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Our God of Love, Mercy, and Justice is an outcome of the God-does-not-kill teaching. This concept is that God Who, in His law, says, "Thou shalt not kill" (KJV), to Himself take life in any way would be totally, unequivocally, contrary to His law and character.
Considering the matter my wife realized that in dealing with the problem much more is involved than merely convincing people that God's justice is not at odds with our perception of justice, but that its dimensions are deeper and higher and broader than we can comprehend.
God is consistent in character, each attribute harmonizing with every other. So love and mercy must be seen in justice, with no disharmony.
Dealing with the problem, it is relatively easy to go through the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy and choose the texts and quotations which "prove" your point of view. Using this approach some have been able to make a strong case for themselves, but what about those texts and statements that do not so easily fit into their frame?
In answer to that question my wife decided she would research, as thoroughly and carefully as she was able, the whole matter of the character of God, "let the chips fall where they may," without drawing any conclusions.
So don't leaf toward the end of the book expecting to find a chapter that brings it all together. It isn't there. Possibly, because of the dimness of our minds and the limits of our information, such a chapter is not possible. So any conclusions you draw, you will have to arrive at for yourself, laying aside, as fully and honestly as possible, all preconceived ideas and approaching the matter with a mind as open as you are capable of having. And perhaps, as we hinted earlier on, you will decide this is one of the mysteries we humans had better not try to solve.
Thomas A. Davis
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