Tweets - December 21st - Condemnation and Restoration

God condemns according to God's purpose, and whatever God condemns, God restores (unlike this race whose people condemn daily and restore nothing).

Unlike mistakes, bad behavioral patterns do require condemnation - as correction does nothing for people who know the correct things to do and yet refuse to do them.

The condemnation of bad behavioral patterns, depending on the nature of the behavior, are either 1) the natural consequences of such actions, or 2) the enforced inability to continue such actions, or 3) both, until justice and restoration lead to decent behavior (if possible).

This is one of my disagreements with some of the Jewish prophets who both foresaw and witnessed God's devastation:

Israel rejected correction, and therefore, the Jewish prophets considered God's hand against Israel a "punishment" (in the sense of inflicting emotional and physical distress or death because of anger, jealousy and disappointment - from what I gathered in their writings); but ultimately, Israel was treated no differently by God than all the surrounding nations whose people were either slaughtered or dragged off into exile.

This was God's plain message to Israel: "you will receive no good or merciful thing; I have rejected you; you will be treated no differently than anyone else in this world; and I will make sure this message is clear as it is severe, and unmistakable as it is unforgettable."

This wasn't a message for anyone else in any other nation (to them, it was more of the same bad news - though far more personal). To view this as a punishment would be like whipping all 10 of your children with only 1 of them understanding why they were all being whipped.

Children who are often whipped will also have additional cognitive and emotional difficulties in their journey with God, as they will have much to learn and so much to unlearn (speaking from experience).

As for those of us being saved from death, there may be forgiveness, but when justice is required there is no restoration or healing without it (setting right what we set wrong; stopping the foul and harmful things we put in motion).