No Buts

I still haven't come across a bible verse that says, "God is love AND.." or God is love BUT.." I've heard plenty of people say it though.

"God is love BUT God is also just."
The words just & righteous in the bible are translated from the same word. Righteousness is defined by love. There is no but there.

"God is love BUT God is also holy."
What typically follows this statement are reasons why God is not loving or holy. As if holiness is a pass on love. They will say, "A Holy God must punish sin." But the bible says, "Love keeps no record of wrongs" (1 Corinthians 13:5) & "God does not count the world's sins against them" (2 Corinthians 5:19).


In their minds God's offer is this, "I love you BUT I hate sin so much that I need you to apologize to me for all of your sins. If you don't I will not forgive you & I will torture you FOREVER." They'll also say that 1 sin is worthy of eternal punishment by God. I can forgive someone of something without them even having to apologize to me by coming & asking for my forgiveness. But "HOLY" God cannot. He is so "good" & "righteous" & "holy" that he has to punish you FOREVER if you don't apologize to him. A good man wouldn't kill someone for not apologizing. This idea makes God out to be worst than a rapist. God says, "I love you." But if you don't say it back he kills you. That is one of the most loveless things imaginable.

But that is the "gospel" most Christians spread. "God loves you but he also hates you" or "God loves you but He hates sin EVEN MORE than He loves you." This supposed gospel's message is "HATE TRUMPS LOVE." In softer words, "your actions mean more to God than YOU as a person." Its message is God offers to "save" you from HIMSELF. In it God says, "Ask me for forgiveness or I'll burn you forever," "Love me back or die," "Agree to be my servant or suffer the endless consequences."

So to them God's holiness is defined as "God cares more about what people do than about the people themselves." That is how holy people live right? That is how God wants us to live right? To judge & shame & condemn & look down upon people.. oh & to torture them or murder them. That is how Christianity has played out for hundreds of years, killing & shunning & shaming & bossing.

Sadly for many people it is more important for them to feel like they've been right all along than it is for them to care an ounce about their idea of God not even remotely resembling basic love.


The truth is God doesn't save you from Himself, Jesus didn't save you from the Father. What sense would that make? What kind of good news is "God loves you by saving you from his hatred of you." Even if He saves you who wants to spend time with someone who wants to kill you to begin with?

God will never forgive you because God is love & He never kept a record of your wrongs in the first place. The word "forgive" in the bible has been mistranslated. It actually means God takes away your burdens & the weight sin has pressed upon you. It has nothing to do with a "holy" God being angry & needing an apology from us.

All these people seeking to "glorify God" by spreading the false gospel of "God is love but.." & the false gospel of forgiveness have been suckered into believing God is the greatest monster ever imagined yet claiming all of his monstrosities are actually his holiness.

"What a sorrow it is for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter" (Isaiah 5:20). And yes I've felt that sorrow & know many who have & still do feel the sorrow caused by believing in a false idea of God. One that we are forced to believe is good & holy because we've been told "the bible says.." But there is no "but" after "God is love."

Love in 1 Corinthians 13 Written as God's Vows to Us

I will wait for you & be kind to you. I will trust you & be considerate of you. I will not boast of myself but instead boast of us. I will not seek to control you. I will not make you feel small or insignificant. I will not shame or dishonor or disgrace you. I will not demand my own way. I will not be irritated or angry with you. I will not record, remember, or recall your wrongs, but I will never be glad to see you hurting. I will never think ill of you, but I will take no joy in seeing you harm yourself. We will rejoice together over truth & the simple reality that we are together. I will know when to be silent & when to speak.

No matter what comes I will always protect you, I will always believe the best of you, I will always be satisfied with you, I will always look forward to our life together, I will always stay beside you. I will never give up on you. My love for you will never diminish or fail. My love for you never ends.

Why Equality is a Weak Concept

Human value is not comparable to numbers. 1 is equal to 1. 2 is not equal to 1, 2 is greater than 1. Humanity is not like that. Humanity is more like the alphabet. No letter is greater than another. They all look different & sound different yet they are always intersecting to make something great together.

This is why recognizing diversity is the key to valuing people rather than the idea of equality. Equality can remove identity & genericize humanity to where we end up making nothing out to be special. But when we see the diverse attributes of one another then we can value people for the excitement of who they uniquely are. So instead of looking at people as math equations, 1 human = 1 human, you can look at me & I can look at you & say, "YOU are awesome!"

Fear Behind the Curtain

One reason people oppose the "grace message" is because they are afraid of God. They think He will be angry with them, punish them, or break fellowship with them if they aren't vigilant to avoid sin & diligent to obey Him.

Another reason people oppose the "grace message" is because they are afraid of sin. They don't believe that Christians are dead to sin or free from sin. They believe sin still has power over us. They think we have to avoid sin like perpetually falling acid rain. Romans 6:14 says sin is powerless against someone who lives under grace (the recognition that God desperately loves you no matter what, y'know like a loving Father would). It also says that when you put yourself under law you give sin power over you that it otherwise would never have.

If you fear either of these things you doubt or limit God's love for you. 1 John 4:18 says there is no fear in a relationship where you know that you are loved. Knowing you are loved actually pushes away any fears that may come up. Zechariah said the very proclamation of the coming of the Messiah was "Fear not, your King is coming." Zacharias prophesied, "The Lord God of Israel has granted us the freedom to serve Him without fear." Every Christian that believes in the power of sin also believes they must fear God. They are living as if Jesus has never come to this earth. If you reject the grace message, you at least in part are rejecting Jesus & the suffering He has done on your behalf.

God has not given us a spirit of fear. If you are fearful you are not walking by the spirit He has given you. The spirit He has given us causes our hearts to cry out, "Daddy! Papa! Father!" What father demands fear? What father angrily punishes? What father abandons you whenever you make a mistake? Not Jesus' Father. Not my Father. What child wants to run to a father that does those things?

♥♥♥LOVE♥♥♥

Sometimes we get things backwards. When the bible tells us that love summarizes the law & makes similar statements, most of us think, "Ok now I only have two laws to obey, love God & love others." But that was not the purpose of those statements. The point is love can safely replace the law. You don't have to have a law mindset to love. Love is not "the new law" either, because law condemns you for breaking it. Love does not condemn at all. Law places a perpetual burden upon you. Love removes burdens & gives you rest. There is no fear in love. There is fear in law, fear of breaking, fear of not keeping.

In fact law gives you fear of having to maintain EVERY aspect of your life by your own performance. You have to maintain your self-worth, be in control of your relationship with God, & control your relationships with others. Law demands for you to strictly control every natural thing in your life whether you have the slightest ability to or not. Love offers freedom, freedom from questioning your self-worth, freedom from being in control of your relationship with God, freedom from assessing or manipulating your relationships with others.

The demand of the law was "fear!" The message of Jesus is "love!" Notice that it is the message of Jesus, not the demand. It is love given to you until it naturally flows out of you. Jesus never once told His disciples to "love God" & He only told them to "love one another" after He had walked with them for years so they could "love one another as He has loved them." Who goes out into their yard & starts demanding that their grass grow? No one. Growth is always a natural process & love grows love.

Love only requires two things to be received, awareness & acceptance. You have to be aware of the love someone has for you & you also have to be willing to accept that love into your life. In order to be saved we must simply be aware of the good news that God loves us & accept His love into our life by trust.

There are only two things you need to be able to give love, awareness & affection. You have to be aware of the value of another person to love them. If you are not you will judge them & possibly even attempt to get them to conform to the behaviors that you think will make them valuable. You also have to show affection. There are countless ways to show affection & the beauty of love is to explore those ways to the delight of everyone involved.

Love does not suck up resources. Love is the resource. Love does not demand from you, love gives to you. Love is what gives you the desire & strength to value a person & show them affection no matter the costs. ALL good things are built into love. You don't have to add to love. Love is perfect & complete in itself.

Love does not require commitment because it is natural for love to never leave. Love does not have to forgive (except verbally for others' piece of mind) because love never holds a thing against the person in the first place. If you have to add anything to love then your love is incomplete. If you are worried about your love being incomplete, don't be. God, who is Love itself, lives inside of you. You have an infinite resource of love. You need to let love produce the natural versions of the things you think love requires rather than obligate yourself to do those things by laws, rules, or commands you think you have to keep.

♥♥♥GOD IS LOVE♥♥♥
Now I will take the above statements & replace the word love with God & we shall see how He perfectly represents love.

God can safely replace the law. God does not condemn at all. God removes burdens & gives you rest. God offers freedom, freedom from questioning your self-worth, freedom from being in control of your relationship with Him, freedom from assessing or manipulating your relationships with others. The message of Jesus is "Abba, Father!" Growth is always a natural process & God grows love.

God only requires two things to be known, awareness & acceptance. You have to be aware of the love God has for you & you also have to be willing to accept His love into your life. In order to be saved we must simply be aware of the good news that God loves us & accept His love into our life by trust. There are countless ways to show affection & the beauty of God is to express those ways to the delight of everyone involved.

God does not suck up resources. God is the resource. God does not demand from you, God gives to you. God is who gives you the desire & strength to value a person & show them affection no matter the costs. ALL good things are built into God. You don't have to add to God or His finished work. God is perfect & complete in Himself & He wants to share that perfection with us.

God does not require your commitment, He is the one who is faithful to you & He does not want you to experience the shame of failure that comes with breaking promises. God never had to forgive you because He never held anything against you in the first place. He seeks to remove your burdens & give you life. You have an infinite resource in God. You need to let God produce His natural love in you rather than obligating yourself to perform acts of love according to law, rules, or commands you think you have to keep.

Boiling it Down

I think it is interesting that we still boil things down to laws, "love god, love others."

If the message to pass on from scripture were to "love god & love others" a person wouldn't even need to know God to try to pull that off. It would also be easy for the person we pass it onto to still live in a "how much love do I have to give to make me ok" mindset. They had those laws before Jesus came. If they were the only truths that mattered why would Jesus die?

I think the most important thing to get out of scripture is "God loves me & that means I'm ok & God loves you too & that means you're ok." He'll love us well enough for us to love Him back & to spread His love around.

If you don't trust that He loves you then your experience in life is not going to be ok because you will try to get Him to love you & even if you don't try that you'll still be missing out on living in His love. If you don't trust that He loves others then you will make yourself superior to them in your mind. Or you will fear for them & be angry with them because they aren't trying hard enough to get God to love them.

Without trusting that you are loved you won't be willing to accept yourself as worthy of love. Likewise if you don't trust that others are loved you'll treat them the same way you'd treat yourself, as unworthy of love & needing to earn that worth.

I don't care if my "most important thing" sounds universally or not. The fact is God will give you another chance to trust His love. God will do His uttermost to save us all. God isn't going to be like, "Ohp you waited until your deathbed to trust in me, too late" or "Oh too bad you waited until judgment day to trust in me, too late."

Good News Flash! Romans 14:10-12 reveals to us that Isaiah 45:18-24 tells us what God says on judgment day to all of those who have not yet been saved. He says, "There is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other." He also says, "Gather yourselves and come; Draw near" & Isaiah says "men will come to Him." Hebrews 7:25 tells us that "God will save forever those who come & draw near to Him."

"God is patient with everyone. He does not desire for anyone to perish. He wants every person to come to changing his or her mind to trust in Him" (2 Peter 3:9). Here are the main two things to know about God. God is love & God is a Savior.

See this page for related posts:  Choose Life & Live!

To Fear or Not to Fear?

In Luke 12:5-7 Jesus said, “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the one who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows."

Most assume that the one who "kills" & "has authority to cast into hell" is God, so much so that some translations capitalize "the One" making it seem as though it is God. But notice Jesus goes from telling people to fear to telling them how valuable they are to God, that He never forgets them. Jesus said God knows how many hairs are on our heads. He didn't say it to make a point about God being omniscient. He said it to make a point about how much God values us, which I think pictures God enjoying to number our hairs like a warm hearted father.

Jesus then goes on to tell the people "do not fear." Well which one is it Jesus? Fear God because he'll kill you & send you to hell or Don't fear God because He values you, you are always on His mind, & He delights in knowing every detail about you? It is the second one because the first one isn't referring to God at all. Hebrews 2:14 says, "The devil has the power of death." In John 10:10 Jesus says that Satan comes only to steal, kill, & destroy.

Why would Jesus tell people to fear Satan? Because Satan's power of death had not yet been broken by Jesus' resurrection. Lets look at Hebrews 2:12-15 again, "Since God's children live in flesh & blood Jesus Himself became flesh & blood, that through death He might render powerless the one who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives."

God is the Savior who offers life. Jesus didn't tell us to fear God, He said "Don't be afraid, God values you tremendously." Jesus' coming was prophesied as a time to not fear. "Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt”' (John 12:14-15). In Luke 8:50 Jesus said people are saved, healed, & made whole by trusting without fear. Why shouldn't we be afraid? Because our perfectly loving God values us enough to count every hair on our head.

What about the Old Testament telling people to "Fear God?"
During the temptation of Jesus, Jesus said, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only’” (Mathew 4:10). Notice the word, “Worship.” Jesus said worship the Lord your God, but the verse He quoted in Deuteronomy says, “Fear the Lord your God, serve him only" (Deuteronomy 6:13). So Jesus changed out the word, “Fear” with, “Worship.” It must be that these two words are synonymous in the mind of Christ, and who else to interpret the fear of the Lord than Jesus himself! Jesus himself defined “the fear of the Lord” as “to worship the Lord.” Jesus was talking to Satan. If there was one being for Jesus to be talking to and say "fear the Lord!" or "be terrified of the Lord!" it would be Satan yet Jesus still gave us the true meaning. The fear of the Lord is not frightfulness & terror. The fear of the Lord truly is worship which means "reverence, honor, & respect."

This suggests that perhaps "fear God" never meant "be terrified of Him" but instead always meant regard, respect, & revere Him. Even if it did once refer to a terror type of fear our King has come being announced beforehand as someone to "fear not." And His Spirit has come to pour out His love into our hearts, a Spirit that is not of fear, but of power and of love and of a mind that can be confident in its abilities to understand.

"There is no fear in love. Love gets rid of fear. Fear involves punishment. Love does not punish. God is love. If you are afraid of God or afraid of punishment you have refused to be completely carried by His love. This is the key to letting His love carry us, knowing that we love because He first loved us. If you get that backwards, thinking that He loves or gives because we first love Him, your experience of His love will always be inadequate because you will be too busy trying to love Him to let Him love you." (1 John 4:18-19)

No Longer Falling Short..

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" is not supposed to be a verse that Christians use to feel guilty about their weaknesses. The very next verse says, "People are declared righteous through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." Glory means "great value." Redeem means "to restore value." No matter how much we had fallen short of God's glory through salvation in Jesus He much more raises us up to His glory! So you as a Christian never again need to speak of how you "fall short of God's glory." If you still do then you think your value is based upon your behavior. Not even the best behavior could reach God's glorious value but He has given us the value of Jesus as a gift.

To call yourself unworthy is untrue. To say that you "fall short of the glory of God" because of your actions is untrue. What kind of father wants his son or daughter to think that he or she is "unworthy" to be his child. God made you eternally worthy because He birthed you Himself by His Spirit. The bible says righteousness is a gift. God made all His children righteous yet for years I never heard a single Christian say, "I am righteous." At the same time, it was almost impossible to encounter a Christian who didn't speak of their unworthiness.

So many self-professed Christians were taught to look back at their salvation as if it were this:
"I first met my father on Christmas day. He kept telling me how sinful & unworthy I am. I apologized to him. He accepted my apology by saying, 'Now that you've met me I'll tell you how to earn your Christmas gifts from me.' He told me a little but mostly he just kept telling me how sinful I am & how unworthy I am to be his child. He said it was his job to remind me of how much I fall short. Because of my unworthiness I have never been able to receive a single one of his gifts."

Who Killed Jesus?

The cross is the place where sin, guilt, & shame were taken care of. How terrible is it then that the cross has been used to make people feel guilty? The gospel has been flip-flopped to manipulate us & make us feel bad. You didn't kill Jesus. Jesus said He laid down His life willingly (see John 10:17).

LOOK! Here is the Gospel:

YOUR SIN DIDN'T KILL JESUS!
 

JESUS KILLED YOUR SIN!

"God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and He condemned sin in the flesh" (Romans 8:3)

For more on this read my post The Good News

"This is love for God: to keep His commands" Uh oh! ...there goes grace!

"By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and His commandments are not burdensome." (1 John 5:2-3)

Right off the bat people make an assumption about which commands John was talking about. They assume it includes either all of the commands of the old covenant, or the 10 commandments, or the 2 greatest old covenant commandments Jesus identified, or every command Jesus ever spoke (regardless of who He spoke it to), or every command in the New Testament, or even every command in all of scripture.

1 John 5:3 says, "his commandments are not burdensome." This tells us right away that John is not including the commands of the old covenant. How do we know this? From what happens in Acts 15.

Some of the sect of the Pharisees who had trusted stood up, saying, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.” The apostles and older men met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them:
“Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and trust. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by trust. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We trust it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.” (Acts 15:5-11)

Here in the narrative of Acts Peter clearly says that Gentile Christians are not required to keep the law of Moses (including the 611 commands in it which includes the 10 commandments & the 2 greatest commandments). Peter points out that neither the Apostles, prophets, nor any Jew in history was able to bear the yoke of the law. Peter also said that it is testing God to require people to keep the law.

John was almost certainly there when this happened in Acts 15. Peter said all of the law of Moses was burdensome (unbearable) thus the commands John refers to in 1 John 5 could not have included any of those laws, 2 of which are the "love God with all that you are" & "love your neighbor as yourself" commands. Colossians 2:14, Ephesians 2:15 say the old covenant commands were "against us" & "stood opposed to us." Galatians 5:1 calls the law a yoke of slavery that Christ set us free from.

What Were the Commands?
John tells us earlier in his letter what the "commands" he speaks of in 1 John 5 are. In 1 John 3:23 he says, "This is God's command: to trust in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us." "As he commanded us" is "To love one another as He has loved us" (John 13:34). The commands he speaks of in 1 John 5 are "Trust Jesus" & "love one another as Jesus has loved us."

But John says, His commands aren't burdensome. He doesn't say the commands are unheavy burdens or light burdens. He says they aren't burdensome at all. How can that be? Are we supposed to "be good Christians" by pretending that they don't burden us? The mere fact that something is a command makes it burdensome. Well they are burdens but the burdens are carried by Christ not us! These commands are based on His love & His trustworthiness not upon our performance. While they are burdens, so to speak, they are not burdensome because the easiest thing ever for God to do is to be trustworthy & loving.

Galatians 5:6 says, "The only thing that counts is trust being expressed through love." The only thing that counts is trust in Jesus being expressed through loving actions by God in you. This is the natural product of trusting Jesus thus "His commands are not burdensome" (1 John 5:3). Our trust in Him naturally expresses love because He is the vine, He produces the love and love comes out of us as we trust Him. We don't need commands to tell us to love. We have LOVE HIMSELF living inside of us.

In John 6:28-29 some people asked Jesus, "What do we do to perform God's works?" Jesus told them, "This is the only work God wants from you: Trust in the one he has sent." This is deeply true. Trust is the only thing you have to do, everything else is done by God through you because you trust Him! Why do we trust Him? Because He loves us! How much does God love us? John 17:20-23 & 15:9 tells us The Father loves us just as much as He loves Jesus! Jesus loves us just as much as the Father loves Him!

Related Posts:
If you love Me, you will keep My commandments † I Will Love You So You Will Trust Me
Trust and Love, Everything We Need
Love God?

Great Scriptures for All Christians & Christian Groups

God is Love. God is not self seeking. (1 Corinthians 13:5/1 John 4:8)
Jesus says, "I reveal Myself to you so that in knowing Me you may have peace." (John 16:33)
God has stopped counting people's sins against them. (2 Corinthians 5:19)
God the Father loves you as much as He loves Jesus. Jesus loves you as much as the Father loves Him. (John 17:23,15:9)
Since God is for us God cannot also be against us. (Romans 8:31)
The Lord says, “I promise to never be angry with you or offended at you.“ (Isaiah 54:9)
Jesus says, “I do not call you my servants. I call you my friends. You are not God's servants. You are God's children.” (John 15:15/Galatians 4:7)

Nothing, including yourself, can separate you from the love of God. (Romans 8:35)
Jesus says, "I will never leave or forsake you. Look for me in your life because I will always be with you." (Hebrews 13:5/Matthew 28:20)
There is no fear in love. Love gets rid of fears. Fear involves punishment. Love does not punish. (1 John 4:18)
Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and He knows He has made us innocent. (1 John 3:20)
Jesus says, "I will treat you with gentleness & humility. I will not make you feel like a slave & I will not make you fearful. I want to give you rest, wisdom, & ease." (Matthew 11:28-30/Romans 8:15)

Whoever trusts that Jesus is the Christ is born of God & is one spirit with Him. (1 John 5:1/1 Corinthians 6:17)
Because we have trusted in Christ Jesus who rose from the dead we are not in our sins, we are in Christ instead! He has perfected our spirits forever & is purifying our flesh by renewing our minds with His kindness. (1 Corinthians 15:17/Hebrews 10:14/Romans 12:2,2:4)
Because the Spirit of God lives in you, you are never in the flesh, instead you are always in the spirit. God will never identify you by the flesh. (Romans 8:9/2 Corinthians 5:16)
Your new spirit has been created in the likeness of God. You truly are right with God. You were made righteous, pure, guiltless, innocent, faultless, and holy. (Ephesians 4:24)

By his divine power, God has already given us everything we need for life and godliness. All we have to do is discover and enjoy those things. (2 Peter 1:3-4)
God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)
Do you want the riches of God's glory? Well the riches of God's glory is Christ in you! Jesus fills us with the hope of seeing God's glory unfolding throughout our lives. (Colossians 1:27)

Jesus abolished the Law of commandments contained in written rules. Those commands were against us & stood opposed to us. He took them away and nailed them to the cross (Colossians 2:14, Ephesians 2:15)
You cannot become righteous by keeping the commands in the scriptures. If you could then Christ died for nothing. Righteousness instead comes as a gift you receive from God by trusting in Christ. (Galatians 2:21/Philippians 3:9)
Trying to keep the law is like slavery & it is a burden too great for any person to bear, even the apostles & prophets of old. Christ set you free so you could stay free. Don't make yourselves slaves of the law by trying to keep the law. (Romans 7:6/Acts 15:10/Galatians 5:1)
You cannot be trying to keep the Law & be led by the Spirit of God at the same time. (Galatians 5:18)

Jesus says, "This is the will of God, that you trust Me so you can know Me forever." (John 6:40)
Jesus says, "The only work God wants from you is to trust in Me. Everything else flows from that." (John 6:28-29)
Love doesn't happen by us trying to love God. Love starts with God loving us & ends with us loving one another. (1 John 4:7-11)
Listen to God & value Him. You can be secure if you stop trying to make yourself feel secure. Instead of trusting yourself to bring about your own security know that it is God who works in you to desire & to act according to His heart's desire. His heart desires the best for you. (Philippians 2:12-13)

Do not let anyone condemn you by insisting on self-denial in the name of humility. (Colossians 2:18)
Rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, strict self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in stopping the harmful desires of the flesh. (Colossians 2:23)
You'll be happy if you don't condemn yourself by choosing what you think is good to do & bad to do. Trust God & then don't doubt yourself. If you doubt yourself you'll feel guilty. (Romans 14:22-23)
God's kingdom is not a place of demanding & forcing. God is a giver who rules over us by giving to us. He gives us freedom, purity, peace, & joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17)
Satan cannot touch someone who is born of God. (1 John 5:18)

God does not live in buildings made by people (Acts 17:24)
We are God's House (Hebrews 3:6)
Jesus says, "You do not need to go anywhere to worship. If you do go somewhere to worship it is irrelevant because true worship is done in spirit and truth." (John 4:23)
Each person should give what he has decided in his own heart to give. He should neither give reluctantly nor give because he feels forced. (2 Corinthians 9:7)

The Lord God declares, "I myself will shepherd my sheep and give them rest." (Ezekiel 34:15)
Jesus says, "Do not be called leaders because you only have one leader, Christ." (Matthew 23:10)
Jesus says, "You shall not have authority over one another. You are all equal brothers." (Luke 22:25-26/Matthew 23:8)
Do nothing to seek an office for yourself but with humility of mind regard others as more important than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3)
All who are in Christ are equally in Him. (2 Corinthians 10:7)
You do not need anyone to teach you. The Spirit teaches you about all things. (1 John 2:27/John 16:13)
No person is to act as your judge in regards to what you do. God accepts all of His children. He died for all of them. Don't judge your brother, only be careful not to stand in his way or cause him to stumble. All of you have been made complete in Christ. (Colossians 2:10,17/Romans 14:13,15)

God is Not All Knowing & God is Not in Control

The dilemma comes up often, "How can an all knowing God allow evil?" I suggest to you that God is all knowing minus evil.

Jeremiah 32:35 says, "They built the high places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben-hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they would do this abomination." This clearly says that the evil they did never entered into God's mind. Why? Because God is good. He does not harbor knowledge of future evil. He does not fill His mind with knowledge of the sins of the world.

1 John 3:5 says, "In Jesus there is no sin." Jesus also made clear that thinking about murder, adultery, etc is sinful like doing those things. So then does God think about evil if there is no sin in Him? Is there sin in His head? No. God doesn't dwell on evil nor does He retain it in His knowledge. God deals with evil as it happens or after it happens.

God does not allow evil because He does not foresee evil. He is too good to have knowledge of evil within Him. He knows the difference between good & evil as Genesis 3:22 says because He participates in all good & refuses to be involved in any evil (James 1:17).

God is love & love does not demand its own way (1 Corinthians 13:5). God does not override people's freewill. Sure we think this is a good idea when it comes to evil deeds because we think the best way to protect someone is to control them. But it is not. Love never controls. In our hearts & minds we know that is true, unless of course we are doing the controlling because we feel as though we need to protect someone or guide someone "in their best interests." God does know what is best for us but love still never controls. God does not break what love is under the guise of "doing it for your own good." If He did somewhere in our hearts we would know it is not love. If God is not love He is unworthy. If God has not love then God is nothing & that is why so many don't believe He exists, they've never been presented with a God who is truly Love.

God is not in control. He has not been in control since day 6 of creation just before He created mankind with freewill and dominion over the earth. God is the most powerful & knowledgeable being but God is also love & love does not demand its own way. As God Himself tells us in Jeremiah 32:35, quoted above, God does not foresee evil. He does not retain evil in His knowledge. He does not remember sins either.

In the name of protecting the omniscient & sovereignty doctrines people will paint God as loveless, evil, & even the source of sin. But the truth is God is eternally omniscient minus evil. You can either view God as a self-centered being playing the world like a video game or as a Father of many children who never controls but fully loves. He is a Father, His first born Son told us so! Is your God a programmer who ran a simulation with AI? Is your God a gamer who plays us like a video game? Is your God a careless father who pays no attention to his family? None of those, though they are the dominant views of God in the world, represent the Father Jesus revealed to us.

God is a Father. Think about what a father is. Even the most manipulative father cannot control every aspect of all his children's lives. He can lock them up, distort their beliefs, force their hands but none of those things make someone believe they are loved nor do they inspire love. Love requires freedom. The freedom sin, Satan, & shame stole from mankind Christ again offers back to us & then some! Fathers provide, protect, guide, & most of all love. God works to love & protect mankind in ways we have no idea about.

Religion has sold us an all knowing God who is in complete control because it thinks that is what makes people feel secure. But the fact is that the only view of God that really makes people secure is the true view of Him, God is love & God is good. He doesn't have to be in complete control & He doesn't have to know all things for us to be confident in Him. All we need to know is He is with us & He loves us. If we think we need more then we don't grasp His love or presence in our lives.

"The Lord is upright! He is my rock! There is no evil in him!" (Psalm 92:15)

Since we all know God exists & evil exists ask yourself, which of these makes God seem the most loving?
God controls everything thus He is responsible for all evil.
God knows about all evil ever for thousands of years in advance but chooses not to stop it before it happens.
God doesn't care about people so He lets evil occur.
God only cares about certain people so He protects some from evil & not others.
God does not foresee evil so He can't stop evil before it happens but He does His best to help those affected by it.


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God's License to Sin?
3 Doctrines That Really Don't Believe God is Love

The Devil Has the Power of Death

Hebrews 2:12-15, "Since God's children live in flesh & blood Jesus Himself became flesh & blood, that through death He might render powerless the one who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives."

How People Were Protected from the Power of Death in the Old Testament
Here it says, "the devil holds the power of death." This text means that the devil also had the power of death before the cross, in Old Testament times. God tried to protect people from Satan by offerings, sacrifices, & obedience. If we take Satan having the power of death very seriously & the fact that he made people fear for their lives we can see God's motivation in the OT change from looking like a selfish God who demands obedience to a loving, protecting God who advises His children against things that lead to death. Because Satan had the power of death people had to be protected from him. So if they did not cooperate with God they refused his wise protection & they died.

Cain & Abel
Before the law Cain & Abel gave offerings that God regarded or disregarded. This suggests that they were told that they should do this. So the idea of sacrifices & offerings did not start with the law. God did not have "regard" for Cain's offering of fruit. The word regard there carries the idea of "a shepherd who inspects and watches over his flock with compassion and protection." Most seem to take God's disregard to Cain's offering as arbitrary or mysterious. But what happened is Cain's offering didn't allow God to protect Cain from sin. He gave fruits instead of blood. Satan craves blood & death.

Cain was angry & his head fell because his offering was not good enough but God said to Him, "If you do well, will there not be a lifting up?" The word for "lifting up" is the same word often translated as "forgive" that means to "lift up" or "carry away" a burden. God then said, "If you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” This is the first use of the word "sin" in the entire bible. Sin is described as something that wants to follow Cain & ambush him. God says Cain must control/master/rule over sin. How? By offering the appropriate blood sacrifice, that is what "doing well" means. Cain could have the oppression of sin lifted off of him by giving the right sacrifice. This then doesn't describe God playing arbitrary favorites. Instead He is seeking to protect these brothers but His protection requires their cooperation because sin is a spiritual force, the devil, who God is aware of but they are little aware of. God's regard & disregard for the sacrifices is essentially God saying, "Abel your metal shield is great protection. Cain your grass shield is going to be useless."

Cain then Goes on to kill his brother. Why? Because the burden, guilt, shame, oppression, & influence of sin causes the action of sin. We also know there was something wrong with Cain's heart already because he didn't give the appropriate sacrifice. Satan seeks to kill. One way he does this is by convincing humans to kill one another. The only way for Satan to kill a protected man is by using another man to do it.  But next is one amazing thing God does. Cain says to God that he fears death. God then marked Cain to where no one who found him would kill him. God protected Cain, a murderer, from being murdered. We see that even though the law would some day judge Cain as worthy of death God saved his life & protected him from death. God is a God of life!

Most translations have Cain say, "My punishment is greater than I can bear." But the word punishment is actually the word for "twistedness, wickedness, unrighteousness." Cain was actually saying, "My twistedness is greater than I can bear." He was broken up about what he had done. Additionally the meaning of the names of the people in Cain's family were godly, also suggesting that Cain regretted what he had done. God was somehow able to mark Cain as protected from murderers because of this. (Side note: Cain is taught to be the first murderer yet Cain fears "whoever finds me will kill me"). God was able to sometimes protect men from being murdered, men such as Cain, Job, & the armies of Israel.

The Law
God's goal is to protect life despite sin, not to take life because of sin. The curses of the law weren't only a revelation about how God feels about sin or to be punishments from Him. They were also the reality of what Satan can seize through sin. God said in Deuteronomy 6:2 that keeping his laws prolonged people's lives & breaking them & worshipping false gods lead to death. Paul also said that obedience to the law can preserve life but it cannot give life & certainly cannot give eternal life.

Hebrews 7:18-19 describes the law as weak & unprofitable. The law could not add anything. It could only keep & weakly defend. It says the reason why is because "the law made nothing perfect." Yes God would bless people for obedience because obedience was safety for them. The law is performance based & sin is performance based, God is not performance based. Because sin, which is Satan who holds the power of death, is performance based God had to make a performance based law to protect mankind. The law was "safety rules." This is one reason why some of the laws seem so strange. Satan would take the smallest drop of impurity & use it against people.

God's covenant with man that started with Abraham was based on trust & promises not on performance. Galatians 3:17 says, that covenant was still in effect while the law was in effect. Righteousness & life never came through the law (Galatians 3:21). People were always saved by faith/trust. If people could never be given life or righteousness through the law then why did God give it? Paul says God gave it to make people aware of sins so they would know that everyone is imprisoned under sin. Another way to make this imprisonment obvious was by the law being a burden itself which made the even greater burden of sin obvious. That is the other reason why there are strange laws, strange yet detailed laws are more burdensome.

Jews never forgot about Abraham so trusting in the promise that was given in his covenant was always an option. The law was given to preserve people's lives, help people treat one another better, & most of all point people to God to trust in Him & His promises. People weren't to fight for themselves (self-righteousness) but to trust in the Lord who wants to be their protector. Many of the descriptions of God in the OT described Him as someone strong & safe. The covenant of Moses, the law, was to get people to realize their need for God which can be fulfilled by the covenant of Abraham, faith/trust & promise, which pointed forward to the New Covenant of the Blood of Christ.

The Sin Offering
In the old covenant there was a "sin offering." It wasn't an offering to God to appease Him. Instead it was an offering toward sin (the devil) to keep him from killing people because of sin. Satan had the power of death, the power to kill anyone he wanted to. Jews had to give sin offerings to protect themselves from Satan not from God. God is always about life & saving lives.

Those sacrifices "covered" sin. Why did sin need to be covered? Because Satan demanded payment for sin, which is death. Covering sin threw Satan off the scent of people's sin (notice OT offerings had scents). In Psalm 40 & Hebrews 10 God said that He took no pleasure in sacrifices & offerings & in fact He did not desire them. That means they weren't for Him. Hebrews 10 says sacrifices could not clean people from sin & that it was impossible for them to "take away sins." If you can't get clean & you have a scent then you must cover up the scent. Satan is described as a lion seeking to devour. While it is easier for lions to hunt by sight & sound they can also hunt by smell. Thus someone who had sinned but was not openly sinning at the moment still "smelled" like sin. God wanted to take sin away so people could be clean & perfect. He eventually did so with Jesus' sacrifice.

Protected from The Power of Death by Christ
Jesus didn't cover sin, He took sin away. Jesus was a sin offering but not one to appease God or to throw off Satan (like the OT one) but to defeat Satan & "render him powerless" & "free those who feared death because of him!" Why would the devil enslave people to fear death? Because he holds the power of death. Jesus said that Satan "seeks to kill."

"Christ Jesus, the savior of the world, broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News" (2 Timothy 1:10). The power of death is broken because the way to life is illuminated. It is like saying the power of your enemy in war is broken because Jesus has laid out a bunch of rocket launchers. The enemy is still there but if you use what has been given, in this case the life offered by Christ, the enemy is powerless & you have no reason to fear him killing you. The life of Christ has hopelessly outgunned the power of death, sin, & the devil. Jesus overpowered death through His resurrection & provided a way out.

Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life; everyone who lives and trusts in Me will never die" (John 11:25). God allows our flesh to pass away because it is a sin wrecked vessel of weakness. He gives eternal life to our spirit so when we trust Him there is a sense in which we Christians never die.

"For those who have trusted in Jesus the fact of sin & death has been replaced by the new reality of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. You are free from sin & death. You have been released from the reality of sin & death and born into a new reality of the spirit, the reality of life in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:2).

With sin taken away Satan "cannot touch the children of God" (1 John 5:18). We are cleaned of the scent of sin, made perfect, & hidden with Christ in God. Everything God wanted to do for us to protect us from Satan has been accomplished. Satan only has the influence of deception in regards to Christians & his deception is only powered if we believe his lies.

Under the law Satan would take the smallest drop of impurity & use it against people. God is not a stickler anymore about what kind of fabric we wear because Christians are protected from Satan & God is offering perfect life to all mankind through His Son, the Savior of the world. Our actions no longer condemn us because God has broken the power of sin & death. God has no reason to charge people with sin because the solution to sin has been given (2 Corinthians 5:19). The law was a defense against Satan but he managed to use it to produce more sin & death & condemnation (Romans 7:8). But Jesus is only good & only love, Satan cannot tempt God or twist Him to do evil (he tried in Job & he tried with Jesus in the desert). Today the old dead law is used by Satan to distract people from Jesus & to make people fear death (people who believe they can "lose" their salvation fear death based on their performance).

It is clear that Satan has the power of death & it is God's character to save & give life. I believe God gives people a second chance to trust Him on judgment day as evidenced by Romans 14:10-12 saying Isaiah 45:18-25 occurs on judgment day. Thus I believe God has killed people in the flesh (such as the flood, see 1 Peter 3:18) to save them from the second death. Death is His final enemy. He doesn't let death win the first time when we die in the flesh. We have a second chance to choose life.

God has not yet ended the existence of death but He has broken its power. Satan still seeks to kill but God has offered imperishable life to all mankind for free. Satan may still be able to grab hold of unsaved people's actions & produce death but there is an easy escape. It is not an escape route, it is a Savior offering to take our hand.

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Second Chances & Why God Killed
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Help in Knowing God's Voice

Jesus said, "My sheep know my voice." He did not say, "My lambs know my voice." You can be unsure about God's voice. You can even be deceived into thinking the voices of "hired hands" (self-professed leaders) or the wolf (Satan) is God. Those things don't have to mean you are not saved, they can mean you are a lamb. Jesus does not condemn you or reject you for being a lamb.

Scripture says 7 times, “Whoever trusts in God will never be put to shame.” Shame means disgrace. It is literally the opposite of grace. God will never make you feel shame or guilt. (By guilt I mean guilt that is self-centered. It lacks compassion, empathy, sympathy, & love for whoever you harmed. It has self-pity.) Scripture also says that Satan is the accuser of God's family. Both accuse & convict mean "to charge someone with guilt." They are both synonyms for condemn. Remember scripture says, "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." If you feel accused, convicted, or condemned it is not from God.

Learning His Voice by Seeing How God Tells Us to Talk to One Another
I believe that God will not command us to do good things that He Himself does not do for us. So I have taken some scriptures that tell people how to speak to one another (other scriptures also) and extracted how God speaks to us.

God's voice is honest, kind, compassionate, encouraging, beneficial, helpful, humble, gentle, gracious, grateful, joyous, & delightful.
God speaks love, favor, affection, encouragement, wisdom, grace, life, fulfilment, nourishment, giving, guidance, direction, blessings, sweetness, & good will.
God tells us of Jesus, His good news, His desires, His trustworthiness, Jesus's resurrection, & His love for us.
God's voice is free from anger, wrath, shame, condemnation, accusation, arrogance, complaint, fault finding, abuse, grumbling, self-centered flattery, contention, harassment, impurity, bitterness, ill-will, desire to hurt you, falsehood, mudslinging towards others, & deceit.

He wants you to know, feel, & experience His love for you more.
He seeks to love you, benefit you, build you up, & teach you.
He makes the most out of what he says to you. He knows exactly how to respond to you.
He stirs us to love one another & do good things for one another.
He does not lower one person to raise another.
He speaks from His heart.

The Lord God says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love. I draw you to myself with lovingkindness."
(Jeremiah 31:3)

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God's Love in The Old Testament

God's Love in The New Testament

Grace is God's Love for You
God is the Source of All Good

Lie: You Don't Deserve to Be Saved

If my parents decided to set up a bank account for me with millions & millions of dollars in it, would I have earned it? No. Would I deserve it? Yes, because it was given to me. I am entitled to that bank account because of their giving. If someone found a way to steal from my account they wouldn't deserve it because it is my account, it was set up for & given to me. I don't have to ever access that account but that doesn't mean the money isn't there. I could grow poor & die if I refuse to access that account but that doesn't mean the money isn't there. A father can deem his children worthy of gifts either because of works they do or simply because he loves them.

To be deserving is to be worthy, which means to have enough worth, to have enough value. Love gives value. Mankind has always been loved & valued by God. Like an infant you don't have to work to be valued, you just have to be loved. Sin devalued mankind, it earned us death (in physical and spiritual). But sin never devalued God's love for mankind. Who do you want to judge what you deserve, you, someone else, sin, or God? Which eyes do you want to look at mankind through, they eyes of sin, which demands death, or the eyes of God, who offers life?

Christ wiped out our old sin accounts and opened new grace accounts for us. Did I earn grace? No. Do I deserve grace? Yes because He has put my name on it. My name is in the book of life. Scripture is clear that everyone's name starts off in the book of life. It says names have to be blotted out, not that names have to be written in. Every person on earth has a grace account that God has provided for them. Grace accounts only close on judgment day for those who still refuse them. Everyone deserves to be saved, everyone deserves grace because the Giver has deemed it so.

God has already taken away the sins of the world. Everyone on earth is entitled to salvation. God already has your name on the title you just need to sign yours. An atheist once said to me, “Well if I have to take the gift it is not free.” The Father doesn't force people to take a gift they don't want. In His love He does not demand His own way. It is a fully paid for gift being offered to all but He doesn't grab your arms and force you to unwrap it. He leaves the gift there hoping you'll experience the joy of what He has given you by unwrapping it!

“The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Death has been earned but life has been given. If I started a huge fire, would my father abandon me saying, “You started the fire so you deserve to die.” Or would he try to save me? Would he do whatever it took to get me out of the flames regardless of who started it? In my father's eyes did I deserve to die? In God's eyes, my Father's eyes, do I deserve to die because of my sins? If your answer is “Yes,” what kind of father do you think God is?

The bible says, “The wages of sin is death,” not “The wages of God is death if you sin.” God is our savior, not our slaughterer. Once the lamb had been slain I've been entitled to everything He offers me. The lamb was slain long before anyone alive today was born. On top of that the lamb was slain before the foundation of the world. God's eyes are the perfect eyes to look through & you've never deserved death in God's eyes for a moment of your life because the gift has always been given. Your name has always been in His book of life, a book that says, “He deserves life. She deserves life."

Saul (Paul) killed many of God's children. Did He deserve death in God's eyes? No, God saved Him. Paul was called “the chief of sinners,” the worst man that ever lived. God is love & love keeps no record of wrongs. God is love & love does not demand its own way therefore God gives everyone a choice. God says, “I have set before you life and death. Therefore choose life, that you may live!” Jesus is life.

Typical Christian teachings see it like this, “You are scum soaked because you've sinned. God hates scum so He will either make you clean yourself up or He will burn you up so He doesn't have to look at scum anymore. Either way all that matters to Him is not having to look at scum.”

God sees it like this, “You are sick because of sin and are going to die. God wants you to trust Him and take the cure for your sickness. You being sick doesn't make Him love you any less, it only makes Him try harder to get you to agree to taking the cure.”

The reason why this doesn't seem like God's viewpoint is because gospel isn't presented as good news. Christians are hypochondriacs, constantly medicating and talking about the sickness of sin as if it were still there when Christ has in fact cured them. Thus non-Christians have no good reason to believe Jesus is the cure.

You can look at God one of these two ways. God is either a murderer who demands that you die because He has CHOSEN to be offended at you, or He is a savior & a lover who knows love doesn't work in forcefulness, love only works in freedom. If you think God demands death you are looking through the eyes of sin.

Jesus said, “I came to the earth in the flesh so you may have life, not just a little life that barely gets you by but overflowing, abundant life that lasts forever.”


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Did God have to save us? We don't deserve to be saved? We're Unworthy?
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Eternal Torment, Annihilation, Ultimate Reconciliation? How about a little of each?
Lifted Up to His Glory

Why It is Unhealthy to Tie Your Behavior to Your Identity, Part 1

Tying behavior to identity.. makes God's love seem utterly conditional
Conditional love is based either on the behavior of the one loved or the whims of the lover. God is consistent & trustworthy. He is FAITHFUL. Faithful means He is loyal to love you. "The Lord’s lovingkindnesses certainly never cease because His compassions never fail. His love, kindness, and compassion are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness O Lord" (Lamentations 3:22-23). So God doesn't love based on whims or moods. "His love endures forever" (1 Chronicles 16:34). Don't forget that His love is aimed at you. Many will agree that God is loving but they will also feel like they are the exception to His enduring love. Why? Because they think His love is conditional based on their behavior.

Tying behavior to identity makes you see your identity as conditional to your behavior, you are only good if you act good, etc. God does not see you this way. He has made a new you, an eternal you that is perfect as He is perfect. He has no reason to not love you. He has taken all of your sins away & has given you a perfect spirit. But His love is so much better than that, He didn't start loving you when you were reborn & perfected. "Christ died for the ungodly. He demonstrated His love for us by dying for us while we were still sinners" (Romans 5:6-8). Knowing the worst behavior of your life He still loved you enough to suffer & die for you. What room is there left to think that His love is now conditional depending upon your behavior? There is no room. His love doesn't depend on your behavior or your identity. His love is His choice & He loves you for you, not for what you've done or can do, not for what you have been, are, or will become. You cannot be separated from His love (Romans 8:33-39). That means you are already in & next to His love. "The love of Christ surrounds us & completely holds us" (2 Corinthians 5:14).

Tying behavior to identity.. sees righteousness, holiness, worthiness, etc. as things that come and go
“Righteousness from God comes through trust in Jesus Christ to all who trust. All are justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:22,24). “Righteousness is a gift” (Romans 5:17). "The gifts of God are irrevocable" (Romans 11:29). Righteousness is His gift to us. "It is God that justifies (makes people righteous)" not our own behavior (Romans 8:33). Identity comes from birth not from behavior. Ephesians 4:24 says, "When your new man (spirit) is born you are created in the likeness of God as truly righteous and truly holy."

Righteous means "right with God." The mindset that sees behavior tied to identity believes in & endorses paradigms not found in scripture such as, "You're only right with God when you confess your sins to Him," & "You are only right with God if you have repented of recent sins" & "You have to ask God for forgiveness to be right with Him." No such ideas or relative language appears in scripture. Those ideas are all based on false doctrines, twists of scripture, out of context scripture, & mistranslations that are centuries old. God does not revoke your standing with Him. He doesn't revoke His feelings of favor (grace) for you when you don't behave well. All of God's gifts are irrevocable because they are born into who you are when your spirit is reborn. In rebirth you have become one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17, Ephesians 4:4, 1 John 4:17). He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13) & you are now a part of Him. He isn't going to deny you of any of the gifts He has given you. His gifts are righteousness (justification), holiness, worthiness, & so much more. Sinful behavior cannot remove any of these things from you even for a moment. If you believe it can please stop believing that lie, it is destroying you & will continue to do so.

Tying behavior to identity.. limits how we see our righteousness
The number one thing I've heard from people against our spiritual identity being a reality is that our righteousness/justification is only "legal righteousness." Another way of saying this is that we are only "positionally righteous." This is a very harmful mindset. While legal righteousness is a part of our righteousness to have it stop there leaves room for us to make excuses to devalue ourselves based on our behavior. It does not recognize the beauty of what it means to be born again. People who see themselves as only legally righteous say things like, "We are righteous because God calls us righteous but for no other reason" & think "We aren't really righteous."

However most who believe in this still say, "When God sees us He sees Christ." Sadly limiting our righteousness as legal or positional makes that statement merely lip service because these people believe God sees sin in us. They believe we are sinners who sin & flesh is part of our identity. God does not see Christ as sinful or in sin. They may even go so far as to say "Christ is our identity" but in practice they hold no such belief. If you actually believe Christ is our new identity how then do you believe we can sin with that identity? How can you believe your identity is still a sinner? If God sees us as He sees Christ why should we see ourselves any different? Why should I not see myself with God's perfect eyes?

Those who hold to positional identity without recognizing spiritual identity ultimately believe, "God declared me righteous (justified me) but I'm not really righteous. God only loves me enough to pretend that I am righteous. I cannot be righteous unless I behave righteously all the time. God is lying to Himself & to me when He calls me righteous & holy." So for some positional identity/legal righteousness is a cop out just so you can say, "I believe the Bible" without actually having to change your mind about yourself or the bulk of how God sees you.

Tying behavior to identity.. centers life on sin instead of Christ & empowers sin
Actions of sin have been taught to be the deciding factor of whether or not you have right standing with God or fellowship with God. It is taught that your behavior can change how God feels about you, that you can lose favor with Him or even that He can love you less based on your actions. When you believe that you put the ball in sin's court & essentially say, "rule me sin." If you think sinful behavior can separate you from God's love, approval, forgiveness, blessings, etc you have had the white flag thrown up to sin nearly your whole life. You see sin as more powerful than the cross, the blood, the resurrection, the Spirit, & God Himself. There is no talking your way out of this because if you believe sin can separate you from God in any way you believe your behavior is more powerful than God Himself!! Nothing can separate you from God's love (Romans 8:33-39). God is love. If we cannot be separated from His love we cannot be separated from Him!!

Those who fear that sin is detrimental to God's view of them will end up focusing on sin most of the time. Instead of enjoying and sharing the love of Christ the goal of their life is to "sin less." Sin, flesh, & the law (which empowers sin) is the triune god of religion. They are focused on, preached on, prayed about. The mind keeps sin, confession, & repentance logs. Christ and all He has given us is ignored in practice. Is your thought life consumed with whether or not you sin or is it consumed with the love, peace, & joy of our Lord?

The Lord will Repay..

Never pay back evil for evil to anyone.. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. Instead, "If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head" (Romans 12:17,19-20).
Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing (1 Peter 3:9).
See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people (1 Thessalonians 5:15).

Would God ask us to do something He, Himself wouldn't do? What will God repay with? Will He repay evil for evil or will he repay with blessing for the good of the person? Wrath is anger but anger towards what? Is it towards the person who does evil or the evil that is done?

The best way to end evil is not with punishment but with love. Love dissolves or displaces evil. Instead of abusing a person for their actions God will show them how they are valuable beyond their actions. He did this very thing with Paul the apostle.

How then is it wrath? God separates people from their actions. He has taken every one's sin away. Romans 1:18 says God's wrath is against the actions of men, not men themselves. His wrath is for the evil itself. He seeks to stop evil by loving the person that evil comes through. The word "vengeance" or "avenge" means to "give justice." Because Jesus died for the sins of all, justice is no longer defined by mankind getting rewarded or punished according to our deeds (1 Peter 3:18). Now justice is that all people be saved by trusting Jesus so that Jesus gets who is due Him. After the cross justice is the Savior getting who He paid for. So for God to avenge in this context is for Him to give justice, which is kindness, to those who He died for so that they might change their mind to trust in Him (Romans 2:4).

"God sent Jesus to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways" (Acts 3:26). If some one's "evil ways" prevent them from having a relationship with Him He blesses them with love until their evil ways are no longer a hindrance. Once the hindrance is removed they are really ready to experience His amazing love.

How does loving someone "heap burning coals" on their head? This refers to the high priest of old who, on the Day of Atonement, took his censer and filled it with “coals of fire” from off the altar of burnt offering, and then put incense on the coals to create a pleasing, sweet-smelling fragrance (Leviticus 16:12). The cloud or smoke of the incense covered the mercy seat and was acceptable to God for atonement.

Coal represents Christ's removal of sin. So to heap coals on some one's head is to, through love, bring the heart knowledge of the gospel to their mind. So Paul was saying, "Jesus is our High Priest, let Him love your enemies through you by giving them what they need. God is love. When you give people love it draws them closer to God."


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The Good News of Justice

The Gifts of A Great Father

Grace means "favor." Grace is God's love for you. "We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us." (Romans 12:6)

Some think this scripture means some people are superior to others because of the gifts God gives them but when we look at grace as God's love we see that is not the case. "We have gifts that differ according to the love given to us by God" (Romans 12:6). This means God looks at who we are & what we like. As a lovingly wise Father He gifts His children according to their personalities. Despite the insistence of religion He doesn't force you to be something you don't want to be. God has perfect unconditional love for His children but because His children are not all the same He loves each one of us differently for our benefit & enjoyment.
   
"Out of the immeasurable magnitude of the gift of Christ God has given each one of us His love with personalized gifts accompanying it." (Ephesians 4:7-8)

Fearing the Truth

I don't have the impression that truth is dangerous & to be avoided. Are we to think that everyone that Paul wrote Romans & Corinthians to, or everyone Hebrews was written to, or everyone that 1 John was written to were all mature enough to "handle the truth"?

Paul said to the Romans "I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh" & he goes on to speak some of the most solid & amazing spiritual perfection language in all of scripture.

In 1 Corinthians Paul calls the people "babes" yet still hands out to them major things in 2 Corinthians such as "God is no longer charging people with sin" (5:19-20), & "we identify no one according to the flesh (5:16)."

2 Corinthians 5:16-20 isn't meat, it is as pure & simple as the gospel gets & Paul speaks of the new creation (spirit) in this same context.
"From now on we identify no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; look, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the service of reconciliation, which is that, "In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their (the world's) sins against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."'

Is it dangerous for people to pick up the bible and read it? How does the truth lead someone astray? Why would we rather put the light of the gospel & our new creation in Christ under a bushel OUT OF FEAR than we would shine it?

Are we to be afraid of God's perfect love which doesn't charge people with sin & makes His children born spiritually perfect? Or are we to be so afraid of sin, whose power Christ destroyed, that we hush up about the goodness of God? Are we to be more afraid of the power of the enemy to lead people astray with the truth than we are to trust in God that He will use the truth to set them free?

"I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who trusts" (Romans 1:16). I trust the power of the true gospel far more than I trust that the enemy can distort its results. False gospels ruin people. The true gospel makes people whole.

I've never seen a single person ruined by the God's honest truth. People who fear the truth of grace still bask in a self-righteous mindset. They think that people shouldn't be taught about Christ's righteousness given to us until they can "handle the truth" & not go out acting however they want. They are afraid that knowledge of grace will cause people to behave badly. So what if it does? Would you rather someone believe a lie & be ignorant of the truth & behave morally for a time or someone know the truth of God's love & behave immorally for a time? The first entrusts people to themselves and their own performance. The second entrusts people to God & the power of His truth. For whatever reason people are so afraid of someone "sinning" that they'd rather keep them in the dark instead of exposing them to the light of God's love, the same love that is the only thing that truly changes people.

Eternal Torment, Annihilation, Ultimate Reconciliation? How about a little of each?

This is Part 2 of 2, See Part 1:  Saved? Saved from What?

Revelation 20:10 says, "The devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." There is no mention of this eternal torment for the people that are thrown into the lake of fire in Revelation 20:14-15. For them it is described as "the second death."

Annihilation
"The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out justice to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus (obeying the gospel means trusting in Jesus). These people will pay the penalty of eternal DESTRUCTION, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power" (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). Here, as Revelation 20:14-15 suggests, those who fully reject Christ are destroyed forever, as in annihilated, never to come back to life. To come back from death requires a resurrection. No resurrection is spoken of for these people after the lake of fire. There is no resurrection from the second death. Even John 3:16 has perishing (destruction/death) as the opposite of everlasting life. The opposite is not eternal torment.

A Second Chance?
Once people are thrown into the lake of fire there can be no resurrection or "ultimate reconciliation." If there were an afterlife reconciliation available it would have to be before someone is thrown into the lake of fire. Scripture says that old testament people were given a chance in the afterlife to be saved by faith. "The gospel was proclaimed to those who are now dead so that they could live like God in the spirit" (1 Peter 4:6). "Jesus went and made proclamation of the gospel to the spirits in prison, who once were disobedient" (1 Peter 3:18-19). Notice it says they were "once disobedient" suggesting that they became obedient to the gospel and are now saved. The context says the people from the days of Noah, the worst people ever in the history of the world who were presumably warned by Noah for years, were given this chance to hear the gospel & trust Jesus. Jesus died for everyone past, present, & future so it would have been unjust for God to leave these people condemned without knowing about the freedom Christ has made available. I think it is possible that everyone who died before Christ died could indeed be saved & born again.

Every Knee Shall Bow..
"For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God” (Romans 14:10-12). This scripture lets us know that the "every knee bowing" event clearly happens on judgment day, the same day people are later thrown in the lake of fire. This event is described in Isaiah 45, showing EXACTLY what God says to people on that day.

“Thus says the Lord, who created the heavens, “I am the Lord, and there is none else. I have not spoken in secret, I, the Lord, speak righteousness, Declaring things that are upright. Gather yourselves and come; Draw near together, you fugitives of the nations. They have no knowledge, Who carry about their wooden idol and pray to a god who cannot save. Declare and set forth your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness and will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. They will say of Me, ‘Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength."
Men will come to Him, and all who were angry at Him will be put to shame. In the Lord all the offspring of Israel Will be justified and will glory” (Isaiah 45:18-25).

Here we have God telling people who He is, even calling Himself a Savior on the day of judgment. He says, "Turn to me & be saved." God offers "all the ends of the earth" salvation on judgment day. It is beautiful & worth rereading. Isaiah then writes that "all who are angry at him will be put to shame." In SEVEN places God promises, “Whoever trusts in the Lord will NEVER be put to shame” (Isaiah 28:16, Romans 9:33, 10:11, 1 Peter 2:6, Joel 2:26-27, Isaiah 45:17, 54:4). If you are put to shame you are not saved. Shame is literally the opposite of grace. If you are put to shame you have not chosen to receive God's grace. So we see that there are some who choose to retain anger towards God. They angrily bow. Those who come before the Lord in judgement will acknowledge Him as God and give Him praise at the very least by the fact that they are in His almighty presence at judgement. But those who retain anger (hatred, murderous feelings & thoughts) towards Him in their hearts are thrown into the lake of fire. They did not call Him Lord from their heart. "If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and trust in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9). This statement from Romans 10:9 does not have an expiration date just because your body dies. We see that the resurrection is so integral to the gospel that if someone even in the next life does not trust in it, they will not be saved. You cannot hate God & live forever. God is life. If you hate God you hate life & thus you have chosen death for yourself.

Isaiah says, "In the Lord all the seed of Israel Will be justified and will glory." The true seed of Israel are all who are saved. "God exalted Jesus and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow – in heaven and on earth and under the earth – and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:9-11).

Eternal Torment
Scriptures (Matthew 18:8, 25:41; Jude 1:7) still speak of "eternal fire" and it is true that the lake of fire is eternal. However eternal experience (torture) in this fire is only said to be for the devil, the beast, & the false prophet. Below some scriptures are examined to this point.

Revelation 14:9-11 says, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in FULL STRENGTH in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

It says the smoke of their torment goes up forever but doesn't say that their torment lasts forever as it does about the torment of those mentioned in Revelation 20:10. These subtleties of language reveal the truth! It also says that they are tormented in the presence of Jesus "day and night." Later on in Revelation 22:5 it is said that "There will no longer be any night because the Lord God will illumine his people forever and ever." So it is impossible for this to be speaking of eternal torture because in God's presence there will eventually only be day. Those 3 mentioned in Revelation 20:10 are away from God's presence & still have night. Thus those who take the mark of the beast are tortured at least one day & one night but no longer than the time span between Revelation 14:11-22:5.

Jude speaks of people for whom "the utter depths of eternal darkness have been reserved." The darkness is eternal but the experience thereof is not. It says these people will perish (be annihilated) unless they are "snatched out of the fire." Matthew 25:41 says that God prepared the eternal fire for the devil & his angels. The devil's angels are not mentioned in Revelation 20:21 but Jude says that certain angels are being kept in eternal bonds under eternal darkness. Jude hints that the place of eternal darkness is also the place of eternal fire, which is the lake of fire.

Jesus said in Mark 3:29, "Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be pardoned, but is guilty of an eternal sin." Some of the Pharisees did this specific blaspheming, which was to credit to Satan the works of God (ie Satan empowered Jesus to heal people). If the sin is eternal one could think the punishment could be as well. But of course the 2nd death is a punishment of eternal death.

God's Wrath on Judgment Day
Scripture refers to judgment day as, "the day of wrath." It is just one day of wrath for mankind. God "stores up wrath for the day of judgment" for the sake of justice (Romans 2:5) so that those who hate Him, even after He offers them one more chance on that judgment day, can justly have the second death (which is annihilation) that they have chosen.

Why does Revelation 20:12 say God judges by deeds? Why oh, why wouldn't it say He judges them by sins? Because Jesus has already taken the sinful deeds of the world away! "The sting of death is sin" (1 Corinthians 15:56). God wants to take away that sting as much as He can, even for those who reject Him! He judges them by their deeds to ease the sting of death that sin has earned them.

But still how can a loving God punish anyone? God tormenting Satan isn't out of love for Satan but out of love for those who Satan has deceived. Likewise God's wrath for those who hate Him & those who embraced the beast is out of love for Jesus.

God is the giver of all good things and He holds all things together. If God's wrath includes separation from God His mere absence is the cause of the torture. Perhaps where God's goodness does not have influence there can only be torture and pain. Without Him there is no good left. All good things on earth are because of Him. His love is spread all over the world.

What about Hell?
There are three words translated as "hell" in the bible & two of them are different things.

Gehenna
Gehenna, also called "Gehenna of fire," referred to a literal place, the valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, where the filth and dead animals of the city were cast out and burned. Gehenna pictures the lake of fire. That lake is also called the "lake of fire & sulfur" meaning it smells, Gehenna smelled.

Hades
Hades pictures the realm of the dead or the grave. Sheol is the old testament (Hebrew) word for Hades (a Greek word). The "hell" spoken of being thrown into the lake of fire in Revelation 20 is Hades, not Gehenna. The lake of fire will not be thrown into itself. Hades is also spoken of as the grave in contrast to Jesus' resurrection.

The "parable" of Lazarus happened in Hades not Gehenna & it is told as a true story not as a parable. It speaks of flames & torment. Christ spoke the good news to these people in Hades after He died (1 Peter 3:18-19,4:6, quoted above). Interesting it says, "they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead." But the "they" that are spoken of aren't the people in Hades, it is the people living on earth. Lazarus sounds like he would be persuaded & he likely was when Jesus spoke to him there after His death on the cross. Hades & wrath reveal God's desperate love to save the otherwise unwilling.

Today there is still a Hades because it is spoken of as something that is thrown in the lake of fire in the future, not something abolished at the cross. Remember Hades is Sheol, "the grave."

Jesus often spoke of an "outer darkness" & a "furnace of fire." In Luke 13:28 He said of it, "In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out." He says the people in that place will see Abraham, just like Lazarus did! He was speaking of Hades, a temporary place with pain & misery.

"The gates of hell" that will not prevail against the body of Christ are the gates of Hades. Jesus was saying that death will not prevail over His people because they have His resurrection power within them & live an everlasting life. Remember He broke the power of sin & death. In Revelation 1:18 Jesus said, "I am he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades." Jesus has the keys of Hades and thus the power to release people from there who will trust Him on the judgment day. Hades itself will be thrown into the lake of fire.

Perhaps Jesus' gates of hell statement speaks of His people speaking to those in Hades as Abraham did because they cannot be stopped by the gates & Jesus holds the keys to the gates. I have not seen any place in scripture where Satan & Hades are even mentioned together. The gates of Hades does not picture the power of Satan & his forces but instead the power of the grave to stop the gospel. The grave will not stop God's people from proclaiming the gospel to those who have died! As Jesus & Abraham spoke to the "spirits in prison" so shall we. The gospel is about Christ conquering death so why assume He cannot conquer some one's first, bodily, death when it comes to saving them?

Why does God pour wrath out on the earth in Revelation?
Revelation 16:9 says, "Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not change their minds so as to give Him glory." We can see that in torment there are people who refuse to glorify God & live. They choose to suffer instead. The wrath of God that comes upon the earth in Revelation is God's last resort in getting people to choose Him & live because they would by no other means do so. This is also part of why people suffer in Hades. There is little to no time left for these people in Revelation to suffer in Hades so God has to bring wrath to the earth. "During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them" (Revelation 9:6). God makes these people suffer but without killing them. God does not kill people. He is not a murderer but a rescuer. So during His wrath people will suffer and not die. Likewise in Hades people suffer without a "death" event to end it. God essentially brings "hell on earth" because there is almost no time left for people to choose God & live. Wrath is the worst way of getting people to choose life but in the most extreme cases people need to be scorched to wake up & realize the danger of death.

What about "Narrow is the Way?"
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Jesus in Matthew 7:13-14).

Jesus says, "the broad gate LEADS to destruction." He did not say, "to enter the broad gate is to guarantee destruction." Also note that it leads to destruction, not to eternal torment. The narrow way is eternal life begun on earth. Eternal life on earth is important & it guarantees no second death. Life & love matter now!

Jesus says, "few find it." He uses comparative terms. Few are reborn on earth compared to the many who are reborn on judgment day. Few find it because most people look for God in religion which distorts & misrepresents Him. An innumerable amount of people will have been saved even before judgment day as Revelation 7:10 says, "I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes."

What's the point?
People who ask, "Well what is the point of doing good if people will go to heaven anyway?" don't understand grace or salvation & especially don't understand love. God is love. If we know Him we will want to love others with Him.

Why spread the gospel? 1. Because knowing God is good news! 2. Because people are suffering & are missing out on our amazing Father. The gospel is not spread out of obligation or fear for some one's eternal destiny. It all comes out of our love for the goodness of God & our love for people. Why wouldn't you want someone to experience the enjoyment of the greatest gift of all time as soon as they possibly can? The gospel isn't urgent because of the danger people are in. The gospel is urgent because of the good people are missing out on! Someone who loves would want others to enjoy the goodness of Jesus ASAP. It is not just good but good news!

Summary
I've personally never heard the viewpoint which I've adopted espoused by anyone else. Scripture doesn't have to be justified by men who hold polarized viewpoints to back themselves up, it just needs to be studied out by the leading of the Spirit. He leads you to truth. You don't lead yourself.

Those who retain their anger towards God at judgment will be annihilated in the lake of fire. God is love AND God is not unjust. God gives everyone a chance on the day of judgment to trust Him. Some are annihilated. Most, I think, are saved.

Is everyone saved in the end? No, but God is completely loving & completely just in all His dealings with mankind. Some men simply loved the darkness too much to ever embrace the light of life.

So with God all things are possible but nothing is forced. Mankind's free will determines their destiny. God doesn't force a totally two-way reconciliation nor has He left anyone without a second chance. God gives opportunities but the expiration date is the day of judgment where people will either choose Him & live or reject Him and die.

God created a universe where you can "have it your way." A universe where love is not something that manipulates you into servitude but instead is something to be enjoyed at will. "Your way" is not without consequences in this universe. God wants to show you His Way, Jesus, so you can have abundant life & never face the consequence of death. His way is to love you at all costs. You can have His love as long as you want His love.

"Whoever trusts in me has victory over sin & death, he will not be hurt by the second death. I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also was victorious and sat down with My Father on His throne" (Revelation 2:11, 3:21).

"As I live!" declares the Lord God, "I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way to My Way, Jesus the Savior of mankind, and live. Why then will you die?" (Ezekiel 33:11, New Covenant paraphrase)

"I have set before you life and death. Therefore choose life, that you may live!" (Deuteronomy 30:19)

This is Part 2 of 2, See Also Part 1:  Saved? Saved from What? & Second Chances & Why God Killed