sojourner again you just completly ignor what Christ and the Bible teach, the verses i provided make it so clear and yet you just ignore them because you dont like what they say, it reminds me of
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 2 Timothy 4:3
How is a doctrine that God, who loves us unconditionally, will allow us to roast in torment for eternity, in any way sound doctrine? Here you go, proof-texting again. Paul is talking to Timothy about being faithful in his ministry -- not rebuking people for false faith. Maybe you're the one with the itchy ears...
True but it also explicitly teaches that salvation is conditional.
If salvation is an act of love, how can it be conditional, when love is unconditional? The Bible doesn't say that Christ was sacrificed for our sins if...
True, but again God does not just overwrite our freewill he is the one who gave it to us - Christ died for us but we can still reject him and turn our back on him, again this is clearly shown in Hebrews and many other part of the Bible.
If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:26-31
I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. Revelation 22:21-23
Your right Jesus knocks on the door, he wants all to be saved, but again we have to accept him - he will not just impose himself on us.
Of course we can reject him. I've seen several people do that. But when, in the end, has God ever not gotten God's way? Who's to say that, in the end, when all of these "rejectors" are faced with unmitigated love, they won't change their minds?
Do you pretend that there will not be a time when God says enough and brings his wrath on sinnful mankind? This is taugh consistantly throughout the bible also. You seem to refuse to see Christ as he is fully revealed in the Bible eg
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. Revelations 19:11-16
The world can be saved, but again Christ will not just force us.
Again with the metaphorical stuff. Revelation was a DREAM --
not to be taken literalistically. No. I don't think that there will come a time when God says "enough." I think that's a common Biblical theme, but I think it's also the way in which the biblical writers understood God. Humanity should have grown beyond understanding God as vengeful. God can't be loving and vengeful at the same time, because, as Paul says, vengeance is not part of love.
Of course the world can be saved...Christ has already taken care of that...
Gods Grace is Awsome, and is proof of Gods love for us - that he would save us from Hell which we deserve! I know Christ loves me because he was willing to forsake heaven for a time and come to earth to be humiliated and crucified to provide atonement for all those who would accept him as their savior.
Besides what is your big deal with God punishing sin? would you expect him to let Rape, Murder, liars, thiefs just off the hook without the sin being punished? If you say yes then you dont understand the Cross, God upheld his Justice by still punishing our sin via Christ. The Cross is proof that God will punish sin and for those who have rejected Christ thats what they await again read Hebrews 10:26-31 its so clear.
Apparently, according to you, grace is not as awesome as humanity's ability to dismiss it!!!
Yes. I expect God to be that gracious. Christ died for the remission of all sin, not for the remission of regretted sin...
How is the cross "proof that God will punish sin?" The Hebrews passage is not about God being vengeful against rejection, it's about the faithful persevering in doing good. (Another proof-text).
If he continues to reject Christ he will go to Hell, this person is not a good person either - he is just like the rest of us. Jesus said "there is none good but God", and Romans tells us that we have all fallen short of the glory of God. Instead of pretending your friend will be fine when he stands befor God, perhaps you should pray and call your friend with great concern for his salvation.
Now you're getting picayune. He is a good person, just as many, many others are good people. Maybe I should ostracize him and make him angry with me by standing in judgment of him. Maybe it would be better for our loving friendship to suffer a bitter end, just because you're afraid he won't go to heaven. Maybe it's more important for him to be forced into your apocalyptic viewpoint than it is to nurture love. Maybe it's more important to pretend that God doesn't love him enough to save him, than to seek and serve Christ in him. How dare you pass judgment on him?
It is Gods will that we have a will, this is why sin happens because God will not force us to be good, he has not made us robots - he has made a way for us to be reconciled to him but again we have to repent, that is turn back to him.
God has not only provided a way, the deed has been done! Our remorse for wrongdoing is a consequence of our having been saved, not an antecedent to our salvation.
It shows God respects our choices, and it shows that he will not be soft on sin, it is either by the Cross or by Hell that our sins are paid for, he gave us the first choice because he loves us so much.
Of course God respects our choices. But we have to respect God's choices, too...
No expects God to be soft on sin. No one, though, expects God to be unforgiving to the sinner.
This is the most telling 2 sentences of your whole post, you believe you know better then the writers of the bible concerning Salvation and the nature of God - all you have done is created a God in your mind that you wish were true, its called idolatry - anything the apostles or Christ taught that you dont like you just disregard and instead say "i know better"
I don't think I "know better." But I also don't read the Bible literalistically. I think the Biblical writers had a different theology than we have today, and presented the teachings of Christ from their unique perspective. God isn't seen any longer as destroying cities for them being unrighteous...unless you're one of those zealots who maintains that Katrina was somehow God's judgment upon the poor people of New Orleans. I just think it's a very narrow viewpoint, and does love a great injustice.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:31
"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. Exodus 20:7
by the fear of the LORD one departs from evil. Proverbs 16:6