To be near unto God - pagina 459

God who allows it; but we can submit to this. But that God himself inflicts this in sickness, and by means of cruel death, is and remains at this viewpoint a stumbling block which one can not get over, and which has killed much rootless faith. What accounts for this, save that God's thoughts are entirely different from our thoughts, and that instead of accustoming ourselves to his plan, we stubbornly maintain our interpretation of suffering in opposition to him.

With God, individual retribution is connected with the last judgment, and not with sentence passed by an earthly judge, and far less still with suffering, which he brings upon us. According to the teaching of Scripture, sin is no evil that cleaves to single individuals, but a poison that has entered into our whole race. The creation of man was not individual, but in it was created a race, all mankind, which, in all ages and among all nations forms one whole. Not a large number of people that only afterwards by laws and other w^ays are counted as one whole, but our human race; from which individuals proceed, and to which they belong as twigs and leaves to a tree. And to save the race of man which he created, God brought suffering into the world of men, as an antidote for the poison of sin. With him suffering is a cup of sacred medicine which he administers not to the individual person, but to our race, in order to counteract the poison of sin. And now he selects priests and priestesses who are called of him, to administer 'the sacrament of 455

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen