Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.
Look out, you're bordering on the concept of purgatory here, which, itself, makes a lot of sense for the reasons you mentioned. The difference is that, with that teaching as it's been conceived, there's still an allowance for hell, for those who obstinately, willfully reject God and His love.
I do not believe in purgatory, but I also do not believe any man can outlast the love of God, Jesus left the 99 and searched until he found the lost sheep, I believe that its mans arrogance that makes him think he can resist Gods love forever, that is creating a god in our own image. Western Tradition has made God just like the gods of old, just the biggest and baddest, think about it the pagan gods demanded blood and sacrifice, burn your kids to Molach or Baal to appease the gods favor, the gods of old were jealous, doing things they wish they had not done, if you crossed them they got even, torturing forever, no problem. That is not Yahweh, the God of scripture.
God did not create the “power of evil”; God created freedom. Evil is the “privation of good” as it’s often called, as darkness is the absence of light. Evil has no created reality of its own, IOW; it’s to piggyback on and detract in some manner from “beingness”, from existence, which is always intrinsically good, as it’s Author, who is existence itself, is intrinsically good. Evil is to fail to do, or to act outside of, God’s will.
Purgatory is nothing more or less than the refinement or final purification of those whose hearts are not yet fully set on God, so that they can see Him. Hell is for those who don't want to see Him. Freedom is intended for that purpose: of our coming to desire Him, the ultimate Good, first above all else-for our highest good which is always His desire for us.
That's a polytheist position
Rather it's evil, calamity, disaster, its not part of good, it's bad.
Ok, so go ahead and blame God for man's sin, as if God isn't powerful or smart enough to make a free and morally accountable being.
God can do whatever He wants to do in His wisdom, and isn't confined by your rules or mine
Well, then why would He create it to begin with, just to watch man suffer for awhile on earth? You seem to present a God who creates evil and then pats Himself on the back for overcoming evil?
God had to allow evil or man would have no free will to choose, we would be robots.
That goes against your claim that God will overturn people's free will rejection of Him. Or is it ok if they're robots so long as that means they escape the consequences of their free will decisions?
I have never said that God will overturn peoples free will to reject him, I believe that God has all the time and wisdom to bring about the situations that will bring about his desired outcome, and that is all peoples will in the end chose God out of free will. I have more faith in God and his plan than mans will to stop or thwart his plan. Do you not think that God did not know what he was doing when he created humanity and that his will/ desire is that all men would chose him out of free will. Who is greater man or God, it seems as if some believe man is more powerful than God.
This is quite the strawman. The issue isn't God's lack of wisdom, or strength, or any other attribute. It's the depth of the wickedness of some men's hearts, such that the more they know of God the more their enmity increases. It's one thing to hope for the salvation of all men, and to preach that God desires all men to be saved. It's another thing entirely to teach it. Particularly when that teaching involves twisting passages that make clear statements about the eternality of the wicked's punishment, and the finality of the second death. Do you think God allowed the authors of the Bible to waste ink talking about something that He has ensured could not possibly happen?
"Lord, are you not from everlasting?
Yes, that's been my point. Or at least God deemed it better to allow a freedom so great that evil might result from it, rather than limit that freedom. The same radical freedom that allows for evil choices is the freedom that allows for good ones, the freedom that can ultimately opt for love, which I believe you may've mentioned earlier as well.
Yeah you’re not the only one who pays attention to the Greek and Hebrew definitions. Can you please post any source that supports your claim about the definition of kolasi? I can
No sense making it complicated. God created all powers. No dualism required. Just another unseen power, of many.
You’re not trying to understand here. Evil is the negation of good, by some part of God’s creation. Evil is set before all of us, as we’re given the choice as to whether or not we’ll participate in that negation or not.
Evil is, by definition, the spirit of disobedience. It is not some supposed void of good, but a very real evil power wielded by a coagulation of bad unseen actors, at least according to the scriptures
And that is simply ridiculous. God can create anything simply on the basis of being Greater than anything created or the sum of all created things. All things are in fact completely subservient to HIM. Including any forms of opposition.
That’s not evil “by definition”. And the spirit of disobedience of God is not something God created or He’d be the ultimate fool, not to mention evil, itself.
Can't see the heart while looking away.
