fhansen
Oldbie
OK, might've been one or two in there.Not a single rational statement, huh?
Strictly speaking, your unwillingness to let God be God is not rational. Also, you're head-slapping icon comes off as a gratuitous insult-an expression that hasn't necessarily been backed up with any real content. We don't define love- I certainly don't anyway-God defines love because God is love. And that love He desires to share with all people if we're willing to change, if we're willing to accept it. And that kind of love cannot be faked or manufactured by us. It is at the core of our faith and what God is after in us and for us, the Potter molding the clay, placing His laws on our hearts and writing them in our minds. And so yes, God didn't give man laws he couldn't possibly obey, then blame him for not obeying them, then randomly send some to heaven and some to hell anyway; we can live up to the demands of the Law, the law as summed up in the greatest commandments, that is our salvation, not because we've earned it but because we've recognized our need for Him, answered the call, and allowed Him to begin a work in us, not completed all at once. And this explains the meaning of scripture that tells us that no sinners will enter heaven. God's will will be done in us, justice will be restored to His universe, in those who themselves are willing. That's not based on a 21st century definition of fairness; that's revelation and the consistent teaching of the Christian faith.Strictly speaking, your unwillingness to let God be God is not rational. It defies reason. But I don't traffic in gratuitous insults; I just don't see how you can not appreciate that you're saying, on the one hand, that God can't predestine people because he's not moved by our fallen standards of behavior...and follow that up by saying that what he must do instead is love as we define it.
Having said that, keep in mind that if we were all left to earn salvation by living up to the demands of the Law or, for that matter, of perfect Love, none of us would make it. So if God predestines EVEN ONE PERSON to eternal salvation, he's showing Love to that one. We may say that this is unfair, but that's fairness as we mortals living in a democratic society in the 21st century define fairness.
But even having said that I'll tell you that I used to think more like you. Now I know that there are parallels between the spiritual and physical worlds, between Gods' nature and our own, having been made in His image- between Gods "values" and our own. We're here to learn some things by living in this world. We experience-we know- both good and evil in this world. From both perspectives, spiritual and physical, there are consequences to our actions-what we do counts, we reap what we sow. And Matt 25:31-46 gives us a good idea of what love "looks like", of how God desires us to sow, and of what he desires us to become-as a result of that love.
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