Replies

1 John 1:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

13 Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

-----------------------------------------------------------

John 14:8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.

9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

John MacArthur is one of my favorite preachers. I just love this guy. I have a number of his teaching and preaching materials. He is doesn't harp on Calvinism too much and just preaches the Word. But I have to disagree with him on his idea of free will and God's love.

Whatever love is, love is not force. God does not predestine(force) people into heaven or hell. That would not be love in either case. People must chose heaven or hell for themselves.

If I were to put into a person's mind the ability to love me and the inability to reject me, I would be forcing them to love me. If I were to take away the ability of someone to love me, I would also be forcing that person. Furthermore, all the responsibility of who makes what decision would be mine. So how could I be upset at a person whom I did not give the ability to love me? God is not responsible for people's sin. People choose to remain in their lost state, not because God has not given them the ability to choose him, he has; but because they choose to reject God despite God's call to whoever wants him. It's all about personal motivation.

I find this kind of rationalizing about God to be disturbing, which is probably why I don't have a church right now in which I feel content. It strikes me as hubristic to pretend we can discern the nature of God by human reason. God is a surpassing mystery, and if He wants us to know something about Him, He will make it clear.

No offense meant to you Calvinists but the fact is, we don't "know" a whit of what you guys seem to think we know. And vain striving is not necessarily pleasing to God. He gave us commandments to follow, which a ten year-old child can understand, and I don't recall any Gospel telling us He wants us to try to figure Him out beyond that.

I go with Alexander Pope: Know then thyself, Presume not God to scan, the proper study of mankind is Man.