Does God get mad? The answer to that and other questions on this edition of key life. I am Mike Kellogg and you are now listening to key life where you can find honest answers to honest questions about God's words. Now, here is Steve. Thanks Mike and Pete Alwinson. Are you glad Easter's... You like Easter but it's kind of a breather when it's over for a while. Yeah, sure, but great time of celebrating. That voice belongs to my pastor Pete Alwinson and he comes in generally with me on Fridays because he's a board member and he pays my salary and I need to affirming in every way that I can. But actually the truth is that we are pro church and I want to demonstrate that on this broad gas. We don't mention the name of the church because we're not in a competitive mode and then Pete has tremendous insights and I love him a lot and I'm so glad to have him as a part of this. So, Pete, thanks for coming in. Why don't you and I are going to do this thing? If you've got a question, you've got to write it down. I know I'm tired of it too but I've got to do it. You've got to write it down. Key life, post office box 5,000 made in Florida, 32794 or key life Canada, post office box 32150, Cambridge Ontario in 3H5 in 3. You can email us, Steve at keylife.org and check out our webpage, www.keylife.org. A lot of good stuff there but you can email us but give us your regular mailing address if you want our response and you will get one from nearest staff member in the magazine or on the broad gas. And don't use the 1-800 key life number for questions. You can make a contribution yet a great variety of the free resources that we provide but you've got to write your question down. Pete, why don't you leave us in prayer and then we'll turn to these questions. Oh Lord, we bow our heads in your presence today and we are grateful that we're your daughters and sons that we belong to you. And that we know the one who created all things and that you have recreated us and are in the process of recreating us because of Christ. And so Lord, we come to you today not because we're good and not because we have it all together and not because we don't make mistakes and not because we don't sin. We come to you because we're yours and because of Jesus. And we we long to learn more and to experience you more. Father, we don't just want head knowledge. We want to we want to know the truth but we want to live it and experience you. And so we pray that you would you would meet us. We pray that you would meet us now. We pray that you would meet us this weekend as we gather for worship. And so we want to lift up those who are in positions of spiritual leadership and authority. Our priests, pastors, teachers, the pastoral families that are on the front lines. Lord, support them and encourage them. We pray. And Lord, cause us to worship and to not think about ourselves or the songs, the mode of worship or how it's all structured but to keep Christ central. And so we just give you praise and ask that you would use this time now to answer some questions and use it for your glory. We pray in the strong name of our Savior Jesus. Amen. Pete, this first question is from New Jersey. Does God get manned? I'm sure he does. And the scripture, you know, we've been teaching in the book of Hebrews and he gives the warning to the Christians there and he says listen. Don't ever get into the hands of the living God. He's a consuming fire. And so yes, God gets mad. But how do we phrase that within the context of being his sons and daughters? Does God, let me throw that back at you. Does God ever get mad at his kids? No. I'll tell you, because the theme that I bring up so often is God's not angry at you. And I really believe basically that's what I'm supposed to tell people. I'm talking about Christians. Listen, if you're a pagan and you've been listening to this broadcast and you were flipping across and saying, boy, they're saying dumb things, but they sound reasonably intelligent. And I just want you to know, if you don't know Jesus, I don't believe I do that, man, because God's scary and he's mean and he's angry. And you're at enmity with him, the Bible says, but it's God angry at us. And I say that because that is such a powerful statement to say that God's not angry. But I don't want to make God into this blob who says he's got a long white beard and pathos on the back. I mean, does God has strong views? But because of the imputation of Christ's righteousness to us, how could he ever be angry? There is no condemnation, but there are things that please him and things that don't in terms of what he would like for our lives in the same way a father would treat a child, only a perfect father. But boy, you read some in the Bible, yeah, this is not a blame God. No, no. And older theological statements that God doesn't have any motions or that's ridiculous, just if you read the Bible. But that is so powerful. It's not like with my kids sometimes I lose my temper with them or lose my patience. God is perfect. But you're right. I think you put it so well that sure he is pleased and displeased. Sure. But because of Christ, you never angry with the wrath that's right. Most Christians think he is, by the way. And they experience ups and downs based on that throughout their lives. You know, you were talking about how some of the older confessional statements said that God had no passions, no parts. In fact, our confession suggests that. If you go down that road, I just finished reading a very scholarly presentation from a friend of mine who's a professor of Old Testament at Erskine Seminary, Doug Clover, that was just profound. I didn't understand two-thirds of it. I mean, he uses words I've never heard of, but trying to show that God is a passionate God. That he's a God who's feeling, who has personality, who reacts, who loves, and I think the cross is an example of the tears of God. Absolutely. When you want a father to love you, you want them to not just be neutral, but you want them to really love you. I want to know that God is passionate about me, not that He tolerates me. Love, love is a more passionate thing. So, man, absolutely, that's great. We ought to want that, by the way. We ought to want that to be true of God. So good. And you know, something unreasonable and passionate about His love. And we forget that Erick's been reading Sacred Journey, and he's our producer for this broadcast, and he's just loved it. And I didn't like it at the beginning, but I got into it, and I think you read it. Sacred romance? Sacred romance, I'm sorry. Journey, romance, the deal. I mean, I was close. That's close enough for government work. But the whole idea in that is that we're not relating to a principal. I mean, this is a romance, and this is exciting. So, that's right. Well, nobody asks that question, but they got it. They just ask about anger, but we got off into something else. Let me see. What's the distinction? This is from California. Is there a distinction between center and saint? In California, or I'm from California, so you are. I know you are. As is the cheap shot. When you become a Christian, you are a saint. That's right. You're set apart. You belong to the far. That's what the word means. It doesn't mean that you're protected or religious. It just means that you're set apart into God for a holy purpose. That's right. You were sanctified or set apart, and that's where the big confusion comes in, because some denominations historically have said that a saint means somebody who has attained a particular level of spirituality. That's true. I think that, although I'm not sure, but within the context of Roman Catholic theology, it's the recognition. I don't think there would be a denial that we're all set apart, but the recognition that this is clearly somebody who is a saint, though we may all still be saints do in the sense of the biblical sense. I'll tell you where this question's coming from, because I've read so many letters from so many people that say it. I talk a lot, and you do too about the fact that we're sinners. They say, Steve, don't you emphasize that too much. Shouldn't you emphasize that we're sinners? Yeah, we are sinners, but when you emphasize that, you create a warmology kind of thing. So shouldn't you talk about being a saint and belonging to him and being a sinner moving toward perfection kind of thing? That's generally a good point when somebody says that. Yeah, wasn't it Martin Luther who talked about us being sinner saints? Yeah. And it is true, and the point we're trying to bring out is that we haven't reached Christ's likeness. We're in process. So saint Biblically sanctification is a point and time thing because of Christ and through faith in him. We are set apart, but it's also the process of becoming what we are in fact, and that is what we're Christ's and we're becoming in process like him. It's a long journey though. Yeah, I can see it from here. Listen, this is an email. We probably should have dealt with this on Good Friday or Ice Friday, but how did Judas die? It seems there are two different versions of his death. Yeah, one version is the, it sounds like he hung himself and the other is that his, he threw himself off a cliff and his innards still down all over the place, either both of which are messy, but I think which is pretty graphic for a family audience here. I know, I know. Go ahead, but I don't you love the Bible. Yeah, go ahead. So how do you reconcile it? You know, I remember wrestling with this long time ago thinking here I found my first contradiction in the Bible, but I think the best solution is to see that the author saw two sides of the same thing. Judas hung himself and as he hung there, whether it was immediately or whether it was sometime after that his body came apart and crashed and broke apart on the rocks below. And I think that's, that to me is sort of the best explanation for what, what do you think? Remember when we were brought up this question, we go, we don't discuss in detail. I said to you, do you have an answer to this? Because I remember I had an answer one day by my old guy and I forget to ask him. So I find your answer intellectually satisfying. All right, well, this is from Maine. Are we as Christians supposed to be constant witnesses to Christ? And it's so how? Yes, what is the church sign say witness continually if necessary use words? Yeah, one of the churches in our area. I don't know who the pastor is there, but we have this Methodist church that has a marquee. Yeah. And man, there've been times when I've been driving by there. And that's just what I needed. Yeah. It irritates me as a Presbyterian, but I may just go in there and meet that Methodist pastor. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Do we not witness and we're running out of time here, but do we not witness just by being, I mean, the Holy Spirit is part of who we are? We don't have to run around saying I'm my witnessing added with the being what you are. Yeah, that's right. I think that's a big part of it. And then there's time for words as well. And there's times to figure out creative ways to get people into this spiritual, preventive, oriented discussions, but that's for another time. Okay, we're out of here. But first I must say key life is a list news supported production of key life network.