Robert,
Except in the fruits of their labor, they ignore and dismiss God's grace and love for all.
Yes, God does hate sin. That's as biblical as it gets! And yes, if you do not believe in Christ, you will be condemned. And I am certain that God detests that as well!
2 Peter 7
By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
But you see, I do consider who the letters are addressed too. But my friend Robert, let's revisit this verse and see if your logic stands up to any reason...
9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
You are right, definitely speaking to the people of God. We absolutely agree on this.
But when this verse talks about not wanting anyone to perish, why would this have to be stated to the people of God, people who already will not perish? It would be totally irrelevant. Do you think God wastes his words? Of course not!! It becomes perfectly clear this teaching is talking to people of God about people not of God. You know the ones, like mentioned in the earlier verses, qualified as ungodly men and scoffers. Otherwise the verse is a waste. Sorry, Robert, nothing of God is a waste. Does God not talk to believers about unbelievers? Of course he does. He does so many times throughout the Bible.
And who is the audience of this, if you want to try to use that logic?
John 3
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."
Consider who he is speaking too. Yes, it was a Pharisee, believe it or not. And funny, either Jesus himself was wasting his words when he said "Whoever believes in him is not condemned", or it must be true. He specifically didn't qualify the world to be any subset of people, believers or non-believers.
Brian and Santiago should labor understanding God's grace, truth and love more than trying to push their view and beliefs on someone very comfortable in their understanding of Gods love already. And that's why I hesitate going through long, drawn out explanations with them. My explanation is irrelevant. God's own word is the only thing of relevance! You see, what people do on this thread is try to force their denominational and doctrinal biases on people, when they should be focusing on sharing God's grace with everyone. And that's why I post the four spiritual laws periodically, and will continue to do so. God tells us to share his love with all. And I will.
So if Brian, Santiago or you want to jam your biases down our throats, go for it! But it only noise to me and certainly not of God.
May God bless you with his truth, understanding and love...
God Bless,
IGIT |
