In the original greek text, the words 'everyone else' doesn't exist.
None the less, the word love is not phileo - to have affection for. It is the word agape. Strong's concordance defines it as, "(agape) is wider, embracing especially the judgment and the deliberate assent of the will as a matter of principle, duty and propriety:" Strong's Greek Dictionary: 5368. phileó
I like to think of the differences as one is to the heart (phileo) where as the other is to the head (agape).
In keeping with the principle of 'love your enemy', 'love all' of 1 Thess. 3:12; it is a call for the Christian to live at a higher standard than those that God has not given His gifts to.
With respects to Tavita's reprinting of the Concise Strong's and Thayer's definitions of 'love'. IMHO, the brevity of the citation fails to grasp the richness of meaning or substance the original greek words agape and phileo represent.
If my son and daughter are playing in the park with the neighbor kids. I open the door and yell 'Dinner's ready'! Do all the children playing at the park hear my voice? Do all the children respond to my call?
The answer to the first 'all' is yes.
The answer to the second 'all' is no.
What I have just done is present a simple analogy of the difference between Sufficient and Efficacious Grace. The desired effect of me calling my children, and no one else, is that they came home for dinner.
Sufficient Grace -
Being as much as is needed. (Christ dying for 'all' mankind)
Efficacious Grace-
Producing or capable of producing a desired effect. (He calls His Elect Family to Him)
If I understand your implication correctly, it is not by their free-will that they do not come when I call. The effect of my voice being heard is that it is irresistibly draws in my children (John 6:44-45) and no one else.
But I was of the opinion that God's Grace was available for all.
I suggest you analogy demonstrates a rather hard nose judicial judge sitting in a 18th century court ticking off names on who is going to be deported to Australia on the next ship. Is that an analogy of your God?
__________________ Not all those who wander are lost
With respects to Tavita's reprinting of the Concise Strong's and Thayer's definitions of 'love'. IMHO, the brevity of the citation fails to grasp the richness of meaning or substance the original greek words agape and phileo represent.
I only reprinted them because you didn't quote the FULL RICH meanings of the Greek. You only posted what you wanted them to say to agree with YOUR definition of what God's love is and who He loves and who He apparently doesn't love.
I'm so truly sorry you see God in that perspective.
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Tativa, I'm quite sure you know better than to give appeals to emotion in an apologetics forum. Try something more logical rather than an attempt at a guilt trip.
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Don't mess with Yoda!
"There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done.""
-C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce (emphasis mine)
"You must be imaginative, strong-hearted. You must try things that may not work, and you must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from. Your only limit is your soul."
-Chef at the beginning of Ratatouille
It is universally assumed that the God of the Bible loves every man, woman, and child that ever existed. Within this topic, I would like to spend some time outlining the popular verses leading to that assumption and explain why they don't mean what people think they do.
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.
The context of the chapter is Peter making a distinction between the scoffers (v. 3) and the believers (v. 9). The context is an Us vs. Them, not God loves every man, woman, child that ever lived.
Your first error is you fail to quote this in context. If vs. 3 is relevant, then quote it to show how it is relevant. Evidently your assumptions/presuppositions are Calvinistic.
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If my son and daughter are playing in the park with the neighbor kids. I open the door and yell 'Dinner's ready'! Do all the children playing at the park hear my voice? Do all the children respond to my call?
The answer to the first 'all' is yes.
The answer to the second 'all' is no.
What I have just done is present a simple analogy of the difference between Sufficient and Efficacious Grace. The desired effect of me calling my children, and no one else, is that they came home for dinner.
Sufficient Grace -
Being as much as is needed. (Christ dying for 'all' mankind)
Efficacious Grace-
Producing or capable of producing a desired effect. (He calls His Elect Family to Him)
If I understand your implication correctly, it is not by their free-will that they do not come when I call. The effect of my voice being heard is that it is irresistibly draws in my children (John 6:44-45) and no one else.
So the family becomes a dictatorship of grace.
__________________ To be reprobate is to be left in sin, not pushed or forced to sin. R. C. Sproul.
Tativa, I'm quite sure you know better than to give appeals to emotion in an apologetics forum. Try something more logical rather than an attempt at a guilt trip.
Oh my gosh... listen to you!! LOL!
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Laughing at those who disagree with you isn't going to make your point stronger, especially not when your point is an emotional one.
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Don't mess with Yoda!
"There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done.""
-C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce (emphasis mine)
"You must be imaginative, strong-hearted. You must try things that may not work, and you must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from. Your only limit is your soul."
-Chef at the beginning of Ratatouille
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