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There but for the Grace of God

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EKnight:
I am listening to Ray's audio on the sovereignty of God for the second time.  He talks about Sadam and his sons being despicable people and how any one of us could have been them but for the Grace of God.  Okay, I get that, believe that and try to look at people who make me angry and feel hate and say that phrase to myself.  In other words, I am just lucky that I am not that hated person but not because of anything I have done but rather because God did not choose me to be that evil person.  I am good and comfortable with that notion UNTIL I think of one of those evil persons hurting someone I love.  Does that mean I really don't truly feel that way?  I know that if someone hurt someone I love, I would be mighty angry and there is no way the thought 'there but for the Grace of God' would enter my head! 

Eileen

carol v:
I agree Eileen that these things are much easier to accept in the abstract. I think of Daniel Pearl and his wife and parents and hope they didn't have to see his beheading on the internet. And there are a million Daniel Pearls -- sons and daughters dying violently. As a mother, the thought of my sons in this position...well, I would not be saying "but for the grace of God" either.

Ray mentions some things on the tape that are despicable that Sadam and his sons did -- feeding a woman alive to starved dogs...I don't know why evil must be so evil but I accept that God knows better than me. I have no answers for you. I just have prayers that the "sore travail" my sons face in their lifetimes won't have to include this kind of evil.

Carol

David:

--- Quote from: EKnight on May 28, 2008, 08:21:40 PM ---I am listening to Ray's audio on the sovereignty of God for the second time.  He talks about Sadam and his sons being despicable people and how any one of us could have been them but for the Grace of God.  Okay, I get that, believe that and try to look at people who make me angry and feel hate and say that phrase to myself.  In other words, I am just lucky that I am not that hated person but not because of anything I have done but rather because God did not choose me to be that evil person.  I am good and comfortable with that notion UNTIL I think of one of those evil persons hurting someone I love.  Does that mean I really don't truly feel that way?  I know that if someone hurt someone I love, I would be mighty angry and there is no way the thought 'there but for the Grace of God' would enter my head! 

Eileen

--- End quote ---


Hi Eileen. Great post here, and a very emotive subject.
18 months ago, a drunk driver who happened to be actually drinking behind the wheel slammed his car into my youngest brother who was riding his motorbike on the opposite side of the road. He was smashed into a cliff face, air lifted to hospital, but died on the way. He was 37, successful, happily married, had a 7yr old son, very popular in the area he lived in. The guy responsible confessed to consuming over 25 bottles of beer in less than 12 hours after witnesses who were with him gave statements. He got 6 1/5 years in prison. I felt pretty much the same as you are describing for a while.
One day God laid something on me that made me realize that what I was feeling was wrong.
How many times as a foolish young man did I get behind the wheel when maybe I had too much to drink, when I shouldn't have been driving, when I was breaking the law, when the grace of God saw to it that I didn't get caught or have an accident? Many times I'm ashamed to say.
There but for the grace of God, that young man in prison who has the death of my brother on his conciense could well have been me.
God bless you
David.

ellie77:
Many of us have have had experiences where someone we love or ourselves has been hurt on various levels by another.Daily we watch thousands die from starvation,be killed ,starved,kept in the most evil forms of slavery,tortured et.
    'There but for the grace of God go I' stands us in good stead as does forgiveness.I also keep an eye on myself to see if I am offended,that I find is a dreadful taunt and temptation".Being offended."How hard it is.We are to love every one but we can hate the evil they do.
     Hope I have that right.And it is a challenge......Peace Ellie.

Roy Monis:

--- Quote from: ellie77 on May 29, 2008, 04:00:23 AM ---Many of us have have had experiences where someone we love or ourselves has been hurt on various levels by another.Daily we watch thousands die from starvation,be killed ,starved,kept in the most evil forms of slavery,tortured et.
    'There but for the grace of God go I' stands us in good stead as does forgiveness.I also keep an eye on myself to see if I am offended,that I find is a dreadful taunt and temptation".Being offended."How hard it is.We are to love every one but we can hate the evil they do.
     Hope I have that right.And it is a challenge......Peace Ellie.

--- End quote ---

Hi! ellie77 and David.

This is indeed a very interesting thread, but I feel it has to be viewed from two perspectives. One from the perspective of an offender who is guilty of the same offense but not caught; "There by the grace of God go I!" who is in need of forgiveness. And two from the perspective of the offended party who is left with a mountain of emotional trauma which needs to be forgiven.

Everyone is capable of rash, unthinking and cruel outbursts with the tongue or pen; "So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!......But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. (Jas.5,8). And the pen also is a very small item but boasts of power mightier than the sword.

But very few are capable of the necessary compassion and forgiveness to meet God's requirement.

Blessed indeed is the man or woman who is capable of such compassion and forgiveness under such stressful conditions.

God bless you sister in our joint walk in Christ. 

Love in Christ Jesus.

Roy UK     

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