Whateverman asks...
God regretted the way he'd created humanity - right?
regret
verb
1.to feel sorrow or remorse for (an act, fault, disappointment, etc.):
He no sooner spoke than he regretted it.
2.to think of with a sense of loss:
to regret one's vanished youth.
The Lord saw that the human beings on the earth were very wicked and that everything they thought about was evil. He was sorry he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, "I will destroy all human beings that I made on the earth. And I will destroy every animal and everything that crawls on the earth and the birds of the air, because I am sorry I have made them." Genesis 6:5-7
Perhaps God did not regret "the way" he made humanity. Rather, the text seems to indicate that God regretted that he had made humanity at all.
What was the cause of God's disappointment? Verse 5 seems to indicate that it was man's choice to be evil that was the disappointment.
Because God is holy (set apart, perfect and pure), God cannot abide wickedness and evil of man.
So the humanity that God created chose evil rather than choosing God's righteousness, and by their own choice, they prevent themselves from being with God.
God has "lost" every one of the people that he created. God is troubled by the great loss of these people. By their own choice, all of these people are already "lost" to God. Even if God allows the people to live, they still cannot be with him. So there is no loss to God if they are all destroyed.
Except that God finds one man, Noah, who chooses God's righteousness.
cf. Isaiah 51
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Perhaps the idea that God was "sorry" is a rudimentary illustration. Perhaps it serves as a picture we can understand, which illustrates an idea which we can not fully comprehend.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Sight
Darmog asks...
Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
The "sight" referred to here is a shadow. What God is concerned with is the condition of your heart. God wants the eyes of your heart opened, so that your heart can have "sight".
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you (Ephesians 1:18 NIV)
We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives (Colossians 1:9 NIV)
Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
The "sight" referred to here is a shadow. What God is concerned with is the condition of your heart. God wants the eyes of your heart opened, so that your heart can have "sight".
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you (Ephesians 1:18 NIV)
We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives (Colossians 1:9 NIV)
Sacrifice
Darmog asks...
When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odour for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbours. They claim the odour is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
Dear Darmog,
There is no need for you to offer burnt sacrifices to the Lord. You are not under the commands of the Old Covenant. God takes no delight in a mechanical sacrifice offered from a false heart.
(See Isaiah 1:4,14-17, Amos 5:21-24)
What pleases the Lord is a clean heart, and the actions that emanate from it.
The sacrifices of the Old Covenant were only a shadow, pointing to the only sufficient sacrifice, done once and for all.
(See e.g. Hebrews 7:27, Hebrews 9:12.)
When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a pleasing odour for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbours. They claim the odour is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
Dear Darmog,
There is no need for you to offer burnt sacrifices to the Lord. You are not under the commands of the Old Covenant. God takes no delight in a mechanical sacrifice offered from a false heart.
(See Isaiah 1:4,14-17, Amos 5:21-24)
What pleases the Lord is a clean heart, and the actions that emanate from it.
The sacrifices of the Old Covenant were only a shadow, pointing to the only sufficient sacrifice, done once and for all.
(See e.g. Hebrews 7:27, Hebrews 9:12.)
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