Contemplative Bible Reading

Ezekiel 18:23 (New Living Translation)

Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign Lord. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live.

In our (post post post whatever) modern world, many see God as the big punisher. God is the ultimate big brother who watches when we trip and smacks us. This, as many say, is especially true about that God in the Old Testament—the one encouraging all the invasion, imperialism, and other bad words that begin with the letter “i.”

How did this verse slip in here? The same goes for most of this chapter. The Creator wants persons to shun evil and live happily.

“But,” the post whatever modern person says, “I am happy when I consume vast quantities of pain deadening stuff and engage in vast quantities of pleasure like fill-in-the-blank.”

So, we have an opioid epidemic and several generations of persons in one-parent families. Lots of persons hurt by other persons and all that.

Evil. Happy life. Judgement. Times haven’t changed much in a three thousand years.