GOD - ANGRY PUNISHER OR GREAT SAVIOR?

Does God enjoy punishing people? Is it so, that God is always ready to send a tornado or an earthquake or some type of disaster in order to send a message to a city or a country? Or is God able to speak to us in a more excellent way? Does he have to send catastrophes for us to catch his message? Or is God longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9)? Or is God so bitter and mad over the "stupid people he himself created"? Is he so bored and restless, that he has to send some earthquakes every now and then to make people repent? Or is it the goodness of God that leads to repentance (Rom. 2:4)?

I ask these questions in order to put doctrine into perspective, because I've heard so many ministers talk about the judgement of God and there are so many views of it, but let's open our eyes to the gospel! IS GOD THE GREAT PUNISHER, OR IS HE THE GREAT SAVIOR?

Yes God is holy, he can’t stand to see how sin is destroying people, but that’s why he took the punishment on himself. The consequences of sin was put on him instead of us because he didn’t want to see us suffer the consequences of sin! Some people think that God is so holy that he must punish, but I would say that God is so holy that he must save! As humans, the only thing we can do when someone is rebellious is to punish. A police officer punishes with fines and prisons, a parent can say "you're grounded", but God make things right. God could have punished us for our sin, but that wouldn’t have set us free from sin - so he took our sin. He could have punished us, instead he gave us unmerited favor - grace! He could have shut us off, but he loved us. The reason he created us humans, was to express his love, so what would it help him to punish us when we did wrong? It wouldn’t bring us closer to him, but in fear we would run away from him instead. Adam and Eve ran away from God, but God showed us that his loved reaches out to us even in our sinfulness. He doesn’t kick us out in his anger, he draws us closer to him in his love (Jer. 31:3).

CATASTROPHES - GOD'S JUDGEMENT?

Some people claim to be God’s spokesmen and they speak out when a tornado hits the U.S. and boldly confess that it was God’s judgement over a city or a state. We must be careful to say that God sends catastrophes here and there. If you think about it, America have more tornadoes than the rest of the world, and if tornadoes would be God’s instrument for punishment, why would the tornadoes hit America? Is Americans worse sinners than the entire world, or could it be so that America is located where tornadoes tend to hit because of weather? If tornadoes would be God’s judgement over a city, what about all true believers that suffers due to the tornadoes? Would God do that to his people, or does God want you to rejoice and be glad in his salvation (Ps. 35:9)? Could it really be so that God sends catastrophes here and there when Jesus said that the thief kills, but he gives life in abundance?

Over 1,000 tornadoes occur each year in the US, which means that the U.S. produces 75% of the tornadoes worldwide.

Let me ask you a question:

If tornadoes would be God’s judgement, does this mean that the U.S. is 75% more wicked than the rest of the world?

WHAT ABOUT? Maybe you say “what about Noah?, didn’t God send that flood?" You’re right, he did send a flood, but also keep in mind that Noah and his family was the only ones that was righteous and the rest of the world were wicked. God don’t send a catastrophe as soon as a wicked event takes place in town, God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love (Ps. 103:8). God is merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands (Ex. 34:6-7). If God would use a catastrophe to judge a “particularly wicked city”, what about all the other cities that has never had any catastrophes? We as believers seems to be experts to pick out places and people that are "more sinful than others". Who are we to judge who is more sinful or not, it's God that searches and knows our hearts! “Well, what about Sodom and Gomorrah? Didn’t God send judgement?” You’re right, but keep in mind that Lot and his family were the only ones that was righteous. God didn’t send judgement until there was but one family left, that loved him. Though Lot’s daughters made incest with Lot, and Lot’s wife still had love for the wicked city and looked back. And the purpose of the judgement was to save humanity from the great wickedness of Sodom. Also keep in mind that this was before Jesus took the sins of the world! “Well, what about Egypt, didn’t God send judgement to them?” You’re right, but he warned the Egyptians several times, and the purpose of the judgement was to save his chosen people! You have to keep in mind, that the people in the old testament, didn’t have the holy spirit, and the only ones that had the law of God was the people of Israel. The wickedness of the world was therefore imaginable! WHAT DID JESUS SAY?

We are so quick to say that God sends catastrophes, but please take a look at Jesus, he rebuked the storms. Wouldn’t it be contradictory for him to rebuke something that his father sent? Obviously Jesus simply defined storms as bad.

Why don’t we just believe what Jesus said “if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.”

Then Jesus went on to say “He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.”J

Jesus clearly stated that the judgement is not for now, but that he in his lovingkindness is giving every person a chance to receive salvation before “the last day”. Judgement is reserved for the last day! The bible says that it’s appointed for every man to die, then judgement… “Well, Jesus said that earthquakes will come” You’re right, but did he say that God was the one that would send the earthquakes? In the same portion of scripture he also said that nation will rise against nation and that the believers would be persecuted. If we believe that the earthquakes in this scripture is sent from God, then the wars would also be sent from God, and on top of that the believers would be persecuted by God himself? Ezek. 33:11 “As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.”