http://www.captaincynic.com/thread/82067/if-you-cannot-love-an-et-god.ht
m I can not believe you actually read the Bible and come to the conclusions that you do.
First the Bible teaches neither 'Universal salvation' nor does it teach eternal torment. If your in a church that teaches such things then you're in the wrong church.
Secondly, the belief of the church of the first 500 years did not teach this or believe this. You only have to read Acts to see that. If 'Universal Salvation' was true then why send anyone into all the world to teach. Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die and are rewarded with eternal salvation for our crimes of our life here on earth. The death of Christ means nothing. The fact of the mater is that if you do not accept Christ then as He said, you shall die in your sins. John 8:24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. Again we read, Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Notice Paul here writes that the 'wages' or reward of, sin is death not eternal life, Notice too that if one was to live on in torment then they would not experience the wages of sin which is death, a ceasing to exists. Notice too that in the beginning, God told Adam and Eve the same thing but lets look at the first lie told by Satan, Genesis 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: But what did God say, Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Genesis 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Does anyone have immortality now?
1Tm:6:14: That thou keep this commandment ..., until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:
1Tm:6:16: Who only hath immortality,
As far as eternal torment, no one lives on suffering through out eternity. This is just a lie of Satan to corrupt the image of God. Often we see God the father as this stern judge looking down on us just waiting for us to step out of line but Christ tells us that he is the same as His father. Doesn't the Bible tell us that God is love? Does it make much sense that a God of love would take the creatures he has created and punish them through out all eternity for the sins of a short life time? The truth of the matter is that the lost will be destroyed. That is why the Bible calls this work of God His strange act. Isaiah 28:21 For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act. It is a strange act for a God of love to destroy the creatures He in love has created. Remember the famous verse of John 3:16? For God (the Father) so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
To think that the saved could be void of all compassion for their lost loved ones who would be in torment while celebrating the rewards of salvation is hard to imagine.
The bible tells us plainly what we be the fate of the lost.
Isaiah 47:14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.
Malachi 4:1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
Satan is the root the lost are his branches. Just as Jesus is the vine and the saved are his branches.
16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more. Ezekiel 28:16-19
Malachi 4:3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this , saith the LORD of hosts.
They shall be ashes because they shall be burned up.
The words of Peter agree with this
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 2 Peter 3:9-12
Its hard to put so much into such a page as this, believe me I could go on for a LONG time proving from the Bible these view points.
Again I saw that God does not punish anyone forever nor are all saved. By the way in Revelations where it says, Revelation 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. This 'forever and ever' in the greek is for eons and eons. Which is an undetermined length of time. For some they will be consumed as in an instant, for others they may burn for much longer. The last to go out will be Satan.
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: (This is where the thrown of God is)
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house (graves) of his prisoners?
18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.
19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword,(the word of God) that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcass trodden under feet.
20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned. Isaiah 14:12-20
Study the sanctuary and you will see the end of the lost, the destruction of the Satan and the reward of the saved as David said,
16 When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;
17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Psalms 73:16-17 I truly hope this is helpful.
As far as the other entry, God did create good and evil. Isaiah 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. God gives all free will to chose for themselves their destiny. He created Satan but he created Satan for good but Satan chose to walk contrary to God. 13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so : thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. Ezekiel 28:13-15
As far as God not being all powerful because He chooses not to 'take back' the gift of free will, I fail to see how you come to that conclusion. It is an act of love not power. You are missing the point completely.
As far as His emotions go, anger, jealousy and happiness go, again I point you to the Bible, Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. We have those same emotions because we are created after His image. He has them and so do we. It is not unreasonable to think that a loving God would have pleasure in watching those He loves obey and do right. It is also not unreasonable to think that the same loving God would be angry when we do wrong. If someone was to wrong you, would you not be angry? And if someone was to do something good for you would you not be happy? As far as the jealousy thing goes I see many people get caught up on that. They see it as we exercise it but it is not the same way with God, His jealously centers around the good of us where as our jealousy centers around our own self center-ness.
The said truth is man can never rise above their own conception of what God is, until we would spend the time in a prayerful study of His word we can never know Him or know about Him.
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86yrs • M • 
