Friday, August 13, 2010

Is God Fair?

This Sunday as part of our Survivor: Old Testament message series here at Grace Church in Lititz, PA, we will be looking at the story of Achan from Joshua 7-8. In a ntushell here is the story:

Achan is a soldier in the army of Israel. When Israel defeats Jericho they are forbidden by God to take anything in the city for themselves. Achan takes a garment, some gold and some silver in spite of the prohibition and buries them in his tent. As a result, God's anger burns against Israel and they lose the next battle in which 36 of their soldiers are killed. God identifies to Joshua the problem and ultimately singles out Achan as the culprit. In the end Achan and his children are stoned to death. Now let's think about this story:

One man, Achan, sins but God is angry with the entire nation. How fair is that?

One man, Achan, sins but God punishes all of Israel with a devestating military defeat? How fair is that?

One man, Achan, sins but God punishes Israel with 36 of their soldiers being killed leaving 36 grieving widows in Israel. How fair is that?

One man, Acahn, sins by stealing some items and he gets stoned to death as a punishment. How fair is that?

One man, Achan, sins but his children are stoned right along with him. How fair is that?

Is God fair? Don't miss the message this Sunday. If you can't be with us live and in person you can watch the live feed of our 10am service (PA time) on the internet at the link below:

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