Posted on 05/23/2002 1:46:16 PM PDT by RWBaral
God didn't make anyone that way. He made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. Their homosexuality is a perversion that is addressed as such in the Bible. It is one of the main reasons Soddom and Gomorrah were destroyed.
Bottom line: it's a choice that they can make because of the free will that God gave them. It is not a good choice, however. They have the opportunity to be saved, they just have to repent of their sins and accept Jesus' death as payment for them.
Before you or I were born He knew if we were going to be sent to hell with His knowledge and consent - Why bother ?
No matter how much "free will" you think you have, your seat is already reserved for you and there is no action that you can take that can change your ticket.
Before you or I were born He knew if we were going to be sent to hell with His knowledge and consent - Why bother ?
No matter how much "free will" you think you have, your seat is already reserved for you and there is no action that you can take that can change your ticket.
Interesting - God as the original, ultimate, purposefull source of all the evil in the world.
There are many ways to get into hell, but the path to salvation is narrow.
Do you set up a situation where your loved ones can be forever tortured for their trangressions against you?
Where the overwhelming majority of your so-called "children" will spend an eye-blink alive and then an infinate time screaming in agony?
1) If there are no rules, there is chaos.
2) If there is no way to enforce the rules, they may as well not exist, and we're back to #1.
3) Parents who love their children will enforce consequences for their actions.
Are we to be condemned for NOT following His lead if we do not banish our children forever, and instead always allow them the oppertunity to restore the relationship ?
We all still have the opportunity to restore our relationship with God, right up to the time that we die, or until He comes back, whichever is first. Those who spend eternity in Hell are those who purposely decide to turn their backs on God. If someone is never exposed to God and has never even heard of the Bible, God knows that and He will judge them according to what they did with what they were given, the same way we will all be judged. If you grew up being taught the things of God, have read His Bible, and you still turn your back, you will be judged accordingly. If you try your best to find out what His plan for you is by seeking Him daily, and you do your best to avoid sin and keep His commandments, you will be richly blessed when you enter Heaven.
He is a very loving and forgiving God; all you need to do is repent of your sins, accept Jesus' death as payment for them, and ask for forgiveness. This does not mean that you will never sin again, for no man is sinless, not one. When you have a right relationship with God, He will point out your sins to you and you must repent of them. True repentance is the key, because afterward you will always try to keep from doing the same thing again.
These are the things that any loving parent would do. What kind of parent would allow their children to go through life without any consequences for their bad behavior? We will all have ample time to restore our relationship with God. Those who go to hell are the ones who purposely decide to turn away from God.
Do you have a basis, Biblical or other, for that belief?
Evil is not something that can originate with God. God allowed it into His creation for a purpose, but He did not create it. Lucifer created it when he exercised his free will to turn away from God. God knew that would happen, but He did not do it.
To answer bluntly: yes, that's how I know.
There are millions of people that believe in God as much as you, but do not follow the bible.
Those millions of people who "believe" in God and don't read the Bible either don't believe in God and just say they do, or they are lacking in common sense. If one believes in God, wouldn't it be a good idea to read the Book He left for us? If one believes in God, shouldn't we try to find out what He wants us to do? Just a thought.
Just because something was written by a human being doesn't mean it's true, especially when dealing with God, who has reign over all.
You are right that because something is written by a human it is not necessarily true. Yes, the Bible was written by humans, but the things they wrote were not their own ideas. Their writing was inspired by God. The New Testament contains the gospels, which is basically a first-hand account of the teachings of Jesus from the people that saw what He did. Much of the Bible is stories of the things that people have seen God do in their lives.
Written by men, yes. True, YES! Why true, you ask? Here's why the Bible can be verified as true. The Bible claims to be the infallible Word of God and has been tested as such by many theologians and historians over the last 2000 years. If it were untrue, they would have figured that out LONG AGO. Even today, archeological finds are proving that events described in the Bible are historically accurate and true.
As a student of the sciences, I am taught to test hypotheses for validity. If a hypothesis stands up to the tests, it can be said to be true. The Bible has stood up to 2000 years of tests. That's good enough for me.
On top of all that is my own personal testimony of the things I've seen in my life that are truly miracles. Just the fact that I am here and able to type these responses to you is due to God acting in my life through the Bible. If I only had the time to tell it all...
I guesss the biggest difference between 2002 and 1972 is if you said your post to my face, you would have to deal with a very stocky and fit former paratrooper and woodsworker; and the pea brain who tried to get my goat faced a skinny kid who took track and field and was still trying to get his side burns to meet to form a beard.
So, what's your point? Flaming is childish and boring, and you don't have the guts to say your comment to my hazel blues.
Pathetic.
Also interesting - Jesus death as a partial payment... or If his death was payment in full, then what are repentance and asking for forgiveness... a tip ?
I see the point you are making, and you are correct in a sense. You are correct that God knows exactly what will happen in our lives. Looking from God's point of view, you are right. However, we as humans cannot look at things from God's point of view, so we must look at them from our own. From our point of view, we cannot see the future, so we do not know what is in store for us. We make our decisions based on the free will that He gave us. He knows what we will choose and what the consequences are, but we don't. Therefore, looking from our point of view (which is the only one we have), we have the free will to make decisions that affect our lives.
I think your idea of predestination is that we follow a script that we cannot escape. Maybe so, but since we don't know what it is, from our POV we have free will. For example, you can choose to shoot yourself today and die, or you can choose not to. Since you don't know which one you are predestined to do, you have a choice. God knows which one you will pick, but you have the free will to choose.
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