POWER, LOVE, and JUSTICE

   In this post we attempt to define love and justice to each other and try to better understand what they mean for us to be more just and loving, especially when the use of power is involved. Almost everyone has some type and degree of power over another person or persons. 


 The Israelis are more powerful than the Palatines. In most instances they hate each other. How can there be Love/Justice under these circumstances. I contend that a loving and Just act(s) does not depend on the feelings, attitudes, intentions, or states of mind of the actor(s.) Just as there a unintended bad consequences, one can have unintended good consequences. For example if the Israelis and Palestinians refrain from attacking each other and innocents on both sides live to see another day. To me this is good. . Obviously loving and just acts or hateful and unjust acts flow from the mind. An individual or group can mean to do evil to others, but by the power of God the consequences can be good. Even the despicable acts of the Nazis brought about an increased awareness of mans inhumanity to man. Even they evil acts, by the power of God influenced the rulers of earth, for good. In other words, the unintended  good effects of  the use of power.

  The use of power need not involve coercion (force or the threat of force). At one extreme, it more closely resembles what everyday English-speakers call "influence", although some authors make a distinction between power and influence – the means by which power is used (Handy, C. 1993 Understanding Organisations).
 
 
 But the Biblical concept of justice goes beyond fairness and equal treatment. It teaches
that justice begins and ends in God. It is not something humans created or can fully
achieve. When God – who is just in himself – brought the universe into being, he made
it to be a place of justice. Human beings were made to live justly in relation to God, to
each other, and to creation. (Prison Fellowship International; 2007 Restorative Justice Study)

  Even as Einstein said that we should not speak of space and time, but of space-time. So also we should not speak of Love and Justice, but of Love/Justice.  I write the following not only to my readers but also to myself. Love/Justice doesn't say to us if you have a loaf of bread  just give the hungry one fourth or one half. Love/Justice tells us to give them the whole loaf. We give so little of our selves, our time, and our money. I have realized that to a far greater extent, since I can no longer drive. If you want to practice Love-justice find a cause that is greater than you and "your world." Make sure that cause serves the needs of those less fortune than yourself. The world needs is not intended to mean only food, shelter, clothing, etc. It is intended to include spiritual, moral, intellectual, emotional, and decisional. Based on the above statement I believe that every one has something to offer to someone.

  I believe that even as God embodies in himself Love. He also embodies in himself justice. Jesus is the perfect expression of God's perfect justice.
 

 

 

predestination: is God unjust?

  When this post is completed you will still say, yes, but what about this. This post is not intended to answer all of your questions about predestination, I do not even come close to being that wise. The goal is to give an explanation that is different than what the reader may have heard. 


  The Calvinist are convinced that God is absolutely Sovereign, So far so good, I believe that. That does not mean that he could not delegate to us the power of free will, John 10: 34. If your boss delegates authority to you he, normally, will expect you to use it responsibly and if you do not he has the power to take that authorty from you. The Calvinist believe that God choose some, from eternity past, to go to heaven and others to go to hell. If that is true then why does the Bible in John 3: 16 say " For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. That whosoever believes in him might not perish, but have everlasting life." If the Calvinist are right then God is an unjust liar. Then how are we to escape this paradox? 

Romans 8:29 says that those God foreknew, he “also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.” 


   The Bible says "those God foreknew." The predestination is based on his foreknowledge and not on his power to pull the puppet strings. He did not predestined some for heaven and some for hell. We who are saved are predestined "to be conformed to the likeness of his Son." If God is (personifies) love, 1 John 4: 8, then it is reasonable to believe that he also personifies justice. I can not concieve of love without justice. Of course, I am a prisoner of my finite understanding, but to me to predestine a soul to everlasting torment, without giving that soul a chance to repent of its sins, would be an absolute injustice. Please, read and think about the verses that you see below.   

Ephesians 1:5 says that God “predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ.”

Ephesians 1:11 adds that “in him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.”