[Cvengr]

Many of the questions posed are common and answers are easily understood by study of His Word, and His immutable nature.

God is perfectly Holy. His Holiness is comprised of His Perfect Righteousness and His Perfect Justice. It is immutable, never changing.

This feature of God is revealed to us in the Tabernacle, in the Holy of Holies, where the Arc of the Covenant is covered with a Mercy Seat, upon which are two guilded Cherubim facing one another, one representing His Perfect Justice, the other His Perfect Righteousness.

Whenever something unrighteous is presented before God, His Perfect Justice demands Perfect Righteousness. In converse, whenever injustice is presented before Perfect Righeousness, Perfect Righteousness demands Perfect Justice. They complement each other in His Perfect Holiness in maintaining His immutable essence.

In your query, “— We are told of a loving and forgiving God. We are also told to be forgiving.—We are told that sinners will be thrown into this eternal lake of fire. Is God never going to be forgiving of those that are thrown into this lake of fire?”; consider His immutable nature.

Now let’s also consider what He has provided for man to resolve the original sin of Adam.

In order to clearly express what has occurred historically, we need to clarify several issues. One is judgment, the other is forgiveness, and another is grace. Many people confuse judgment, forgiveness and grace. Remember that God is omniscient and immutable. He doesn’t overlook anything, but He also provides for us.

On the Cross, the sins of all mankind were imputed to our Lord Christ Jesus. While on the Cross, our Lord Christ Jesus was Judged for all of mankind’s sins. Each and every human personal sin ever committed or to be committed was imputed to Him, while He was on the Cross. (Hebrews and Romans are outstanding studies of these issues.)

The Cross was all about Judgment.

Forgiveness is later, a different issue.

Forgiveness is now available, after the Cross, for every person who is out of fellowship with God.

For the unbeliever, forgiveness occurs instantly at the moment of faith alone in Christ alone. This is because of Rom 3:22, where that same faith is identical to the faith of Christ and was found to be righteous. When God sees something righteous in us, He is free, because of the judgment of all our sins already, to give us eternal life.

There are many things given us at the moment of salvation, upon faith alone in Christ alone, one of which is a regenerated human spirit. Another is the forgiveness of all pre-salvation sins when we return to God and confess our sins to Him. This occurs at the moment of initial faith alone in Christ alone for the unbeliever.

For the believer, anytime we sin, knowingly or unknowingly, we step out of fellowship with God the Holy Spirit, also known as ‘grieving the Spirit’. This doesn’t remove His indwelling, but it does cause us to no longer walk with Him, in fellowship with Him. In order to return into fellowship, a forgiveness must occur for post-salvation sin.

The mechanism for this is given in 1stJohn 1:9, whereby when we return to Him, and confess our sin to Him, He is sure and just to forgive us our sin.

Now let’s return to the original issue of the Lake of Fire and the casting of unbelievers into the Lake of Fire for all eternity future.

God, in His immutable nature is still Perfectly Holy. There is nothing which requires God to remain exposed or allow anything evil in His presence.

In the future, and for every human who suffers the first death, there remains a soul and possibly a spirit which continues to endure. Where that existence is placed is a different issue. The Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven are possible places for the righteous to be placed.

If that soul/spirit has anything unrighteous in it, then it is immediately categorized as sinful, missing the mark, not righteous. This is the same category as Adam was first placed upon the His sin in the Garden of Eden. That sin immediately implied a spiritual death, a state of existence involving separation, a separation from God the Holy Spirit.

After the Cross, all sins have been judged, not yet forgiven, but when a soul/spirit is now judged and found to have anything whatsoever righteous in it, God by His Perfect Holiness will also recognize that righteousness. When He sees in our hearts, faith in Christ, by Rom 3:22, we know He also has found something righteous in us.

So just as by one sin, all mankind was condemned, likewise by one Perfect Sacrifice on the Cross, all mankind has salvation now made available.

Unlike Adam before the fall, man today is born condemned and is an initial state of condemnation. We require salvation prior to being returned into fellowship with God.

For the unbeliever who never places faith in Him, upon the first death, there no longer is a mechanism to place something righteous in his human soul/spirit. His human soul is still born corrupt from Adam’s original sin. That human soul is then later judged for righteousness.

Good and evil were not judged on the Cross. The sins of humanity were judged on the Cross.

Once it was complete, it was finished in the sense of never having to be performed again.

That is why when an unbeliever, for the first time exhibits simple faith alone in Christ alone, God is free to instantly regenerate that now believer’s human spirit and give him newness of life. It happens in a split second, immediately.

This is not the case of good and evil. Good and Evil were not judged on the Cross. Their resolution occurs overt time.

There will come a point in time, though, when they also will be resolved. When God judges all things, those which are righteous will be sorted out from those which are unrighteous.

That which is found to be wanting in anything righteous by Divine standards (not an Adamic nature, man’s standards), will then be placed in an appropriate place, so as not to cause future evil amongst those that are righteous and as punishment for their evil.

That place is the same place originally designed for the disposition of the fallen angels, namely, the Lake of Fire.

Instead of us asking how a loving God could cast any of His creation in the Lake of Fire, a more probing and powerful question is, “How can a loving God, continually endure the presence of evil, when He has already provided a mechanism for salvation?”

The answer becomes evident when we observe His Holy nature. It is immutable and perfectly righteous and just. He provides the solution and further in His love and grace, provides for His own.

[boycott]

Thank you for the reply. You’ve certainly offered me a different perspective.

I guess one of the issues that I have is that I feel that God demands perfection of us. I know that God doesn’t expect us to be perfect. I guess that’s just something within me that I need to better understand. I can assure you that I am a long way from being perfect.

One thing you pointed out is that God not only considers our unrightousness but also our rightousness. I guess that is something I don’t take much into consideration.

I realize that a person cannot make it 95% of the way to Heaven. You either do or you don’t. I don’t believe there’s anywhere in between. I obviously need to take into consideration that God sees not only my unrightousness but also my rightousness. That he does forgive me of my sins when I ask for forgiveness.

I am without a doubt a sinner. I frequently ask God for forgiveness of my sins. Unfortunately for me, I often go back and commit the same sins over and over. Obviously, I am not where I need to be and need to do much better.

I was initially drawn to God out of fear. For the most part, I went to Baptist churches growing up. I went to a Methodist high school. Fear of the lake of fire is what initially drew me toward God.

I haven’t been to any church in a long time. I used to go very regularly but a few things changed that. That’s another subject and I’ll spare you that explaination in this post. Although I haven’t been in a long time, I still believe.

I’ve heard different views on hell. It is obviously something I need to study more. One of the main reasons I’ve continued to believe is because I believe in a loving God. Unfortunately for me, I’ll sometimes use this as my “green light” to sin.

I know that God has always been there. It is not God that sometimes drifts away from our relationship. It is me. I’ve been in failed relationships before and I know that this is one relationship that I would most certainly not want to fail.

Obviously, I have a long way to go in my fellowship with God. I think it’s important that I recognize that I may not have a long time to get there because life is short and eternity is a very long time.

Again, thank you for the insight. I will read over your other replies again to try to get better understanding.