Christianity

TEXT: Luke 6:37-38; Romans 8:1-6

As we continue our travels through the Apostles' Creed, we come to a rather squirmy line: "From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead." Thinking about the judgment passages of Scripture is not an easy way to pass the morning, but I think we have made them much worse than they need to be. The doctrines surrounding God's judgment of the earth have been some of the most misused in Christian history, and unfortunately we don't have to go back very far in history to see that such abuse continues in modern culture.

Like all other blessings, which are our portion in this world, civil freedom is liable to gross perversion and abuse.  It is the nature of man to be dissatisfied with present advantages and to seek for those which are ideal; or which are incompatible with social and moral obligation...Without the restrictions of law and government, this important boon would become the scourge of mankind; and the world would be converted into a theatre of violence and blood.                                              --Alden Bradford, 1804