Mercy and Love

Let's start with the dictionary before I get into what mercy and love are.

mercy: compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence

ok, what's forbearance? an abstaining from the enforcement of a right

so, mercy is the compassionate or kindly forbearance of abstaining from the enforcement of a right toward an offender, an enemy or other person in one's power. i don't need to add to this one.

love: a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person well, love is hard to define, so i will add this. love is when what you admire, respect or like in another person outweighs what you dislike, are annoyed by or find contemptable in another person. love is when you find yourself not only willing to sacrifice for another person, but you do it without thinking, and without expecting anything in return.

my dog, for example. he is loyal and sweet and funny. he follows me around looking at me like i am the most wonderful thing he can imagine. he also eats out of the garbage, gets in the way, gets sick and pees (or worse) on the brand new carpet. he fights me when i cut his nails, he fights me when i brush him, and he's a pain in the ass to walk. i could do without all the negative stuff, but i would never get rid of him. i love him. i often don't eat lunch so he can have food, and i have put off my own doctor's visits to take him to the vet. he can't repay me. that's love.

this is why i find it amazing when fundamentalist christians tell me that god is love and mercy and then tell me about all the horrible things god does, and will do, to the people that he loves. you wouldn't believe me if i told you that i loved my dog after i set him on fire. i have to right to give him to the aspca anytime i want, but you wouldn't believe that i loved him if i did that simply so i didn't have to walk him anymore.

you can see why i am an atheist. i'm more inclined to worship my dog. (you can feel free to worship my dog.)

here's what fundamentalist christians think of god's love:

Everyone knows that Christ said that mens love will grow cold in the last days. i didn't know that. got a chapter and verse for me? We have a strong idea that we are in the last days by just looking around us and seeing those around us whose love has grown cold. i haven't noticed a downturn in loving . . . oh, prop 8. that would definitely qualify as "cold". One sign you do not hear hardly ever mentioned but that is in almost every church on every corner is an absolute sign of the days we are in. follow that grammar. i dare you!

That sign is the fact the Church has stopped teaching the judgment of God. Most people in "church" only talk about the wonderful love of God and the Mercy of Christ. Most teach that God would never "judge" does this poster just like quotation marks? i admit, they're quite festive, but really us because he loves everyone. apparently, this poster is a little torqued that god isn't as exclusive as the latest hot NYC club. He wants all to come to the knowledge of Christ and be saved.Yes the Love of God and the Mercy of Christ are wonderful, but the scripture is very clear that they have their limits.

why? god made us the way we are. free will aside, it's his own fault we are the way we are. he made the whole universe in 6 days. if he wanted us to be different, he could make us different. besides, you know that woman who killed her daughter, a little girl named Caylee? her parents are standing behind her. why? because they love her. she did the most awful, terrible, horrifying thing anyone could do, and they still love her. that's what love is. (if they helped her hide it, that's going beyond the exigencies of love, but you can't blame them for loving their daughter.) apparently, god is less capable of love, and his love is far lesser than the love of a human parent.

why am i supposed to worship this person again? oh, yeah, or he'll spank me. what an endorsement.

People in "churches" struggle with the concept of a loving God letting bad things happen. wouldn't any thinking person? A question frequently asked of me is, "How can a loving God allow something like 911 happen and how can he let innocent children die?" good question. possible answers: no god, not omnipotent, no god, not omniscient, no god, god is a sadist.These questions are from churchgoers professing to be Christians! how dare they think and question! true christians don't think, they pray! you think i'm being funny, don't you? This is the lukewarm church of Laodacia if I ever saw it!!

now witness the most amazing cognitive dissonance in the world. it's right up there with, "my husband beats me senseless on a regular basis because he loves me."

God is love but He is not complete without judgment. It's possible that the poster did not mean what he said here. I think the poster meant "He is not completely without judgment", which is entirely different from "he is not complete without judgment." If the poster did mean to say that god is incomplete without judgment, then he is saying that god isn't just love, god is love . . . and judgment.

God DOES HATE! god is love, god IS love, yet god hates. hatred is the most destructive thing of which humans are capable. hatred feeds itself on every good thing in your soul. hatred is corrosive and consuming, and if you let it fester, you will find within yourself nothing else. how do you suppose people end up blowing up office buildings filled with innocent victims?God HATES His enemies and will judge any who choses to directly disobey him. We in the USA are heading for a major Judgment right at our doorstep, so, are we away from home or are we inside our homes and will find it when we get to the front door? and yet our churches are dead silent to it. "to" it, or "on" it? God will be more merciful to Ninevites than to us because of this. god will give more mercy to the Iraqis than to us? Sort of an odd position to take. "You, you don't worship me properly at all, yet I will show you more mercy than those who do worship me properly because . . . well, just because." Most "Christians" in "Churches" just stop with the fucking quotation marks. will be like this

this message board allows for an endless variety of annoying, juvenile smileys. the smiley here is shocked, shocked! or a smiley big john doll.

when they find out that the wrath of God is what is going to destroy the USA, nothing more, nothing less. what would be more than that (at least from our perspective)? Why is he destroying us again? Will the destruction stop exactly at the borders with Mexico and Canada? What about US protectorates such as the Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico? May our churches begin to actually seek the truth and speak it from the pulpit before His wrath comes!!! if his loving, merciful wrath is guaranteed, why bother? but I doubt that it will happen....since their love has truly grown cold... God have mercy on those of us who believe His TRUTH! why are you being punished by your loving, merciful god? this is just so bizarre. if you have 5 children and one of them broke a vase, do you punish all 5 of them severely? of course not. who does that? god, that's who!

kays couldn't agree more: Excellent. I agree so much.

frankly forgiven agreed with a smiley face and: I agree 100%

honestly, I feel like sneaking onto this board and posting things like "whoo! god's loving, merciful vengeance! yeah, wrath!" I was going to say that i'd get kicked off, but i bet nobody would notice the sarcasm.

refocus doesn't seem quite as happy about the loving, merciful wrath: I think we are living on borrowed time in the U.S., but i know there are faithful here. Just read these posts. Keep shining your light! I pray that God will not judge the forgiven, and sanctified, with the rest. Like in Lot's day, may he take us before his wrath comes. didn't someone get turned into a pillar of salt for the enormous sin of turning around? In the meantime, lets stand firm against the enemy's wrath. His time is short, and he knows it. so, satan is the enemy and he is wrathful. god is wrathful. what the hell's the difference? i'm getting wrathed either way.