Fire, brimstone demonstrate God's power to defend good, pope says

Published: 2004-01-28

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- God's symbolic arsenal of fire and brimstone is not primarily meant to sow fear, but to assure those striving for good that God is on their side, Pope John Paul II said. "The Lord is not a remote king, closed in his gilded world, but a vigilant presence taking the side of the good and of justice," the pope said Jan. 28 at his weekly general audience. "He sees and provides, intervening with his word and his action," the pope said. Focusing his remarks on Psalm 11, the pope said believers draw hope from the psalm's assurance that "the Lord is just; he loves just deeds." Used in the church's evening prayer, the psalm asserts that God actively takes the side of believers when they "feel alone or powerless in the face of evil," and that God is moved to action when "the just social order" is threatened.

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