| God's ways are His own, who can stand against them? When the Israelites were coming into their land, the surrounding countries lived in rebellion to God. Because of this rebellion, and to keep this rebellion from entering into Israel, these countries were utterly destroyed.
Social laws like this are so foreign to our modern world that we can easily misunderstand and fear them. What Christians believe is that Jesus fulfilled all the ancient laws in our place, so we are no longer under those laws. Since we do not live in ancient Israel, all we can do is learn from them about God's character. In this case, I would say that we learn that God is rightous, powerful, and just.
Indeed God is love, but God is not infatuation. What loving parent does not discipline their child?
The bottom line is this: until the perfect government comes (which cannot happen now), the best alternitive is to live in a free land which allows people to make mistakes or prove their worth. This allows for people to prove their character and to freely decide beliefs. As a Christian, this is what I say to fellow Christians who feel that the United States should be a Christian institution.
Note: the perfect government is a benevolent dictatorship where the benevolent dictator has absolute power. the problem is there is no such thing on this earth as a benevolent dictator. but that is a political debate :) |