“Thou shalt not steal…” (Exodus 20:15)
When I was very little I would go to the grocery store with Mom and when I saw the candy I would take some of it. Mom would tell me “no” and would explain why it was not a good thing to do. I would grab some more and she would get “irritated” and sternly try to shame me into being sorry for not obeying her. Of course I did it again, and then, in her “wrath”, she would spank me. The result is that I would no longer steal candy - in her presence.
Mankind are all the children of God according to the bible….
“He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God… and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist…for we also are His children. Being then the children of God …” (Acts 17:26-29)
We children do all sorts of bad stuff which God says we should not do in the course of a lifetime. Some worse than others. The Bible calls it sin and our Father God deals with us as follows it seems to me:
First He lovingly advises us of what is bad and tells us in the Bible what not to do. Unfortunately, what we want is more attractive than doing what He wants, so we do it anyway, usually making all kinds of excuses why it is OK, sometimes even forming religious institutions to join to help us feel better about ourselves.
This makes God irritated – because we do not trust that His advice is for our own good. It is apparent to me that God has arranged this life experience in such a way that all bad behavior eventually brings a negative consequence. These consequences help control our bad behavior until we die – for it is written that the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 3:23).
When we are honest with God and ourselves we realize with Paul that we have a problem that only the GRACE of God can fix…
“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Grace! Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24 CLNT)
The wrath of God toward his sinful children is finished when death comes. There is no eternal conscience torment for anyone. And God is NOT finished with us in death. He will fix us after our repetitive disobedience has served its purpose, because of His GRACE…
“The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, GRACE abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so GRACE would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:20-21)
The plan of God to make mankind in His image WILL be completed. God WILL be ALL in ALL.
"Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule… as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive… The last enemy to be destroyed is death…so that God may be all in all.” (Genesis 1:26; 1 Corinthians 15:22-28)
When I was very little I would go to the grocery store with Mom and when I saw the candy I would take some of it. Mom would tell me “no” and would explain why it was not a good thing to do. I would grab some more and she would get “irritated” and sternly try to shame me into being sorry for not obeying her. Of course I did it again, and then, in her “wrath”, she would spank me. The result is that I would no longer steal candy - in her presence.
Mankind are all the children of God according to the bible….
“He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God… and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist…for we also are His children. Being then the children of God …” (Acts 17:26-29)
We children do all sorts of bad stuff which God says we should not do in the course of a lifetime. Some worse than others. The Bible calls it sin and our Father God deals with us as follows it seems to me:
First He lovingly advises us of what is bad and tells us in the Bible what not to do. Unfortunately, what we want is more attractive than doing what He wants, so we do it anyway, usually making all kinds of excuses why it is OK, sometimes even forming religious institutions to join to help us feel better about ourselves.
This makes God irritated – because we do not trust that His advice is for our own good. It is apparent to me that God has arranged this life experience in such a way that all bad behavior eventually brings a negative consequence. These consequences help control our bad behavior until we die – for it is written that the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 3:23).
When we are honest with God and ourselves we realize with Paul that we have a problem that only the GRACE of God can fix…
“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Grace! Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24 CLNT)
The wrath of God toward his sinful children is finished when death comes. There is no eternal conscience torment for anyone. And God is NOT finished with us in death. He will fix us after our repetitive disobedience has served its purpose, because of His GRACE…
“The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, GRACE abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so GRACE would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:20-21)
The plan of God to make mankind in His image WILL be completed. God WILL be ALL in ALL.
"Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule… as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive… The last enemy to be destroyed is death…so that God may be all in all.” (Genesis 1:26; 1 Corinthians 15:22-28)