Mercy is what God does for us. Mercy discounts the economic sense of love and faith and care for a person and lives out of a divine sense of love instead. Mercy gives a human being who does not "deserve" love, love. And why? Because, the Scriptures answer, God know of what we are made.
The fact is that we are all made of the same thing: clay, the dust of the earth, the frail, fragile, shapeless thing from which we come and to which we will all return some day. We are all capable of the same things. Our only hope is that when we are all sitting somewhere bereft, exposed, outcast, humiliated and rejected by the rest of society, someone, somewhere will "reach out a hand and lift us up."
Mercy is the trait of those who realize their own weakness enough to be kind to those who are struggling with theirs. It is, as well, the measure of the God-life in us.
Beware those who show no mercy. They are dangerous people because they have either not faced themselves or are lying to themselves about what they find there. "We are all sinners," we say, and then smile the words away. But the essayist Montaigne was clear about it: "There is no one so good," he wrote, "who, were they to submit all their thoughts and actions to the laws, would not deserve hanging ten times in life."
It is our very weaknesses that enable us to understand the power, the necessity of mercy.
The Sufi mystic Mishkat al-Masabaih reminds us, when we are overwhelmed by our own inadequacies, our own diversions from the straight paths of life, that the mercy of God is always greater than the sin of being too humanly human. He writes:
She who approaches near to Me one span, I will approach near to her one cubit; and she who approaches near to Me one cubit, I will approach near to her one fathom; and whoever approaches Me walking, I will come to her running; and she who meets Me with sins equivalent to the whole world, I will greet her with forgiveness equal to it.
The mercy we show to others is what assures us that we do not need to worry about being perfect ourselves. All we really need to do is to make the effort to be the best we can be, knowing we will often fail. Then, the mercy of others, the mercy of God is certain for us, as well. "The only thing we can offer to God of value," St. Catherine of Siena said, "is to give our love to people as unworthy of it as we are of God's love."
This post is adapted from my book God's Tender Mercy: Reflections on Forgiveness (Twenty-Third Publications).
Therefore God can only be merciful and just by eternal damnation of every sinner. The severity of the punishment for breaking a law is always a reflection of the lawmaker's estimate of the value of the law. God estimates the value of a relationship with Him to be such that to live selfishly can only be rewarded with an eternal punishment.
The commitment of the will to self is renewed evergreen by the sinner, so that if God were to evaluate that lost soul in 10 trillion millenniums, He would conclude that the Divine justice of eternal misery and suffering is more valid that day than the first day.
But God is not the tormentor in Hell. The Devil and his demons torment the lost.
God is love
... God planned to kill Adam & Eve for pinching fruit, but showed mercy and just kicked them out of the garden and guilt tripped their descendants.
... God had the entire earth killed in a flood but showed mercy to Noah and his family.
... God told Abraham to kill his son, but showed mercy and let him kill a ram instead.
... God was planning to send you to hell because Adam sinned, but showed mercy and just had his son Jesus tortured instead.
God's mercy is seriously overrated in his holy book.
sorry sister but we are eternally innocent.
now that is a huge paradigm shift for a religious person. huge.
now being innocent does not mean we do not suffer for out mistakes due to our selfishness.
but without that karma there is no advancement and therefore no dynamic aspect to the vitality that most call God.
the adam and eve story actually gives some hints to this but it has been corrupted by human minds over the many years.
think deeply sister about your inner self and you will find that God you are looking for.
right there all the time from within.
when you find that "god" within you will see clearly that enternal innocence.
as mark twain stated god made man in his image and then man returned the favor. :-)
the word god has been given so many human traits and baggage no airline in the world would book god on a flight. :-)
That's a beautiful idea?
"Social policy that does not foster kindness and mercy is just profane."
The idea that all of our fellow humans are "unworthy" is just profane!
but Adam Eve accept the devil, the great deceiver like men do to day spin and twist God's word. To make all think it will be good good for them To get all to accept what they are selling. Lies, twist and spin. They instill fear, I will protect you. The one to fear, is the fear monger themselves. The devil did the same thing to God, did he not? The Devil falsely accused God of being a liar, not good for Adam and Eve right? Made up lies about God right?
God created everything, according to your mythology. So God is responsible for everything that happens. The devil is god's creation. Do you wonder why God would create the devil if He is good?
Your myths are just nonsense.
God gives Grace, we cannot earn God"s Grace. God gives us His Grace, God sent his Grace, freely, His most precious son, Jesus Christ, a man of no sin, became Sin, for us. Christ paid the debt of all our crimes, our sins. We all broke God's Laws. Sinners cannot save sinners can they?
Christ made us all Righteous to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Christ Willed us our inheritance, Christ most richest Treasure, wealth, Christ prosperity, was Christ Righteousness, Christ Peace. Christ Wealth, His Treasure, was His Peace.
God's Grace was Christ, gave us all freely, made us all - Righteousness. Christ said to the devil, on the cross. Jesus said. Oh Death, Oh Death, Where art thy Sting? Meaning Now?
Peace keeps what Grace Gives. Christ will be High Priest Forever over God's Church, his family, God's children.
Christ taught us the Lord Prayer, It begins with Our Father. We are all God's children, everyone on earth. Can accept God's Grace, and Christ Peace, or reject it. God forces no on, but now no matter what faith , church, religion etc. We are all in the Hands of God, for God accepted everyone. Christ said. It is finished once and for All. All means All.
Christ said Peace I give to you, my peace -I Will-(our inheritance) to you. I give not has the world gives peace. Peace the world does not understand. Love all
Romans 9:18 "God has Mercy on whom God wants to have Mercy, and God hardens the heart of those God wants to harden." vs. 21 "God has the right, out of a lump of clay, to make one person honorable and one dishonorable."
The dishonorable (Cain/Esau) will use thier physical efforts to lie, cheat, steal and harm the honorable. This will cause the honorable to humble themselves, forgive and be merciful.
The bible paints God as a psychotic, sadistic bully capable of the worst perpetration of war, killing, evilness and vindictiveness. I see no mercy or love in this god at all. Only the indoctrinated blind can come to that conclusion. Does anyone need a diagram? The NT is full of flaws and fairytales as well, no better than its predecessor. Written by ignorant men to control the hearts and minds of people who knew even less than the authors did.
The fact that this continues to hold sway today in the 21st century is mind-boggling. When does humankind wake up to reality? The world would be a much better place if they did. Our world has millions of suffering people that this wonderful God has totally ignored. Even innocent children are not immune to the horrors of starvation, lack of care, horrible diseases, none of which this “merciful God” has seen fit to help.
When I read drivel like this "Mercy is what god does for us" manure I am in total amazement, where exactly do these people get this belief from?
I mean there is NOTHING in any religious text that could even remotely lead someone sane to believe this.
The only answer I can come up with is it has to be a massive and severe case of Stockholm Syndrome, it is the only thing that fits.
http://www.devilzown.com/psychosisreligion.html
As far as the Bible goes, if you look at it as a narrative, clearly it traces out the psychosocial development of that particular culture over hundreds, if not thousands of years. There is a clear narrative arc from the days of human sacrifice to a punitive god (Abraham and Isaac), to the days of self-sacrifice by a merciful god in the form of his earthly incarnation in Jesus. You don't have to "believe" any of that (continued below)