Will you let the bible ...

[Xeno.of.athens]

One wonders if books are actually present in heaven or is this an analogy of something quite completely unlike an earthly book.

 

[Mark Quayle]

Do you believe that God slaughtered millions of people?

Let's see.... flood, Promised Land... and last but not least, pretty nearly everybody dies sooner or later, according to God's will, so, yeah

 

[Mark Quayle]

The better one knows God, the more he understands that nothing that God does is inconsistent with love.

That's true enough —consistent with HIS love. It doesn't mean that what WE consider love is any basis for deciding what God will do or what he means by what he says.

 

[Mark Quayle]

Since God is love it follows that God is the definition of love. I do not quite grasp why your post implied that love has some kind of existence apart from God.

You inferred it. I did not imply it.

 

[fhansen]

Can someone whose name isn’t written in the book of life be saved?

Of course not. Now, if we could just get our hands on that book....! IOW, to say that the elect will be saved is redundant. To say that anyone knows with absolute 100% certainty that they're counted among that number is...simply...untrue.

 

[fhansen]

That's true enough —consistent with HIS love. It doesn't mean that what WE consider love is any basis for deciding what God will do or what he means by what he says.

And yet everything God does must be be for the greatest good, for the good of His creation, in order to be consistent with the God revealed by Jesus.

 

[Xeno.of.athens]

Let's see.... flood, Promised Land... and last but not least, pretty nearly everybody dies sooner or later, according to God's will, so, yeah

Sounds murderous.

 

[Hammster]

Of course not. Now, if we could just get our hands on that book....! IOW, to say that the elect will be saved is redundant. To say that anyone knows with absolute 100% certainty that they're counted among that number is...simply...untrue.

So if someone is in the book of life, and nothing can change that, then their justification is secure. So if they are justified at some point, nothing they do or don’t do will affect that.

 

[Hammster]

And yet everything God does must be be for the greatest good, for the good of His creation, in order to be consistent with the God revealed by Jesus.

There you go again, putting man up on a pedestal. Everything God does is ultimately for His glory.

 

[Hammster]

Sounds murderous.

Are you saying that the flood isn’t real? Or that the Israelites conquering Canaan didn’t happen?

 

[fhansen]

So if someone is in the book of life, and nothing can change that, then their justification is secure. So if they are justified at some point, nothing they do or don’t do will affect that.

You're putting the cart ahead of the horse. If their names are written in the book of life it means they would’ve persevered, they wouldn’t have done something to compromise their justified state, or would’ve sincerely repented and turned back to God if they had.

 

[fhansen]

There you go again, putting man up on a pedestal. Everything God does is ultimately for His glory.

Gods glory is primarily His love. And because of that love He wants man on a pedestal. He wants to share that glory, that love, because that’s His nature, the nature of love.

 

[Hammster]

You're putting the cart ahead of the horse. If their names are written in the book of life it means they would’ve persevered, they wouldn’t have done something to compromise their justified state, or would’ve sincerely repented and turned back to God if they had.

That means that you think we merit having our names written down.

 

[Hammster]

Gods glory is primarily His love. And because of that love He wants man on a pedestal. He wants to share that glory, that love, because that’s His nature, the nature of love.

To say that His glory is primarily His love is to say that some attributes are higher than others. That’s not biblical. God doesn’t have parts.

 

[fhansen]

To say that His glory is primarily His love is to say that some attributes are higher than others. That’s not biblical. God doesn’t have parts.

Its about His nature. If God was only all-powerful, omniscient, etc, then He’d be awesome, but not necessarily good or worth following. It’s His love that makes Him our ineffably good Father.

 

[Xeno.of.athens]

Are you saying that the flood isn’t real? Or that the Israelites conquering Canaan didn’t happen?

Why do you read such strange claims into a statement such as "sounds murderous"?

 

[Hammster]

Its about His nature. If God was only all-powerful, omniscient, etc, then He’d be awesome, but not necessarily good or worth following. It’s His love that makes Him our ineffably good Father.

No, it’s God being God that makes Him good. Pro tip: even His wrath makes a good Father.

 

[Hammster]

Why do you read such strange claims into a statement as "sounds murderous"?

Because murder is a sin. And you said the flood sounds murderous. So I figured it was better to assume that you thought the stories in the OT weren’t true than to assume you think God sins.

 

[Xeno.of.athens]

Because murder is a sin. And you said the flood sounds murderous. So I figured it was better to assume that you thought the stories in the OT weren’t true than to assume you think God sins.

I did not say that God killed millions. That was someone else. The claim to kill millions sounds like murder.

 

[Mark Quayle]

Sounds murderous.

Rough, huh! Well, he owns us and can do as he wishes.

This life was never intended for this life.