Yesterday at 07:19 PM God of Love said this in Post #193 (http://www.christianforums.com/showthread.php?postid=659410#post659410)
I see no mention of Him not loving *all*. Isn't that what you've been saying: He loves us all and gives us a "choice"? Yet now you are suggesting there are some whom He doesn't love?
Am I reading that right? "If He doesn't love you..."
God always gives a choice. Look at Adam. He had the choice of either eating or not eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge. God didn't make us to be puppets, we have the ability to make choices, whether they be good or bad. God would like us to make all the good choices, but knows that there is the possiblility that we won't. But if there is not chastizement or punishment when those bad choices are made, then we won't know that they are bad choices.
The point being, you say God doesn't punish because of "unconditional love", and I was pointing out that the only time God wouldn't punish is when He doesn't love you. But since He
DOES love us, we are chastened or punished.
Sorry, but this answer strikes me as a bit convenient.
Sorry if you find it a bit convenient. It's true.
Are you suggesting God created Sodom and Gomorrah without knowing their plights? That He created them, knowing He would eventually destroy them?
Futhermore, do you believe that God killed the innocent children of this village and others? Infants and the unborn? Again, creating them, knowing He would kill them.
Yet meanwhile, He spared the lives of Lot and His daughters, knowing the daughters would sleep with Lot and give birth Lot's "sons" (or is it grandsons?)?
What kind of God is this? One who loves the world so much (including the "sinners") that He sent His only begotten son to save?
Again, God didn't create man to be a puppet or robot blindly doing everything that is good. God created man with a mind to make choices.
If you plant an apple tree in your garden, you expect it to produce fruit. But what would you do if after many years, the tree does not produce fruit? You would remove it and plant another. Now, did you know that the tree would not produce fruit? No, you planted it with the understanding that it would produce fruit. You had no control over the tree to produce fruit or not to. Oh, you could fertilize, water, prune, etc., but the tree still doesn't produce the fruit.
And as you will probably point out, man is nothing like an apple tree. But, again, God created man with the ability to make choices. Yes He wants us to do what is right, but there are times when we don't and He has to chastize us.
By my definition, you are citing a figurative story as if it were literal.
God Bless,
God of Love[/B]
A "figurative" story? Please check the following:
Is there any evidence for the Biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction by fire and brimstone (sulfur)?
And if you do a search on the Internet, you will find many other sites with information about this as well.
Was Moses and the exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt a story as well? Did God part the Red Sea to allow Moses and his party cross? Did David kill Goliath with a small stone? Did Daniel survive the lion's den? Did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego live through the fiery furnace? Was Jesus born of a virgin? Did Jesus die on the cross for our sins?
Just where do you see the scriptures as being literal and figurative?