Smoke Screens?

[stunnedbygrace]

I think Gerhard was joking. Of course, I get things wrong sometimes.

 

[Grailhunter]

LOL
What? You won't be happy till I'm afraid of God?
I'm afraid of satan...I understand the power he has...he's the Prince of the Air.
IOW, he's the prince of the earth and we're on HIS territory.

Right about satan. He came before man and he CHOSE to abandon God.
So he had free will.
But free will to choose WHAT?
Biblical free will means the choice to choose between two choices...moral choices.

So when satan CHOSE to reject God and go our on his own....
and we can call that rejection evil, right?

So where did THAT evil come from?
It's a rhetorical question JBF...I don't really expect you to answer it.
Just something to think about.

I agree that God created us with free will.
This free will He gave us is not the cause of evil...not even in an indirect way.
Evil existed BEFORE man was given a choice.

Regarding fear of God: I have nothing further to say.
I'm not here to argue about biblical matters UNLESS they have to do with salvation (soteriology).

If you want to believe that God wants us to fear him...you're free to do so.
No problem.

Yep, that is what Christ was referring to....when He called us friends. How can you love that which you fear?

 

[Grailhunter]

here's one that speaks to me,

Proverbs 14:27 "The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death."

Yep lets be a Jew. Are we going to stone our kids too.

 

[GodsGrace]

Yep, that is what Christ was referring to....when He called us friends. How can you love that which you fear?

Right.

Jesus was speaking to the Apostles when He said the following:

John 15:15
"I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."

However, since the Apostles passed on to us what Jesus taught THEM...
we can say that Jesus also meant this for us.
We are His friend, not His slaves.

Jesus also said:

John 15:14
"You are my friends IF you do what I command you".

 

[Enoch111]

How can you love that which you fear?

Well the Bible teaches us that to love God is also to fear God and to reverence Him. So it is up to you to determine from the Bible how those two things are in harmony. Go through every reference to "the fear of the LORD" with the help of Strong's Concordance.

 

[justbyfaith]

Yep, that is what Christ was referring to....when He called us friends. How can you love that which you fear?

I didn't have a dad who chastened me with any kind of physical chastening...but if I did, I think that I would fear him without ceasing to love him.