What Changed?

[bbyrd009]

yikes?

 

[DNB]

It seems in your thinking God being Holy and good cannot have a connection with evil.

In a sense you are right, evil is the absence of God. Darkness is not a thing, it is the absence of light.

God created life and provided the ability to walk away or stay. God created the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the path to death and warned Adam of the path. So God did not create evil but knew the rebellion would happen, the cross was the way through. It was inevitable.

You may want to think of a different reality but this is it. Lostness is a kind of innocence, but knowledge of Christ and walking away is the loss of everything. If the rebellion was complete there would be no cross, no appeal, no resolution.

It is why I fear for those who say sin is not an issue with God. Sin is rebellion, the cause of the divide, and the solution is communion, love, a changed set of priorities with God at the centre.

By putting a sinner in heaven, God is no longer God, and rebellion is just a switch. If this was so Adam would have been forgiven, and we would be born with God in communion. It appears though God's people must choose to become part of the Kingdom, for it to exist. The kingdom is not based on John the Baptist.

Ok FH, I'm not sure if I'm following 100%. We may have been talking about 2 different things? At times it sounds like you're saying ying & yang with God, which I disagree. At other times, it sounds like your simply saying that God uses evil to fulfill His will, but is not the author or orchestrator of it. If the latter, this is more plausible, in my opinion.

 

[FollowHim]

Ok FH, I'm not sure if I'm following 100%. We may have been talking about 2 different things? At times it sounds like you're saying ying & yang with God, which I disagree. At other times, it sounds like your simply saying that God uses evil to fulfill His will, but is not the author or orchestrator of it. If the latter, this is more plausible, in my opinion.

God is not the author of evil, ie He does not do evil things.
God does bring judgement, and He allows others to choose to either do good or evil.

Theologically this is a difficult point for some. Their concepts say all people do evil no matter how much they try even if it appears good. You get the absurd position where it is has no value to encourage anybody to do good unless they are a believer. Now I would hold the opposite, we are the salt of the earth that keeps the focus on what is loving and kind and not to let things decay into despair and selfish desires.

So God talks to satan about Job and how righteous he is.
Now for me the whole of creation hangs on the argument, domination to gain control or love and service to bring harmony.
Domination is about the desires of the dictator, not the group, which drives everything.
Love is driven by the need of the whole group and helping one another.

For God to allow love to exist, domination has also be allowed to exist, to create the two opposing camps.
And this is my point. God is showing why love works, why it is the bedrock of existence, and He will use everything to bring this about.

In Hinduism gods are neither good or evil, they do both and are flawed individuals.
In scripture God is purity, justice and truth founded on love and service.
Now to have those who choose this way they have to be given the chance to choose the opposite.

Can you face the idea that God decided to create us knowing many would end in the lake of fire?
Is that enough not to do anything, or is the lake of first for most just destruction, the chance at life for all, but those who fail, their demise. I do have a problem if God knew the cost of bringing the elect home, was eternal torture for the lost. Eternal torture seems to serve no purpose, as the lost are just that, lost.

DNB you sound undecided in your mind as to the foundation of what God is proposing to mankind. Are you interested in discovering more?