Seems to me that the interpretation isn't all that clear, given the multitude of beliefs out there.
And no, I'm not creating God in my image. I'm having certain expectation of Him, given what He's done. Remember, Israel means "Struggles with God" and that's the name God renamed Jacob with, apparently in approval of Jacob.
That's the person I admire most in the Bible and an ancestor whose name I want to live up to. (Now only if I could talk my wife into letting me take a second wife, plus a couple of handmaids, I'd be set.... 8>) )
You’re trusting in your own righteousness and cleverness to save you from the fire to come. They will not.
I don't believe in Hell or hellfire. That said, if your interpretation is correct, I'm not trusting in my righteousness or cleverness to keep me out of Hell. I'm preferring to go to Hell.
God gave us freewill to make our own judgments. Therefore, He has to live up to our expectations, as much as we to His, if he wants us.
>>Seems to me that the interpretation isn’t all that clear, given the multitude of beliefs out there.<<
That there are a multitude of beliefs out there does not mean that they are all equal in truth. There is only one.
>>And no, I’m not creating God in my image. I’m having certain expectation of Him, given what He’s done. Remember, Israel means “Struggles with God” and that’s the name God renamed Jacob with, apparently in approval of Jacob.<<
The clay does not make demands upon the potter.
>>I don’t believe in Hell or hellfire.<<
But you admire Jacob? They’re both from the same book - either you believe one or none - you can’t pick and choose.
>>Therefore, He has to live up to our expectations, as much as we to His, if he wants us.<<
God doesn’t owe you anything. You are the one who has transgressed his law. You owe him everything.