God is God. Whilst fervors rage for and against God, God remains unchanged and immutable.
Most of our global populace (those taking the wide gate, wide road to destruction) rage for and/or against an image of God that is less than true. A God of their own imaginings, created in their own imperfect image.
The True God is an offense to those who are perishing. His Laws are impossible for anyone to follow. Can't be done-bar is set so high over our heads that we are doomed to fail.
Doomed. To. Fail.
This is what leads many prideful men and women to worship at the feet of false gods, to remake in their own image a god who is not quite so offensive or demanding.
"A loving God," they say, "would not send anyone to hell. Just Love, people. Love love love."
Others, prideful men and women, refuse to worship God at all, taking Him to task for the evils he allows in THEIR world.
"Your so-called loving God is a brute, a bully, who has no right to send anyone to hell-he is the worst sinner!"
But, before all and after all (alpha and omega) God remains God.
Look for heard and had in the comments.
15 comments:
Heard this exchange:
"Let me see your forehead-ah, you washed the ashes off."
"Yeah, before bed last night."
Catholics, I thought,behaving Catholicly.
Nope-turns out that Jack talking with Jill is a Lutheran; in fact, he attends the same Lutheran church that I left behind 30+ years ago.
I have no idea when they started in with the ashes thing-but I had heard that their denomination was getting cozier with the Catholics.
Had a conversation on another site regarding new movie, "The Way" which details a father and son and assorted others making a religious pilgrimage to curry favor with God.
I hold the position that we in our own strengths and abilities cannot please God by performing works such as pilgrimages-He isn't impressed by our religious efforts.
A kindly Catholic gentleman explained to me how ignorant I was of Catholicism. Even after I explained that I had been down this road before many times with Catholics over the years, he decided that I was ill-informed and merely needed things explained to me.
Nah. I get goats behaving as goats, thinking that they are lambs.
True lambs of God listen for His voice, and one identifier is that you won't find us putting ashes on our foreheads, as we recognize that we cannot please God by doing so.
"Just Love, people. Love love love"
Well, yes.
1 John 4:7 "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God."
Once we know what the ideal is, the more we know we that we are far from embodying it. We are mostly self-centered, catty, miserly ... sometimes even harsh and cruel. Read the headlines or even an online religious or political blog. We're unhappy unless we're quarreling.
Would that we were more interested in fulfilling that passage, or at least asking Him to grant us the ability to do so!
Slightly missing the point, James.
Those ministries which speak of God loving everyone "Love love love" are unloving in that they do not preach repentance, but serve a lesser image of God-a made-up God who does not desire Justice.
Joel Osteen is that type of false teacher-by following his ideal of a God who does not require repentance/salvation, he dooms to hell those who have been falsely assured that they are going to Heaven.
1 John does indeed speak of loving one another as everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.
But if that were the only requirement for Heaven, everyone who loves would be 'in'.
That is not Scriptural-according to John 3:16 'whosoever believes on Christ shall not perish, but have eternal life."
A Muslim can be very loving, but he won't be in Heaven if he rejects Christ.
I can put it this way, James-who is more loving?
The one who warns you that you must be saved from your sins?
Or the one who tells you that God loves everyone too much to send anyone to hell?
Humorous side note-I said recently that I am a creature inhabited by habits.
I got to the hospital physical therapy late today due to blowing snow, and...
"You're late." hospital administrator
"You're off schedule." hospital worker
Later I went to the grocery store:
"You're late." cashier
"What? Did you oversleep?" manager.
I love living in a small town. ;)
Doug, you deny the nature of god into your heart. The future of the human race, if its to be good, -depends- on us working together to build a better world. Love is a requirement for that. You paint a false picture of God as The God Of Peace tells us to love one another. You preach hate, dealth and war. These are not god. I think you know the true God but are angry at him. I can't speak for god in every circumstance; but i know he forgives. Everyone's voice can be powerful and good. I pray yours will change to good.
"G"-I don't know what you've been drinking, but they don't serve it at my church.
Man has a track record of all of known history for screwing things up.
Man is going to somehow evolve into a problem solver instead of problem maker?
You have more faith in man than I do, and I probably have more faith in God than you do.
Thanks for stopping by, though-
Wow. Doug and his wife just have a brand new baby girl. In the hospital room, Doug says to his girl:
"My daughter, I will devote the rest of my life to teach you this:
The human race has always messed things up and will always mess things up, we do not improve, we destroy. As a member of the human family, I except nothing more out of you. I do not expect you to help your neighbor, even if you pray for God's help in doing so. You will mess things without exception no matter how hard you try. The net result is always to mess things up, I will devote my entire being in making you know, you cannot make things better. God has given you no power to do good. You won't be able to make a better government, better business, better anything. You won't keep friends, as no bond of friendship is strong enough to keep one another from killing each other. War is absolute; your children and your children's children will always see war. Hope does not exist. There will never be light at the end of the tunnel. Your destiny has been written. Nothing good will come from your hands, I have no faith in you as I have no faith in any man.
My daughter, the truth is life will be much better for you when you are dead.
I am a firm believer in Hell; and I want you to have hell imprinted on your mind forever.
Well, G, I guess I struck a nerve.
If I had a daughter, I would teach her that God is good, and merciful, and that when He says in His Word, "All have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God" it is a true statement.
G, if you go a few few posts down (or back-however you define linear time) you will see that we have been having a conversation about Goodness.
If you can't understand where I'm coming from, it is a belief that this is a fallen world in need of redemption. God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to Redeem this world, this Creation, because we are unable to do so.
We are stinkers, and you can take that to the bank, unless your way is blocked by some "Occupy Ignorance" goofs.
Like talking to a wall.
My point is that you would not give your daughter any blessings to what she can do to improve the world she will inherit and subsequently give to her own children.
You throw the whole world out with the bathwater, all good experiences, good livetimes, in replacement for a future lifetime that literally exists only when we are D E A D. That is hopelessness, faithlessness. Since you do not care about the future, who cares what we do now you say? Recipe of death.
You fail to acknowledge the kingdom of God grows from within us and all around us. It isn't "THERE" as you say constantly.
Let me put it this way.
What do you like to do Doug? An activity you do with your family for instance?
Of course we all fall short of the glory of God, but we also fall short of the evil of Satan. Again I ask, what has any human being ever done that merits eternal torment? Eternal, as in forever, as in after we've been up to our neck in boiling lava ten thousand years, we have just as many days of it to look forward to.
Think infinity.
If one had the capacity of destroying the place in which EVERYTHING, ALL OF LIFE resides, then that one person might seem worthy (by some people) of eternal torment, as they have eternally killed the whole of life ever to be, every possible life that will live, -forever-. They have literally destroyed all of Home.
I don't profess to know how the Cosmos is ultimately configured. I expect "gods" to have more insight, but who knows how the "gods" are configured as well. A little average child 100,000 years ago may be more moral than a million year old grand-monk born 100 years from now in a world with technology made so he could live far beyond a billion years time.
We learn from our parents' wisdom, but if our parents are fools we reject their words. We must therefore stand on our own two feet.
Having faith in God means you do not kill (kill = to not love one another), even if you think it will save you. Let the war mongers kill each other. Don't pick up arms for them and fight their wars. The people of death pray on the living. Defend yourself from them by freeing yourself from their bonds of enslavement, and your fellow neighbors will build a better world naturally.
Like the Scriptures say, "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God". War mongers are ALWAYS rich enslavers. True riches come from within.
By the way, I said that incorrectly. That one person did not actually destroy Home, they just had the capacity to do so.
Sorry, G-you won't convince, you can't support your mumbo-jumbo, you simply waste my time.
As for Lu-how can you prove that we fall short of the evil of Satan? One look around the globe tells me otherwise. Would you say that Bashar Assad is not being evil? More evil than what we humans usually get up to?
In my new post I mention China being evil with their 'one child policy' which forces sterilizations and abortions on their peoples-would you find that evil if it were happening here? Is it any less evil because it happens on another continent under an atheistic government?
Doug,
You've led long of enough of a life to find God, see his power, and you refuse to have faith that he saves all.
May one day you open your heart and discontinue fighting God.
Peace
"G"-your writing reminds me of someone who used to visit here-he went nuts and I banned him.
Stay on the straight and narrow and please, if this is true:
"G said...
Like talking to a wall."
-go find another wall.
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