Why are so many people hateful and selfish ?

[MassimoTheChristian]

I don't understand does God only want a few people in heaven ?

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Nah, calvinism is just wrong.

 

[MassimoTheChristian]

Nah, calvinism is just wrong.

Most people are not good.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Most people are not good.

I know, right?

That's why Jesus did what He did.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Jesus taught that the way we measure others, is the same way we will be measured.

Our assessment of "who is going to hell" is generally an assessment of ourselves.

 

[bèlla]

Many people are unhappy and hurting and don't know how to change it or too wounded to do so. They lash out and take out their pain on others. There are those who've compartmentalized their hurt or disassociated to the point they don't realize it's there or how it affects them and the people they encounter.

Everyone can be selfish on occasion. But hate is a different animal.

~bella

 

[MassimoTheChristian]

Many people are unhappy and hurting and don't know how to change it or too wounded to do so. They lash out and take out their pain on others. There are those who've compartmentalized their hurt or disassociated to the point they don't realize it's there or how it affects them and the people they encounter.

Everyone can be selfish on occasion. But hate is a different animal.

~bella

Sounds pretty hopeless.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

In Philippians Chapter 4 apostle Paul encourages us to rejoice, in everything pray, where there is anxiety, pray instead. it's about replacing the reflex to be anxious with a faith reaction, such as prayer.

In the Proverbs there is usually a positive and negative saying, there is a balance.

yes, the world seems pretty hopeless, but Jesus is our hope. Making it about Jesus as a reflex, as a proverbial response to what is depressing .. might help over time.

 

[bèlla]

Sounds pretty hopeless.

It doesn't have to be. You can overcome hardships and get your life together and on a new track but it requires work. Even if you're a believer. The ability to rebound has more to do with your disposition and mindset than anything else. That's why some can read a book and recalibrate who don't know the Lord and some who do remain in a loop or stuck.

The mind is powerful when wielded properly. You have to be willing to learn if you want to thrive in this world. Because the environment is hostile. You can't take in everything you see and hear and let it in your head or spirit. You have to remain vigilant.

That requires boundaries within yourself, environment and relationships. You need something to do that inspires you and makes you want to get out of bed. You need reciprocity in your connections with mutual giving and receiving. You need to understand the power of just because. Not relegating special experiences to certain dates but making celebration a part of daily living.

You have to laugh a lot and smile and learn to enjoy the little things and big things too. You have to be committed to joy no matter what happens or anyone says. You return to center and delight in your peace because it's just a moment.

Once you see the world for what it is you'll refuse to be its victim. It's like the song This Little Light of Mine. No matter what's happening you keep glowing and going. When you reach that place within yourself you can survive anything.

~bella

 

[MassimoTheChristian]

It doesn't have to be. You can overcome hardships and get your life together and on a new track but it requires work. Even if you're a believer. The ability to rebound has more to do with your disposition and mindset than anything else. That's why some can read a book and recalibrate who don't know the Lord and some who do remain in a loop or stuck.

The mind is powerful when wielded properly. You have to be willing to learn if you want to thrive in this world. Because the environment is hostile. You can't take in everything you see and hear and let it in your head or spirit. You have to remain vigilant.

That requires boundaries within yourself, environment and relationships. You need something to do that inspires you and makes you want to get out of bed. You need reciprocity in your connections with mutual giving and receiving. You need to understand the power of just because. Not relegating special experiences to certain dates but making celebration a part of daily living.

You have to laugh a lot and smile and learn to enjoy the little things and big things too. You have to be committed to joy no matter what happens or anyone says. You return to center and delight in your peace because it's just a moment.

Once you see the world for what it is you'll refuse to be its victim. It's like the song This Little Light of Mine. No matter what's happening you keep glowing and going. When you reach that place within yourself you can survive anything.

~bella

The mind is powerful when wielded properly. You have to be willing to learn if you want to thrive in this world. Because the environment is hostile. You can't take in everything you see and hear and let it in your head or spirit. You have to remain vigilant. I agree with the mind is powerful part but remaining ever vigilant and believing that the environment is hostile Is a recipe for paranoia.

 

[bèlla]

I agree with the mind is powerful part but remaining ever vigilant and believing that the environment is hostile Is a recipe for paranoia.

Jesus gave them another parable [to consider], saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds [resembling wheat] among the wheat, and went away.

You're assuming I'm referencing the natural and that isn't correct. The vigilance I speak of is spiritual. By attending to that we affect the natural through our efforts. The same applies to the environment. We know what we wrestle against and the battle must be waged in that realm to experience the results in ours. That which we wish to see on earth must begin above.

The enemy creeps in when you least expect it. When you're distracted, let your guard down, get lazy, etc. You don't realize what he's done until it bears fruit. That's why you pray offensively and defensively to head him off. You're proactively vigilant to minimize his impact.

~bella

 

[HarleyER]

I don't understand does God only want a few people in heaven ?

As the end times approaches, fewer and fewer people will come to know Christ. Hearts will be darkened and men will be lover of self. We are told this in Scripture:

2 Timothy 3:1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. 6 For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. 9 But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.​

​

What we are seeing is the rapid de-evolution of society. But we can rest in the fact that God is in control.

 

[Laodicean60]

I don't understand does God only want a few people in heaven ?

I think you need to read your bible again because this question is false. "Why are so many people hateful and selfish ?", all this starts in each person's heart.

 

[eleos1954]

I don't understand does God only want a few people in heaven ?

It's not that He does not want few people in heaven ... He wants people to choose to live their lives differently and leaves that choice up to them. He wants all to come to repentance (turn away from sin - transgression of the law) but also knows that many will not do that.

2 PETER 3:9
AMP
The Lord does not delay [as though He were unable to act] and is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is [extraordinarily] patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

 

[David Lamb]

Nah, calvinism is just wrong.

But neither Calvinism nor the bible teach that God wants only a few people in heaven. In the bible, we read in Revelation:

“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,” (Re 7:9 NKJV)

As far as Calvinism is concerned, I always think that the TULIP acronym is unfortunate, as the "L", Limited Atonement, does give the impression of fewness. I prefer the term "particular redemption".

 

[Sel@h]

Jesus gave them another parable [to consider], saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds [resembling wheat] among the wheat, and went away.

You're assuming I'm referencing the natural and that isn't correct. The vigilance I speak of is spiritual. By attending to that we affect the natural through our efforts. The same applies to the environment. We know what we wrestle against and the battle must be waged in that realm to experience the results in ours. That which we wish to see on earth must begin above.

The enemy creeps in when you least expect it. When you're distracted, let your guard down, get lazy, etc. You don't realize what he's done until it bears fruit. That's why you pray offensively and defensively to head him off. You're proactively vigilant to minimize his impact.

~bella

I agree. Yes, these days are becoming more and more evil. Turn on the news and you can see the evilness and crime and deception spreading all over the world. We are in the latter days, so this should not come as a surprise, and yet, it seems unbelievable; the world has gone nuts! That’s why we must:
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

- 1 Peter 5:8-9 (NKJV)

 

[HarleyER]

But neither Calvinism nor the bible teach that God wants only a few people in heaven. In the bible, we read in Revelation:

“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,” (Re 7:9 NKJV)

As far as Calvinism is concerned, I always think that the TULIP acronym is unfortunate, as the "L", Limited Atonement, does give the impression of fewness. I prefer the term "particular redemption".

Limited Atonement was the one doctrine that I had a difficult time understanding and is often a problem for a number of Calvinists to get them to be 5 pointers. To clarify this in my mind, I often think of the chilling verse our Lord Jesus told some of the Pharisees which speaks of Limited Atonement indirectly:

John 9:41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.​

While our Lord Jesus often told people, "Your sins are forgiven." here is a case where Jesus told them just the opposite. Jesus dead on the cross was only for His elect. It was not universal since it would certainly not apply to these Pharisees.

But I will admit Limited Atonement is confusing. I like your term better but then we would have TUPIP or TUPRIP.

Alas, I think we're stuck.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

But neither Calvinism nor the bible teach that God wants only a few people in heaven. In the bible, we read in Revelation:

“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,” (Re 7:9 NKJV)

As far as Calvinism is concerned, I always think that the TULIP acronym is unfortunate, as the "L", Limited Atonement, does give the impression of fewness. I prefer the term "particular redemption".

There is a more early view of calvinism that fits in with most of the theologies. However, today that is rare.

The contemporary calvinism contributing to intrusive thoughts, depression, and general xenophobia, is what is wrong.

 

[Sel@h]

There is a more early view of calvinism that fits in with most of the theologies. However, today that is rare.

The contemporary calvinism contributing to intrusive thoughts, depression, and general xenophobia, is what is wrong.

I'd be interested in learning more about an early interpretation of Calvinism. Would you share?

 

[Gregory Thompson]

I'd be interested in learning more about an early interpretation of Calvinism. Would you share?

It's just a typical protestant tradition with some TULIP in it. No over emphasing any of the letters, some people don't believe all 5 letters of TULIP, and that's okay since the bible is the guide not the doctrine.