Guilt, that nagging feeling on the inside, is something with which everyone is quite familiar. It doesn’t discriminate on the basis of race, gender or culture. It starts working in us from a very young age and never lets up our entire lives. We are wired with it, like animal instinct. Its universality actually betrays its divine origin. God has programmed every heart with His moral law. Paul wrote,

For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus (Rom. 2:14-16).

In my article last month, The Limits of God’s Grace, I tried to show how God’s grace is frequently presented in such a manner that it nullifies the numerous scriptures that clearly speak of the absolute necessity of holiness if one is to ultimately gain entrance into heaven. Those scriptures are too often ignored in favor of those that emphasize that eternal life is a gift or that salvation is by grace. We would be wise, however, not to ignore anything God has said, especially in so weighty a matter as salvation. If our interpretation of one verse plainly contradicts many other verses, something is wrong with our interpretation. We should, therefore, be diligent to find an understanding of salvation that harmonizes with every scripture on the subject.

I recently received correspondence from someone who noticed an apparent contradiction between Jesus and Paul regarding this very issue. Jesus seemingly emphasized that only obedient people will inherit eternal life, whereas Paul seemed to emphasize that salvation was by grace through faith. Who should be trusted? this person asked.

Perhaps no biblical story better illustrates the grace that God offers—the true grace—than that of Jesus’ encounter with the woman who was caught in the act of adultery. Bringing her before Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees reminded Him that, according to the Law of Moses, she deserved to be stoned. In that regard they were correct:

If there is a man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, one who commits adultery with his friend’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death (Lev. 20:10).

The scribes and Pharisees erred, however, by at least two other measures.

Everyone around the world who believes in God (or gods), whether Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist or something else, seems to be asking the same question— Why? Why did God decree or permit a tsunami (and it must be one or the other, as there are no other possibilities for those who believe in an all-powerful God) to take the lives of well over 226,000 people in eleven nations? I’d like to make an attempt to answer that question as a Christian.

First, if you are among the very small percentage of people who believe that God was not powerful enough to prevent or stop the tsunami, then I hope you believe that God is at least powerful enough to be able to warn people of a coming tsunami in order to prevent their deaths. It is a well-publicized fact that very few animals perished in the recent tsunami, even in large game parks full of wildlife that were flooded inland for miles. In light of this fact, the deaths of tens of thousands of humans speak volumes. God spared animals but allowed multitudes of people to die. Scientists are wondering at the animals’ demonstration of their “sixth sense.” Whatever it was that warned the animals of the coming waves, God gave it to them, just as He gave them so many other unexplainable instincts. God could have prevented any human deaths just as easily.