible. Grace and judgment seem so opposite. So we find it hard to believe that the God of wrath could also be the God who truly loves. But it probably wouldn’t surprise you to discover that the real God is quite different than the one we see in cartoons.

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