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Struggles by Non-Christians
What is "the world" in John 3:16?
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<blockquote data-quote="aiki" data-source="post: 73536043" data-attributes="member: 178791"><p>I'm not sure how you arrived at the reading of <strong>John 3:16</strong> you lay out above. It is entirely possible for God to love the whole world while giving everlasting life only to those who reach out in faith and take it. If God thought of the world in the way you describe above, He would not have extended Himself at all to any of it. No one <em>deserves</em> to be saved, you see. We are all wicked sinners deserving only eternal punishment in hell. It is, then, <em>only</em> because God is a loving God that He offers salvation to us through Christ. And that gift of salvation is offered to the entire world. Being a gift, though, it is not forced upon the world, but given only to those who freely choose to take it. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>God has made each of us capable of faith. Really, you can't navigate through modern life without exercising faith at nearly every turn. The average person places faith in their dentist, hairdresser, doctor, police, other drivers on the road, the postal service, restaurant cooks, and so on. It isn't, then, that we don't have faith we can exercise toward God but that we simply choose not to exercise it in His direction. Usually, this is because we don't think we have sufficiently good reason to do so. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>For the apostle Paul, faith worked this way: </p><p></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>2 Timothy 1:12 </strong></p><p><strong>12 ...I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.</strong> </p><p></p><p>To summarize: knowledge>belief>conviction>action. Paul's faith rested upon knowledge - knowledge of God and the Gospel. He did not blindly leap out into the dark. And being convinced of what he had come to believe about God and the Gospel, Paul entrusted himself to Him. </p><p></p><p>Here's another way of looking at faith: </p><p></p><p>"Faith is believing a thing is so,</p><p>When it appears it is not so, </p><p>In order for it to be so,</p><p>Because it is so."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="aiki, post: 73536043, member: 178791"] I'm not sure how you arrived at the reading of [B]John 3:16[/B] you lay out above. It is entirely possible for God to love the whole world while giving everlasting life only to those who reach out in faith and take it. If God thought of the world in the way you describe above, He would not have extended Himself at all to any of it. No one [I]deserves[/I] to be saved, you see. We are all wicked sinners deserving only eternal punishment in hell. It is, then, [I]only[/I] because God is a loving God that He offers salvation to us through Christ. And that gift of salvation is offered to the entire world. Being a gift, though, it is not forced upon the world, but given only to those who freely choose to take it. God has made each of us capable of faith. Really, you can't navigate through modern life without exercising faith at nearly every turn. The average person places faith in their dentist, hairdresser, doctor, police, other drivers on the road, the postal service, restaurant cooks, and so on. It isn't, then, that we don't have faith we can exercise toward God but that we simply choose not to exercise it in His direction. Usually, this is because we don't think we have sufficiently good reason to do so. For the apostle Paul, faith worked this way: [B] 2 Timothy 1:12 [/B] [B]12 ...I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.[/B] To summarize: knowledge>belief>conviction>action. Paul's faith rested upon knowledge - knowledge of God and the Gospel. He did not blindly leap out into the dark. And being convinced of what he had come to believe about God and the Gospel, Paul entrusted himself to Him. Here's another way of looking at faith: "Faith is believing a thing is so, When it appears it is not so, In order for it to be so, Because it is so." [/QUOTE]
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What is "the world" in John 3:16?
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