The god of religion, especially Christianity, is angry and does not have a plan for eradicating sin from his creation, therefore, he is not the true, Living God described in the scriptures. Let’s explore this. I am using the Concordant Literal New Testament.
The scriptures tell us that God is love:
1Jn 4:8: "He who is not loving knew not God, for God is love."
God is love, and christians will swear up and down that their god is too. Most christians will say their god loves all people, and has “provided a way for all people to escape the consequences of sin”. This is not a scriptural phrase, but it is a common one amongst christianity. Belief in free will, and the “responsibility of the sinner” (also an unscriptural phrase) to repent and believe in Jesus is what characterizes these christians. This simply boils down to the need for one to save themselves. What Christ accomplished on the cross is irrelevant, as sin is still a problem and their god is still angry. The act that flips the switch of salvation is performed by the sinner, and it is up to them, out of their “own free will” to make sure that switch gets flipped.
The rest of christianity that does not believe in free will, and to their credit, believe scripture when it says God is in complete control over His creation (Rom 9, among many others). They also understand that faith is a gift of God (Eph 2:8-9) and that there is no way a person will seek God without an act of God upon the person (John 6:44, Rom 3:9-20). For the most part this group of christians also knows that God has chosen an elect group of people out of the rest, but they have no clue what this elect group is for.[1] They think only this elect group will be saved. They have grasped some of the most basic truths about God, and little else. The result of their beliefs is that their god has created the majority of people with the purpose of sending them to hell to suffer eternally, while saving very few.
The first group at least believes their god wants to save all, but he has hamstrung himself by giving his creatures free will. He wants to save all, but he just can’t. He is powerless to save. The second group’s god could have saved all, after all, he is in complete control of his creation, but he has chosen not to. This god plans to eternally torture the majority, and his followers simply say “oh well”, or “god loves the non-elect differently.” I was unaware that unending torture was a different kind of love.
Here are two quotes from two popular christian teachers, which highlight the attitude and demeanor of the god they serve:
"The church’s goal is not to make unbelievers feel comfortable and nonthreatened. On the contrary, it is to make them feel uncomfortable with their sins and threatened by God’s judgment and the terrors of hell that they face." —John MacArthur, Grace To You
“The god that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire ...” —Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry god
Neither of these two men know (knew, in the case of Edwards) the Living God. How can I say such a thing? Their statements clash directly with scripture. For one, the Living God is a happy God:
1Tim 1:11: "in accord with the evangel of the glory of the happy God, with which I was entrusted."
God meant for sin to come into His creation and affect His creatures. Adam sinning did not take God by surprise. People who don’t sin don’t need a Saviour and God has chosen to express His love for all by saving us while we were sinners:
Rom 5:8: "yet God is commending this love of His to us, seeing that, while we are still sinners, Christ died for our sakes."
And yes, this love is definitely for all:
Rom 11:32: "For God locks up all together in stubbornness, that He should be merciful to all."
1Tim 4:9-10: "Faithful is the saying and worthy of all welcome (for for this are we toiling and being reproached), that we rely on the living God, Who is the Saviour of all mankind, especially of believers."
Neither John MacArthur or Jonathan Edwards understand what Christ accomplished on the cross. They would have no problem admitting that all are sinners and need a saviour, but they do not understand that God sent Christ to take care of sin once and for all and Christ accomplished what He was sent to do.
Rom 3:21-24: "Yet now, apart from law, a righteousness of God is manifest (being attested by the law and the prophets), yet a righteousness of God through Jesus Christ's faith, for all, and on all who are believing, for there is no distinction, for all sinned and are wanting of the glory of God. Being justified gratuitously in His grace, through the deliverance which is in Christ Jesus"
This is a packed passage, it starts with the phrase “Yet now”. Because of Christ’s work on the cross, something changed. Yes, Paul spent a large part of the first three chapters showing that all are under sin, and no one could be or will be justified by works of law. Now, Paul begins to explain God’s remedy for sin. “Yet a righteousness of God through Jesus Christ's faith, for all, and on all who are believing, for there is no distinction,” through Jesus Christ’s faith (not yours or mine), God’s righteousness is for all, and it is currently on all who are believing. There is no distinction between believers and unbelievers when it comes to needing God’s righteousness because “All sinned and are wanting of the glory of God”. Everyone is “justified gratuitously in His grace”. Gratuitous means “without cause”, and this is proper, as no one can do anything in themselves to earn or gain the righteousness of God. This righteousness of God is given “through the deliverance which is in Christ Jesus.”
Everyone has been justified (made righteous, NOT pardoned or forgiven) from sin. Sin is absolutely no longer a problem. Rom 4:25: "Who [Jesus our Lord] was given up because of our offenses, and was roused because of our justifying." God roused Jesus because of our justifying; justification is a done deal. Paul gives more proof of this:
Rom 6:6-7: "knowing this, that our old humanity was crucified together with Him, that the body of Sin may be nullified, for us by no means to be still slaving for Sin, for one who dies has been justified from Sin."
“Our old humanity was crucified together with Him”, all mankind is included in the old humanity, and it was crucified with Christ. Like Paul says in Rom 6:4: "We, then, were entombed together with Him through baptism into death, that, even as Christ was roused from among the dead through the glory of the Father, thus we also should be walking in newness of life." Paul doesn’t want us to be ignorant of this, though christianity is. Someone might then protest, “only believers were entombed and baptized together with Christ”. Let’s see what the scriptures say:
2Cor 5:14: "For the love of Christ is constraining us, judging this, that, if One died for the sake of all, consequently all died."
Christ died for the sake of all, that is, for the betterment of all. The consequence of this is that all died. And like we saw in Romans 6:7, “one who dies has been justified from Sin.” That settles that then, all are justified from Sin.
The good news (evangel) gets even better:
Rom 5:10-11: "For if, being enemies, we were conciliated to God through the death of His Son, much rather, being conciliated, we shall be saved in His life. Yet not only so, but we are glorying also in God, through our Lord, Jesus Christ, through Whom we now obtained the conciliation."
God sent His Son to die for His enemies. Who does that…would you do that? Would I do that? God did that. Rom 5:6: "For Christ, while we are still infirm, still in accord with the era, for the sake of the irreverent, died." While we were still infirm, still in accord with this wicked eon (Gal 1:4), still irreverent and still enemies, Christ died for our sakes. This is how God chose to prove His love for mankind (Rom 5:8). MacArthur, Edwards and christians like them do not know this. God is conciliating the world to Himself through the death of His Son.
2Cor 5:19: "how that God was in Christ, conciliating the world to Himself, not reckoning their offenses to them, and placing in us the word of the conciliation."
I want you to notice and see that what scripture is saying here is the exact opposite of what both MacArthur and Edwards said in the above quotes. Their angry god is not the God of the scriptures, the Living God who sent His Son to die for His enemies, thus proving His love for them. In their theology sin is still a problem, reigns in hell forever, eternally condemning and keeping those in hell under it. The reality is God through Christ has justified all (yes all!) from sin, sin has been put away and has no power. God is also conciliating all to himself, not reckoning our offenses to us, destroying the estrangement on our side, proving His love through the sacrifice of His Son.
2Cor 5:20-21: "For Christ, then, are we ambassadors, as of God entreating through us. We are beseeching for Christ's sake, "Be conciliated to God!" For the One not knowing sin, He makes to be a sin offering for our sakes that we may be becoming God's righteousness in Him."
Remember, God is love: 1Jn 4:8: "He who is not loving knew not God, for God is love." Be conciliated to God, because He loves you and has always been conciliated to you. When you are conciliated to God, there is then reconciliation.
God wills that all mankind be saved, and Christ Jesus gave Himself as a ransom for all. God’s purpose will come to fruition.
1Tim 2:4-6: "Who wills that all mankind be saved and come into a realization of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator of God and mankind, a Man, Christ Jesus, Who is giving Himself a correspondent Ransom for all (the testimony in its own eras),"
Believe this wonderful news, the evangel of the grace of God:
1Cor 15:3-4: "For I give over to you among the first what also I accepted, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that He was entombed, and that He has been roused the third day according to the scriptures,"
The fact that Christ died for our sins is a crucial part of the evangel. The belief that God will send anyone to hell because of sin, after sending His son to die for the sake of sinners, is absolutely ridiculous.[2]
——————————————————————————————————————————
[1] - The “elect” in this current administration of grace are believers in Paul’s evangel and are chosen for a purpose: Eph 1:4: “according as He chooses us in Him before the disruption of the world, we to be holy and flawless in His sight,”. And the purpose of this chosen group of believers is: Eph 1:10 : ... to have an administration of the complement of the eras, to head up all in the Christ -- both that in the heavens and that on the earth --". In the next two eons, Christ and His body (the body of Christ) will accomplish this: Col 1:20: "and through Him to reconcile all to Him (making peace through the blood of His cross), through Him, whether those on the earth or those in the heavens."
[2] - Coming to the knowledge of Paul’s evangel and being given faith to believe it is enough to know that the idea of an eternity in hell or annihilation of any person because of sin, is utterly unthinkable. Yes, there are passages of judgement in scripture, and they are all perfectly congruent with the salvation of all and the justification of all from sin. God has a part for vessels of indignation to play in His plan for the eons. This does not mean they are not justified from sin and will not be vivified at the consummation of the eons. Rom 9:21-22: "Or has not the potter the right over the clay, out of the same kneading to make one vessel, indeed, for honor, yet one for dishonor? Now if God, wanting to display His indignation and to make His powerful doings known, carries, with much patience, the vessels of indignation, adapted for destruction," The idea of eternal hell or annihilation is propped up by bad translations, primarily bad translations of words such as: hades, Gehenna and Tartarus, which have all been mistranslated as hell in various translations. The words aion and aionios are also mistranslated as eternal or forever, when eon or age is the proper translation. I believe every passage of judgement described in the scriptures, and there is no contradiction with the fact that God will save all.
