***BTW, where is the rule that says God can’t preordain whom He wants to be with Him in Heaven? Would that be unfair of God if He did that?***
I really haven’t had the time lately to keep up with this most excellent discussion, but I thought I’d pop in here.
God is not fair; I don’t think that He could even be said to be just. He is merciful. When you are merciful, you are absolutely unfair and unjust. Jesus is mercy incarnate; He is merciful and instructs us to be merciful as well.
Many Protestants treasure Heb 10:31 - It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
If God is merciful, then there does not have to be fear. Kosta frequently describes the OT God as a stern, angry and vindictive oppressor. But many of the Reformers have missed Heb 10:26, which describes the conditions in which we should fear God - For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
More proof that the Calvinistic model of predestination is wrong.
What's God got to do with our sins? It is not God who makes us sin, Mark; we are the ones who condmen ourselves by tossing away God's helping hands. We should fear ourselves. That fear of God is alien to the Orthodox.
Sure, the priest calls us to approach the chalice "In fear and faith..." but that fear is awe. Many an Orthodox prayer calles God Comforter. How can one be in fear of the one who comforts us?
For if God is to be feared and a moody tyrant, then salvation is being saved from God rtaher than by God, because we all sin (willfully, and after having received the knowledge) until the end of our days.
Yes, if I am interpreting you correctly I agree with this. By man's standards, God isn't fair. But since God defines what fair is, He is always in truth "fair".
But many of the Reformers have missed Heb 10:26, which describes the conditions in which we should fear God - For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
To me, this verse describes true apostasy after having true faith. By itself, it is a true statement, but there are plenty of other verses in the Bible (all the assurance verses and many of the perseverance verses) that say this will not happen. The weight of scripture says that God, who began a good work in us, will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. True apostasy from true belief would mean that God stopped His work.