I want you to know something. The image I have of who God is comes from the revelation of scripture and from observing the very image of God Himself in the person of Jesus, the Christ.
In turn I want you to accept that this "revelation" is little more than a personal interpretation. You have taken scripture and built an image of God. There is nothing wrong with this because this is what we are to do.
Where the problem/sin lies is when personal Pride Demands God conform to your idea of what He should look like. That God should conform to the idea you have created for Him to fill.
The idea that God can not exist outside of your interpretation of Him is foolishness. Therefore we must at some level yield to the Authority of God even if it goes beyond our current understanding of Him. If we are faithful to what we have been given, our blessings will increase. However if we bury what we have been entrusted with what we have will be taken from us.
If you deny God's true authority in your life. The authority to define and control all righteousness, (This means God tells us what right and wrong is and we do not tell or judge Him.) then know what you have been given is endanger of being taken away.
This is not my own preferenceor attitudes. For you to assume otherwise without knowing anything about me shows a critical and judgmental attitude on your part, but does nothing to say anything about me or what I think of God.
I've simply asked questions, and warned you what would happen if your heart lies in the areas you have created straw men to hide, or simply avoided. The conviction you feel does not come from me, for you are 100% correct I do not know you or what you truly think. I am only speaking of the darkness you are doing your best to not talk about. Everything else you mentioned is happening with in your own heart.
So when I say "Show me in the bible where it says God is going to torture anyone, it is not a straw man argument.
It is because what we are discussing has nothing to do with Hell. We are Speaking of God's ultimate authority, and if He has the Authority in your picture of God to cast people into Hell, and if He did and it pleased Him to do so (As it pleased Him to have His son hang on the cross) Would you Could you worship Him as God?
The Fact of the matter or the issue at Hand is whether or not God has the ability to cast people into an eternal Hell, and still be God in your eyes, In your Heart.
The Fact you are desperately trying to make this about scripture is the definition of a Straw Man Argument. In that you are misrepresenting your opponents argument in order to argue something (The Straw Man) you are more prepared to do. Again you are not in a position to Argue or apparently even talk about what you would do if, you grossly misinterpreted God's intentions on the subject of eternal Damnation. So you want to make this an argument of the scripture it self. And then subsequently try and convince me has you have convinced yourself.
Again the subject at hand is God's authority in your life. Not what or how we interpret His intentions.
We should have an Idea of what the bible says, but we should not love this idea over God Himself.
The Nature of God as revealed in scripture is the exact issue we are discussing.
No it is NOT! We are discussing the pride one has to have to believe God must fit your own image in order to be God.
This is made apparent by the question I have asked 5 times now. What if God does something you believe is wrong. How do you judge God to be wrong if you do not use His own standard? I am showing you that if you do not Judge God by His standards, His Expressed Will, you are indeed using your own personal version of Righteousness to Judge God. In other words you are using your own self righteousness to judge the actions of God if they do not fit what you believe God's actions to be.
You believe God will torture people for all eternity, and think that I think less of God because I don't believe this.
This is a complete and desperate lie. I have, in this thread, said 3 different times I
do not know how long one's experience of Hell lasts. I even shared my personal experience and personal revelation from Hell saying that when those in Hell are sealed off from the rest of creation that "they" in a sense are completely consumed.
What are you to argue now that i have said for the 4th time i agree with you? Will you just misrepresent my position to me again in hopes that I will get confused so you do not have to face your demons?
It is not out of pride or self satisfaction that I write these things to you. I see a potentially relationship ending fatal flaw in your general theology, and I ask that if it does exist that you take this flaw to God and ask Him to help you sort it out. If you ask seek and knock as the persistent neighbor did in Luke 11, you will eventually sort it out with the help of God. But it does not stop there. Next I ask that you take this revelation to the place that taught you to prize personal revelation over that of God Himself, and makes changes there on His behalf..
The fact is that I have discovered by studying scripture that God does not torture anyone for all eternity.
So, what if you and your studies are wrong? What if me and my personal revelation is wrong? What if God did keep everyone alive and fully aware so they could feel every moment of Hell for ever and ever? What if it pleased Him to do this? Would you still Love God with all of your Heart,Mind, Spirit, and Strength? Will you bless the Name of God if He takes away as Job Did? or will you only praise His name when things happen the way you think they should?
Is God the ultimate authority in your life or is the idea of God you have created the ultimate authority in your life?
Can God exist beyond your understanding of Him?
