What if the true nature of God will surprise us?

[B-B]

7 minutes ago, Amigo42 said:

How do we know every book is 100% literal?

Please would you mind explaining plainly your meaning here..?

[Amigo42]

On 5/26/2022 at 8:20 AM, The_Patriot21 said:

Those who will be surprised at Gods nature, will be surprised because they never actually bothered to read the Bible.

Because yes God is a loving God. But God is also a Just God. God is also a jealous God. He is also a God of anger. God is a great many things, He is so much more then just a loving God.

No one wants to talk about Gods other attributes, especially those pushing the false doctrines of universal salvation, but they are all Biblical, and if you ignore them, yes indeed Gods nature will surprise you come judgement day, and not in a good way.

I agree with you that God has many attributes, but ponder this for a moment.  Why would he create us in a blemished world where he knew all would sin and be inclined to sin?  If someone puts a group of people struggling with weight in a restaurant with hundreds of sugary fats and meats, is he angry when they succumb to it or is he rather testing them? Maybe in the far corners there are healthy fruits and veggies hidden, but you've got to search for it.

[B-B]

47 minutes ago, Amigo42 said:

Some people get tripped up in "Bible worship" and forget that only God is perfect.

…well…there is a vast difference between “Bible worship” and believing that each word of those 66 Books is Holy Spirit inspired… and to be believed. 
I can only repeat what I have said in a previous post. The Holy Spirit will never contradict what Scripture states… 

….sir/madam.. no matter how long you have spent in fasting & prayer, if the spiritual revelations you have received, do not concur with Scripture… please reject them. 
You are aware that there is great deception in our midst. 
You are aware that Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light.

(I was brought up as a Sikh… I’m the only member of my family who is following the Lord. I’ve had conversations with family members in the past re: some of the contents of your posts…)

Edited May 28, 2022 by B-B

[Amigo42]

On 5/26/2022 at 11:10 AM, Marathoner said:

All souls are not a part of God, my friend. If this were true, then all souls are God. According to the words of the Lord,

Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins will die. (Ezekiel 18:4 NASB)

If all souls are a part of God and the soul who sins will die, then this blasphemy teaches there is sin in God, and that God can subsequently perish. 

All souls are His for the Lord created all things, including every living soul. This woman adheres to a syncretic admixture of theosophy, pantheism, and whatever else snared her along the way. The teaching that all souls are a part of God should be familiar to us all, having been delivered in different ways over the centuries.

It's the cornerstone of pantheism, the belief that all of creation is a manifestation of God. The notion that "all religions lead to God" is agreeable with this nonsense, and so the pantheist welcomes other gods and religions with open arms. 

Well, the human side is sinful, hence the soul that sins will die.  We all die on this Earth as our humanity is flawed.  

[Starise]

@Amigo42

FWIW I went through a similar phase where I would question lots of things in the Bible. I read many famous atheists and those who are going around with smug confidence the word of God is full of holes 

I reasoned I would rather be wrong and have to back pedal on my beliefs than to be one of those Christians who accepted cookie cutter answers and buried my head in the sand like an ostrich.

If you embed your thinking into only their ideas they can be very convincing. One thing you have going for you is you claim to be a believer. Believers have the Spirit residing in them, so we go beyond what seems logical. "His Spirit gives witness to our spirit that we ARE His children." We know instinctually something isn't right by the Lord's leading in our souls.

This does not surpass logic. Most of their defense is shoddy when examined objectively. Neither is God required to conform to anything we think makes sense or "should be". We tend to put God in a human mind box. God is beyond anything we can comprehend.

 

[The_Patriot21]

18 minutes ago, Amigo42 said:

I agree with you that God has many attributes, but ponder this for a moment.  Why would he create us in a blemished world where he knew all would sin and be inclined to sin?  If someone puts a group of people struggling with weight in a restaurant with hundreds of sugary fats and meats, is he angry when they succumb to it or is he rather testing them? Maybe in the far corners there are healthy fruits and veggies hidden, but you've got to search for it.

Or maybe He just believes in free choice. Maybe He realizes that if if they had no choicw but to love Him then its not real love so He provided us a choice to follow Him or not.

And maybe Hes a just God who cannot allow sin in His presence, so maybe the only way to give us a choice was to give us a choice to sin. If only He had provided us a book to tell us one way or the other.

Oh wait...He did, its called the Bible. It details all of this plain and day. 

And in it it clearly states how to get to heaven-and what the consequences if we dont choose to follow Him-which is eternity in hell.

If Hes just going to let us all in regardless...why would He even bother with said book? Why would it even matter if we followed Him? So why write a book lying about the path to salvation and the consequences of not following it if were all going to heaven regardless?

[Amigo42]

20 hours ago, AnOrangeCat said:

On the other hand if we're learning from man made teachings that have no basis in scripture then yeah

Ah you hit the nail on the head there.  What if some doctrines that people think are Biblical are actually influenced by man.  The idea of hell is a great example.  The entire concept is misunderstood, misapplied, and taught incorrectly in most cases.

How is this possible?  Well, because hellfire preachers don't look beyond the words to understand the underlying cross cultural influences and traditional Jewish understanding.  

At the time of Jesus the Jews had already been somewhat hellenized by Greek influence.  In addition, Jesus spoke parables using terminology and motifs that were already understood.  The term for hell, Gehenna, was a trash dump outside the city that basically burned non stop.  The Greeks already had the idea of hades.  Combine both ideas and that's how the concept of hell was created.  Of course, there's more to it, but that's a general summary.  Imagine how many other Biblical concepts may or may not be misunderstood.  Only God knows.  I don't know.  Just food for thought.

[Amigo42]

1 hour ago, B-B said:

(I have Sikhs, Muslims, Roman Catholics, Agnostics/Athiests in my nuclear family)

Wow!  I'm sure that makes for a very interesting holiday time. 😀

[Dennis1209]

2 minutes ago, Amigo42 said:

Wow!  I'm sure that makes for a very interesting holiday time. 😀

That gives a whole new meaning about not discussing religion or politics at the dinner table (food fight).  

[Starise]

And they are nuclear too which is really scary.