I wonder if we can be honest & say what we believe about God 'judging' people? Do we still believe it? If so, how much? In the Family we were taught that every dropped dish, every sniffy nose, every sprained ankle was God either trying to get through to us or judging us because he couldn't get through to us. Or worse yet, if our kids got sick it was God having to resort to punishing our kids to get through to us because our hearts were so damned hard.
In the GNs Berg told us to pray for God to judge our enemies and then to send in any newsclippings about evil things happening to them to encourage everyone's faith.
It was drummed into us over and over again to read "God's dealings" into every tiny incident. You fell down and bruised your elbow and, brother or sister, if you actually had to get it in a visible cast, you can be very sure you'd be up in front of the Home explaining to everyone what God was trying to "speak" to you. And then you'd glance over at your shepherd to see if he/she approved of your lessons, and if he/she did, you got the nod. If not, there would be a comment like, "This is a pretty serious incident so you need to dig deeper."
Our God was a harsh, judgmental deity with a club of vindictiveness constantly raised over the snowy-white hairs of his head. And come to think of it ... hmmmm, the Family "God" sure does bear a striking resemblance to Grandpa. His anger, his jealousy, his rage, his judgmental attitude. Yup! God was constantly judging us, and sickness was the clearest litmus test.
The only exception was so laughably hypocritical that it was a joke. Your kid caught a cold it was God "dealing" with you and "teaching you lessons." But get STDs? These things happen. Catch gonnoreah? No big deal. Occupational hazard. Got herpes? Hey, welcome to the Herpes Camp! Here's a list of your new sharing partners.
You ask me it sounds like straining at gnats and swallowing camels.
Anyway, any thoughts on this?