I know that the old testament speaks significantly on the idea of retribution and it present God in a certain way. Personally, I believe that is because that was what the Israelites needed at that time, and it was the level on which they could relate to God.
But Jesus reveals more about God that they ever understood, and so the people of his time essentially could not reconcile their understanding of God and what Jesus was teaching. New wine in to new skins.
But here is how I view God. He created the universe with responsibility and freedom. These are bound together by accountability. So when evil acts, or people fall in to evil, they are building up a debt that will require accountability at some point. This is the judgment; when accountability arrives and the consequences are paid.
God, loving all, invests himself constantly and historically, at great cost to himself, to hold back that accountability, that judgment from falling.
Rather than retribution, sometimes God simply is unable to hold back, because of his own principles and spiritual laws, that judgment. And when it hits, it hits hard. Not because God is taking retribution, but rather, because He can no longer protect those who rightfully have incurred the debt and created horrible consequences for themselves.
Just my view.
As for those who are complicit and who perpetrate great evil, the judgment is ALWAYS soon than they think. Because they fool themselves in to thinking that they can escape it.
Peter 2 3:8-9
Beloved, do not let this one thing escape your notice: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance
I know that the old testament speaks significantly on the idea of retribution and it present God in a certain way. Personally, I believe that is because that was what the Israelites needed at that time, and it was the level on which they could relate to God.
But Jesus reveals more about God that they ever understood, and so the people of his time essentially could not reconcile their understanding of God and what Jesus was teaching. New wine in to new skins.
But here is how I view God. He created the universe with responsibility and freedom. These are bound together by accountability. So when evil acts, or people fall in to evil, they are building up a debt that will require accountability at some point. This is the judgment; when accountability arrives and the consequences are paid.
God, loving all, invests himself constantly and historically, at great cost to himself, to hold back that accountability, that judgment from falling.
Rather than retribution, sometimes God simply is unable to hold back, because of his own principles and spiritual laws, that judgment. And when it hits, it hits hard. Not because God is taking retribution, but rather, because He can no longer protect those who rightfully have incurred the debt and created horrible consequences for themselves.
Just my view.
As for those who are complicit and who perpetrate great evil, the judgment is ALWAYS soon than they think. Because they fool themselves in to thinking that they can escape it.
Peter 2 3:8-9
Beloved, do not let this one thing escape your notice: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance