Training Children and Puppies

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6 ESV)

Sluggards do not plow in season; so at harvest time they look but find nothing. (Proverbs 20:4 NIV)

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7 KJV)

Recently my son got a puppy. He trained her to pee and poo in the pee pad. If she did it in the pee pad, she would be rewarded with treat-treat. If she did it outside the pee pad, my son would strike the cane on the floor around her and she would be very frightened.

We all teach our children the same way. We want them to do good and not evil. Then when children grow up, they will realize that the world is not black and white like how they were trained. The world is full of injustice and God "causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45)". It is natural for us to be confused. Even wise philosopher like Lao-zi (老子) also realised that God makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. The just may not be rewarded and the unjust may not be punished. He wrote in his book, Dao De Jing (道德經) in chapter 5 (第五章), "Heaven and Earth are not humane, and treat the myriad creatures as straw dogs; (天地不仁，以萬物為芻狗。)"

Pastors preached to us that "God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap (Galatians 6:7)". Then the Bible told her that God gave the Israelites "the lands of the nations, and they inherited what other peoples had worked for (Psalm 105:44)". So other sowed and the Israelites reaped.

But the Bible tells us that God "is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9)."

Thus the mercy (which is injustice) of God often confuse people when their evil deeds bring prosperity instead of punishment.

Mercy is injustice. Grace is unfair. When all have sinned and some are punished by death in an eternal hell and others obtained mercy by the grace of God and are not punished, God becomes unjust.

for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:45b KJV)

I gave you land you had not worked on, and I gave you towns you did not build - the towns where you are now living. I gave you vineyards and olive groves for food, though you did not plant them. (Joshua 24:13 NLT)

He gave them the lands of the nations, and they inherited what other peoples had worked for. (Psalm 105:44 CSB)

When a crime is not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong. (Ecclesiastes 8:11 NLT)

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9 KJV)

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17 ESV)