How true. But as I drove past that particular church, seeing the sign, and knowing something of the doctrine of that particular denomination, I could only shake my head and say, “But they don’t really believe it.”
How could I possibly make that claim? Because their reference to “no one” is, at best, limited, and, at worst, conditional. No one applies only to those who are living in this world. Does God still love any who have rejected him? Sure, they say; God will continue to love them, up until they draw their last breath. But, what happens when they die with rejection still on their lips and unbelief still in their hearts?
The church with the loving sign would say that without Christ, all will be condemned to an eternity in Hell. Does God still love them?
In George MacDonald’s novel, Robert Falconer, the young Robert puts the same question to several that cross his path: “What if a devil were to repent, would the Lord receive him back?” Each reply to him was a total rejection of the idea, and he was given a stern admonishment not to challenge the justice of God.
But the question remains — is the church sign correct? Does God’s love truly reach to everyone, or does his justice cause him to withdraw that love at some point in time? Is God’s love limited to this life only, or is it a universal love that moves beyond our world and draws all of his creation to himself, in the span of however long it takes to accomplish it?
What about the sins we commit? The unloving, selfish lifestyle? Can God love, does God love the one who does not believe the atonement, who does not apply the blood of Christ to their utterly sinful condition?
The church sign is 100% correct. God’s love MUST reach to everyone because God IS love; he can do no less. He loves through forgiveness. He loves through discipline. He loves no matter what is thrown in the path of redemption, be it devils or our own stubbornness.
The very essence of God is LOVE. It is hard-wired into each of us. Our free will allows us to feel our way through this life, and some, many pick up a lot of garbage along the way, making it difficult to get any real answers and being unable to see God as he really is. But he still loves us. He has the perfect plan in order to make our free will yield to his will in the end. We are his children.
Read more about: eternity, Hell, hope, love
January 13th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
I don’t question words (or phrases) that make sense to me. I don’t necessarily doubt the other words. They can be lost in translation, or I simply don’t know the intent. But I test everything against what I believe to be the nature of God, and sometimes the words I read don’t seem to fit. And we have probably falsely assumed that God will wipe out any words that were attributed to him (or Jesus), but weren’t his.
I liked Jill’s take on the Matthew verse about the security of being under God’s control. I tried to say that but not as well. I don’t think the destruction statement is false if we allow ourselves to examine what destruction could mean besides annihilation. I’ve read that the Hebrew term for destruction means the irrevocable giving over of something or someone wholly to God. That sounds as if it is being returned to God, not eliminated.
I’m on board with the mystery-of-God thing. We can’t know everything that he knows. But his relationship with us is contingent upon his ability to communicate with us in a way that generates a non-churchy dialogue between us and him. I still maintain that we are his children. Your child may deny you, or even leave you, but he/she will still be your child. And you wouldn’t think of vaporizing them or subjecting them to eternal torture.
January 13th, 2009 at 6:56 am
First, my question to Steve is this: if you doubt the accuracy of those words of Jesus, which words do you not question? What is your criteria for disbelief?
Second, I believe that in that particular verse in Matthew Jesus was trying to make the point that we didn’t need to worry because God was so powerful He had everything under control. My question is why would He use something false as an example? It doesn’t seem like he would just toss that out there for dramatic effect. He knew his words would be remembered, weighed and measured through the centuries.
Finally, I have no idea how God makes the decision, although I believe it is something deep within our hearts that would definitely surprise us. I don’t believe annihilation is at all a lack of love. We are fragile, temporary creatures that are being offered the gift of a relationship with our creator. I believe true free will gives us the choice whether to accept it.
January 13th, 2009 at 6:34 am
What would be God’s criteria for annihilation? Would an atheist, who was a good person and lived a self-sacrificing life have his life snuffed out, but a person who believed in God, was a murderer and lived a selfish, bad life be allowed to continue his journey in the next life? God says he will judge us by our works, not by how much we believe that he exists. Or you would have to take the fundamentalist standard of saying the right words, and no matter how you live your life, you are in.
January 12th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
I think that the Matthew passage was simply an illustration of how unfounded our fears are. We are quick to be afraid of those who can give us trouble or take our lives. By comparison God could inflict terror that continues following death. I don’t know how accurate these “words of Jesus” are, but he could possibly mean that there are none to fear in this life, being themselves subjected to real fear in the next. I struggle with the concept that we should be afraid of God, or even be afraid of what he will do. His discipline is born in love in order to correct our disobedience and clear our heads.
I feel certain that Satan continues to play a part in the afterlife. He too is a child of God (of sorts) with his own free will. As Satan progresses on his journey, God has seen fit to incorporate his bad behavior of attempting to thwart our own sanctification process.
Finally, I can’t see God as originally intending to create a human being, giving that person a free will, yet all the time planning to destroy him or her, either through annihilation or eternal suffering. Unless, of course, he never loved them to start with.
January 12th, 2009 at 6:23 am
I don’t see it as God having failed if that was His original intention.
January 11th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
This is a hard one. As Jill said,”Jesus said to fear the One who could destroy both the body and soul in Hell.” Who was the “One” that Jesus was referring to? I don’t think that it is God, and I’ve always thought the “One” was Satan. It is true that Satan is a powerful being, and God allows him to be so. I have not thought of Satan being involved in the journey after death, and I would greatly hope that if we are on a journey we would not be hindered by Satan or demons. However, who is to say he won’t be there? We are speaking of a journey in the spiritual realm. However, since God loves us unconditionally, then I would not think he would allow Satan to destroy us–his children. The word destroy seems to speak of a one time act of violence–not a continual suffering.
January 10th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
I’m more inclined to go with annihilation than a senseless eternal torment in Hell. But I have to wonder, if all created beings are children of God (which I believe), why cause one to cease to exist, only because their free will allowed them to reject their Creator? It would appear that God had failed, being unable to work within the free will to bring out the perfection in his original design.
January 8th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
In Matthew 10:28 Jesus said to fear the One who could destroy both the body and soul in Hell. This passage backs up what you’re saying about God’s love because he goes on to explain that no sparrow falls to the ground apart from the will of our Father and we are worth more than a sparrow, but wouldn’t that passing reference to hell seem to suggest annihilation for some?