The writer then goes on to discuss the main character of the HBO series, “The Sopranos.”
“The HBO hit is a
portrait of damnation freely chosen: Chase made audiences
freely
love Tony Soprano, and then made us watch as the mob boss traveled
so
deep into iniquity – refusing every opportunity to turn back – that it was hard
to
imagine him ever coming out.”
“The
Sopranos never suggested that Tony was beyond forgiveness, But, by the
end,
it suggested that he was beyond ever genuinely asking for it.”
The
thought-provoking editorial ends with the question, “Is Tony Soprano really in
heaven?”
Along this
same line, how about Adolph Hitler, Osama bin Laden, and all of the countless
other tyrants and terrorists this world has known? The editorial implies that many want to make
God seem more human or humane, but think about the implication. Do we want a God who is as bad, guilty, and unjust
as the rest of us?
Actually,
there is such a “god” – one who is described in the Bible as “the god of this
world,” but you may know him by the name
/ title Lucifer, Satan, the devil. The
Apostle Paul reminds believers in Jesus of their former condition before they
chose to believe in Jesus:
Once you were dead
because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used
to live in sin, just like the rest of the
world, obeying the devil—the commander of powers
.in the unseen world.
He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey
God. All of us used to live that way, following
the passionate desires and inclinations
of
our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone
else. Ephesians 2:1-3 New Living
Translation
No, we do not
need a god who is more human / humane.
We need a God who is able to make humans divine:
For God in all his
fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God
reconciled everything
to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven
and on earth by means of
Christ’s blood on the cross. This
includes you who
were once far away from God.
You were his enemies, separated from him by
your evil thoughts and actions. Yet
now he has reconciled you to himself
through the death of Christ in his physical
body. As a result, he has brought
you into his own
presence, and you are holy
and blameless as you stand
before him without a single fault.
Colossians
1:19-22 New Living Translation
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