@MatthewG, My question was a simple
yes or no question backed up by
scripture: Does God expect man to work for a living?
Why can't you answer that? You would have answered yes immediately -- if you had a job and were independent, a hard worker. Most all Christians know and believe in a strong work ethic. But you avoided the question like the plague. You have been avoiding those kind of questions for a long time.
I am getting personal, yes, for your own good. This is probably why you avoid a good teaching church too, you don't want anyone to find out who you really are. 98% of the Pastors out there would not be teaching you Universalism - so you avoid them too. You hide from everyone in your own little cubicle logged into the internet. Likely, you live in your parents home, milking off them like many irresponsible youths today.
Psychologists say the average boy turns into a man at age 30. 100 years ago a 15 year old boy knew how to work the farm, do all the family business and it was common for him to achieve independence, get married and have kids by the time he was 21, a man, someone whom his parents were proud of. Kids are less mature these days - there are exceptions though.
What is your excuse? The youth of today have many. Truth be told, many, but not all,
just don't want to grow up, don't want responsibility. While you seem to think there is nothing else better to do but spend hours spinning yarns about Universalism and Amillennialism (12k posts in last two years), there is a more fruitful life out there in the real world. You actually need to go out and get a life, live-in for 30 or 49 years, then come back and share, because you aren't offering any wisdom at all in your threads. People have just tried to help you, reasin with you woth scriptures but you remain unteachable and stuck.
Even though the world is corrupt, we still have to live in it. God calls us to work, experience life, the ups and downs, successes and failures, in order to grow. You can't grow by sitting home isolated from the world.
You may think this doesn't have anything to do with the topic. Yes it does.
I'll explain. This generation of kids are infected by this
victim mentality.
They think that whatever is wrong with their lives is not their fault. They blame society, their parents, a long list of mental disorders (ADHD, depression, anxiety, OCD, bipolar, etc.) and use them as an excuse. They can't cope, can't fit into the work place, can't find purpose or just feel inadequate and low self esteem.
Simply they are afraid to grow up, nir get the point of going through all those motions.
I have a 22 year old relative who has refused to go to school or work after high school. He had a full scholarship to UC Irvine, 1380 on SAT - TOP 2% in intellegence, YET he is afraid to grow up. I've had several talks with him, trying to encourage him with no success. His divorced, dysfunctional parents take turns shuffling him back and forth to several homes. They are failures as parents. He is stuck in a
pit of despondency and fear and just can't pull himslef out. He asked me once, "How long is it acceptable to live at home? Wow! I was shocked. I laid into him about how fathers used to guve their kids a boot at 18 unless they attended college, then after that they got the boot. I said, "Just get a job, any job, after a few months you'll wonder why you were so apprehensive. You will feel a sense of dignity. In time, you will find your niche." Most of us had these fears in the beginning and overcame them. Even with new jobs, there is a sense of apprehension, fear of change, bew people, new rules, a period of feeling inadequacies- everyone has to jump these hurtles. It is part of life, facing your fears. There is really no excuse not to work. I had a blknd teacher in college - one of the best I ever had. I have seen retarded kids collect tickets at the movie theaters and have seen quadrapelegic and people with all sorts of disabilities work successfully.
So how does this have anything to do with your topic?
You are not only an Amillennialist, but you are a Universalist. This new age popular view of God as only a God of Love and forgiveness is also a facet of this Eccumenical Movement involving all religions. If all roads lead to salvation, then it doesn't matter which one you are on. Follow that line of thought and you can say IF all are forgiven, then it doesn't really matter how I live my life. Follow that line of thought and you can say I can just drift through life without purpose, be irresponsible, take advantage of others ( even my parents), be dependent on the government and just seek the easy way out and it won't matter, God will forgive me. This is a cop out.
Well God does not want us to cop out.
We can do all things in Christ who strengthens us. He would not have added numerous scriptures about being a sluggard and lazy - which leads to poverty, if being lazy was okay.
No, it's worse than being an unbeliever!
So this single facet, a
strong work ethic is absent in this new age victim mentality.
The
wages of sin is death is also absent in your view. It is as if death has no meaning if everyone gets saved.
The other facet is your
denial of a period of time called the Great Tribulation which you attribute to 70AD in Jerusalem. You fail to see what is actually brewing in the Middle East right now. It will escallate into WWIII. Ten nations are gathering to form a Beast that will attack Israel. And
this would validate events in Revelation as hsppening now.
A devastation to the world where billions of people die does not equate with your loving God, Who you think wouldn't do such a thing.
But in your favor, He forgives people for being lazy as long as they are "in Christ".
Once you are dead, your fate is fixed.⁹
