{"id":5670,"date":"2019-10-17T03:04:19","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T03:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/?p=5670"},"modified":"2019-10-17T03:04:19","modified_gmt":"2019-10-17T03:04:19","slug":"is-god-like-an-unjust-judge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/?p=5670","title":{"rendered":"Is God like an unjust judge?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bibleserver.com\/text\/ESV\/Luke18%3A1-8\" class=\"bibleserver extern\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luke 18:1-8<\/a> \u00a0presents, when thoroughly examined, a number of interpretations depending on our context we interpret the parable as we read it.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Given that, I\u2019d like to highlight just one important interpretation that warrants reflection on our part. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>That is, <b>\u2018God <\/b><b>is not<\/b><b> an unjust God\u2019<\/b>. It could be easy to conclude that the parable makes a comparison between the God and the judge. Indeed I think many of us feel that God is unjust and unhearing and this parable might strengthen our position. Yet that is not its intent. Rather its intent is mirrored in an earlier reflection on prayer (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bibleserver.com\/text\/ESV\/Luke11%3A13\" class=\"bibleserver extern\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luke 11:13<\/a>) \u201cIf you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><i> how much more<\/i> will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Ps David Lose says \u2026<br \/>\n<i>&#8220;If even the most unjust of judges will finally relent to the ceaseless petitions of a defenceless widow, then <\/i><b><i>how much more will God<\/i><\/b><i> \u2013 who is, after all, a good judge \u2013 answer your prayers!&#8221;<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The way I understand Jesus intent in telling the parable of the unjust judge is not so to compare God with an unjust but to draw a contrast between the unjust judge and God and us and the widow. The point I believe is to illustrate the true nature of God and the ease with which we can connect to Him through prayer. What we need to assimilate into our thinking is the truth the \u2018goodness of God\u2019 and \u2018God\u2019s eagerness to bless\u2019. That will change the way we pray \u2013 those of use reluctant to pray and petition God find new freedom and confidence to pray without ceasing confident of God\u2019s desire to respond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Luke 18:1-8 \u00a0presents, when thoroughly examined, a number of interpretations depending on our context we interpret the parable as we read it.\u00a0 Given that, I\u2019d like to highlight just one [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,71,45,13,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-good-news","category-kingdom","category-mindset","category-prayer","category-theology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5670"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5671,"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5670\/revisions\/5671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cassowary.unitingchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}