I love my children absolutely, as I am led to believe God loves us. If I were to say to my children 'That is the fire, it is hot and if you touch it you will be burned' and then I let them choose whether or not to touch it would that make me a loving mother? No, of course not. I would not give my children the choice because I do not want to see them burned.
IF God loves us why allow us to make choices that lead to 'eternal punishment'?
Ah, but this analogy (one of many) is where the misunderstanding is!
There is no choice of 'touch and burned; don't touch and be safe'. The fact is we are too close to the fire already andn we are beginning to singe at the edges!
The choice that God gives is to stay near the fire (ie, as we are) or to move away. Those who refuse the Gospel will simply stay and be completely burned.
The other analogy that is relevant to this discussion is the punishment/freedom one. We are already tried and found guilty. We are already standing in the dock having been pronounced guilty of sin. All we are waiting for is the judge to give his verdict. The choice we are offered in this case is to accept our penalty or accept the offer of redemption, whereby we accept that he has taken our punishment. If we do not accept this, God will pronounce judgment upon us and we will suffer the wrath of his justice and holiness.
I'm kinda with the Major on this one again
I see where you are coming from Pat, but the situation is not the same as with God and His children. Your analogy was about safety and our responsibilities as parents. This is about rules to the game.
A closer anology might be to say that we say to our children 'That action is wrong. As your parent, and being older and wiser than you, I make the rules. if you decide to do this thing I have told you not to do, then I will punish you. It will bring me no pleasure to do this, and it will not mean that I love you any the less, but if, knowing that there will be a consequence to doing this thing I tell you not to do, you still do it, then you know what the result will be'
As parents there comes a point where we have to allow our children to make choices that we know to be wrong. And even though we may try and advise otherwise, we know that they will make their own decisions on these matters.
And it hurts us to have to watch as our children make choices that ultimately bring them unhappiness.
It hurts God when we turn away from Him and refuse to follow His way, but we have been given the choice in the matter. Whats more, we are in no doubt as to the rewards to be had for making the right choice, and the loss to be experienced from making the wrong one.
Whats more, not only does God spell it out for us, He goes one massive step further and says 'Look, whatever you have done so far, no matter how many mistakes you have made, regardless od how much you have hurt me, I love you. I love you so much that if you make the right choice now, I will wipe the slate clean, and we can start again from scratch. All the punishment you had stacked up against you has been taken for you by my Son, Jesus. All you have to do is say Yes, and it's gone, all of it.'
As loving parenting goes, that's gonna take some beating. Of course the consequences of refusing to say Yes still remain, but right to the last second of our last minute of our last day, God is there, knocking at our hearts door, longing for us to open the door and accept Him.
Funnily enough, the other day I got a song in my head from nowhere (you know the type, it just pops in and you think 'Where on earth did that come from?'). It's an old Joystrings song (which isn't bad considering that I can't even remember the Joystrings). It was this.
Each man in his life time
Must choose his own way
And if he's a wise man
He will not delay.
So now
Which way are you going
And where will it end
Oh think what you're doing
Or else
You may spend your life in regret
You stand at the crossroads
But you have to choose
There's so much to gain
And so much to lose
So now
Which way are you going
And where will it end
Oh think what you're doing
Or else
You may spend your life in regret
