(April 29, 2012 at 9:02 am)Drich Wrote:(April 28, 2012 at 7:50 pm)teaearlgreyhot Wrote: I have never understood if God really loves everyone and wants everyone to believe in him (or make him their lord or whatever else your spin on salvation might be) so he isn't force by his perfect justice to condemn unbelievers to an eternity in hell, why doesn't he just show himself continuously to everyone?Nope. What i am thinking is God does not love everone. Ask Esau, Pharroah, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, Cain, the people caught outside the Ark when the flood came, Judas, the Pharasees, and the Saducees, Ultimatly everyone who does not sin and seek redemption for it.
I know what you're already thinking. Free will, blah blah blah.
do you feel the Love of God?
The next question do you want to?
Well, I've never heard of any Christian say that God doesn't love everyone and your position seems to contradict John 3:16.
Would you agree that God is all-loving? An all-loving being would want no one to go to hell, but he's also all-just so he can't let unbelievers slide.
Anyway, I'm not even sure whether holding that God loves everyone or not is relevant to my main questions which every theists here has conveniently ignored:
1. Is it a person's own fault he went to hell?
2. Is it wrong for a Christian to not share the gospel?
Quote:See, when you say that a person is entirely responsible for being in hell, and that it's wrong for a Christian to not witness, you're making a big mess for yourself. Let's say for example, Bob is a nonbeliever, and Larry is a Christian. Larry and Bob are life long friends, but Larry never witnesses to him. In fact, to Bob, Larry is just as secular as he is. Bob eventually dies in his sins. At judgement day, God in effect says to Bob, "I never knew you" and cast him in the lake of fire because Bob never believed out of his free will. Larry eventually dies, God allows him into heaven because he believed but mentions "You never shared the gospel to Bob, and he never believed, and now he's in Hell. You should be ashamed of yourself! Didn't I command you to share the gospel to everyone? Anyway, here's your harp. Happy plucking!"
So which is it? Is Bob in Hell because he never believed or is he in Hell because Larry never witnessed to him? If he's in Hell because it's his own free fault, then witnessing is irrelevant. But if he's in Hell because Larry didn't witness to him, then his doom is the result of Larry not giving him enough information. It also means that it's not his fault, but someone else's.
My ignore list
"The lord doesn't work in mysterious ways, but in ways that are indistinguishable from his nonexistence."
-- George Yorgo Veenhuyzen quoted by John W. Loftus in The End of Christianity (p. 103).
"The lord doesn't work in mysterious ways, but in ways that are indistinguishable from his nonexistence."
-- George Yorgo Veenhuyzen quoted by John W. Loftus in The End of Christianity (p. 103).