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Archive - Spirit of the Word - Covenant Eschatology - Introductory Note - New Stuff
"Love Me--NOW!!!"Hi Gang,
The endless punishment dogma IS ROOTED IN the concept that God's--purpose--for creating human beings was so that they could "choose" between "heaven and hell." In other words, God's character is that of a "Great Gambler" who enjoys gambling with the eternal destinies of his (cherished?!) offspring. (Here, let's remember how that Paul tells his pagan audience on Mars Hill, that we are "all" God's offspring in Acts 17.)Hence, his purpose is to see if His offspring will love him "before it's forever too late" and he consigns them (by the billions!) to never-ending FIRE! (And whether or not this "fire" is spiritual or material is really beside the point. That is because we're talking about INFINITE pain being meted out to FINITE creatures that never "chose" to exist in the first place and are here because they were GOD'S idea. See what I'm saying?)
Thus, God's message to earth's inhabitants is, "You vile little sinners, I love you--but!--you had better love me NOW, for you see what happens to those who don't!"
But is this God's true character? Is this His real purpose in creating us?
Anyone who has tasted of His presence and grace long enough KNOWS that it is not. Even our grace-inclined ET friends have to admit this when they are faced with the BARE BONES of this horrific ideology. They KNOW that our Heavenly Father's real character is that of UNfailing Holy Love. They KNOW that--by experience.
But what they don't (yet) know is that His real purpose for creating us is clearly stated in Eph. 1:9-11, Col. 1:15-20 and Rev. 4:11.
In these passages we discover that He has made all creation for his will and desire and pleasure, and that His PURPOSE is to unite all creation in Christ when the times have reached their fulfillment, since He is reconciling ALL creation to Himself through Christ's cross, and He is doing that BECAUSE all creation was made BY and FOR His Son.
I share all of this because so often we who proclaim this good news of God's love that "reaches to the lowest hell" (as the old song says which many love but fail to believe!) are constantly confronted with the FALSE issue by protesters: "But God gave us a FREE WILL!"
Sound familiar?
But what are these earnest opponents to the infinite grace message REALLY saying when they pose this objection?
What they are really doing is RE-stating the old religious concept of God's purpose in creating sentient beings, aren't they? The concept that God is a rapist/extortionist whose purpose in creating us was so that he could send the message: "Love me--now!--or I will burn you alive for eternity!"
When THAT grisly purpose is exposed... all of the "free will" protestations lose their punch.
Yep. When that shoddy belief structure is hauled into CLEAR VIEW, it then becomes obvious that the tiresome old "free will" argument is a red herring.
Most UR (universal reconciliation) believers don't deny that people have some measure of what is (inadequately) termed as "free will." They simply maintain that this quality was given (or is in process of being bestowed) in order to constitute us as real personalities. It isn't being bestowed so we can "choose" where we will spend eternity.
Yep. I'm free to screw up all that I "choose". Of course! But that doesn't mean that I'm a "robot" (as many protesters assert) because God will always prove faithful to help me even if it means reaching into the lowest hell to do so. It simply means that God is more reliable than I am, bless Him!
I could never trust and love Him--I mean sincerely and truly trust and love Him FROM MY HEART--if I thought anything less of him. Give me a break! How could I love a "heavenly father" who perceives me as a "gambling chip" in his great cosmic game of "winners and losers"? I know that I could never have loved my earthly dad had he viewed me with that perception! And I don't think you could have loved yours either, had your dad perceived you as a gambling chip.
Well gang, thanks for putting up with me sounding off again! I'm praying that the silent readers will be blessed by any insights the Lord has dropped into my VERY needy heart, so that's why I occasionally post some insights that we UR believers already perceive as "obvious."
Silent reader, if your heart is weary and yearns to KNOW that God will reach into the lowest hell to help you (or your loved ones!) visit www.sigler.org/slagle
He loves you (and your loved ones!) FAR MORE than those who advertise "The Great Gambler" would have you to believe.Love to all,
CharlieSpirit of the Word - Covenant Eschatology - Introductory Note - New Stuff