I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

[Floatingaxe]

It's better to be found in His favour than His continual mercy.

We are in His favor because of His mercy.

You are correct! May I add, though:

I don't want to be the kind of Christian who lives constantly calling upon His mercy. I want to be the kind of follower of Jesus who goes right to the favour because of obedience. Mom and dad love a kid who does what he's told immediately without having to cajole or correct, and the child has to repent and be corrected and then set right again. We can bypass all that. It's called overcoming. That is what we seek, as believers.

do you have kids?

I have two, one is very good about doing what we ask right away, one takes much pushing but there is no more love for one over the other

I have three. There is one I trust to get the job done when I want it and done well. That is the one who gets a "Good job!" perk, and extra ice cream, or more allowance. That doesn't translate into more love.

[BurnForChrist]

I have two, one is very good about doing what we ask right away, one takes much pushing but there is no more love for one over the other

God loves us all the same, He loves the sinner just as much as the Christian, but the sinner is still going to hell. How much God loves us, does not determine our standing with Him. Having faith in God and in Christ and being obedient to His word does.

Scripture reference please? And I would have you know 2000 years of Christian history would disagree with you there. Let us not forget these seemingly ignored passages in scripture:

Psalm 5:5 "The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity."

Psalm 11:5 "The LORD tests the righteous, But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates."

So in a sense God does love, and show mercy to the lost, but do not forget there is a hate for those who love violence, and who do iniquity, which would be all who are lost.

Also, Ephesians 1

3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,

5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved."

The "us" here is not all of mankind, it cannot be. But rather this is believers, and here we have the love of God expressed in such a way, that is not towards the lost, but rather this love is greater, and only for believers.

We read in Hebrews 12:5-6

5

[Guest ~zoe-girl~]

I agree with FA and that is just my two cents on all this~

[mrs]

God loves us all the same, 1He loves the sinner just as much as the Christian, but the sinner is still going to hell. 2How much God loves us, does not determine our standing with Him. Having faith in God and in Christ and being obedient to His word does.

I know I said I was staying out of this thread but I can not remain quiet about such shocking statements as these.

1 Where exactly did you ever get such an idea as this? The Bible is clear on the fact the Christian is loved with a special love that the world knows not of.

Let me name just a few examples that come to mind:

A. Christians are the Bride of Christ

A man loves his bride with a different love than he has for any other woman. She is his alone, and he regards her tenderly and cherishes her as special and adored. This is based on the Biblical teaching that we are the Bride of Christ and he regards us differently than the world.

Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

Eph 5:26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

Eph 5:27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

Eph 5:28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

Eph 5:29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,

Eph 5:30 because we are members of his body.

Note the passage addresses Christ's love for the church, not the world.

B. Christians are Beloved

This corresponds to point A, and shows the distinct love God has for the Christian. I challenge you, take even Acts to Revelation and note just how many times a Christian is called beloved. E-sword found 58 hits and every one is addressed to a Christian.

A google search of Webster's 1913 dictionary turned up the following definition of beloved:

Be`loved

[Guest ~zoe-girl~]

Unlucky for us all that some have chosen to make war on these threads and not peace and simple talks about life , God etc.

Why in the world does WB have to be a war zone-

[mrs]

Burn, are you telling me that God will ask us to do something He will not even do Himself?

Love you enemies, love your neighbor as yourself ect...

Not to mention that Christ died for us when we were still in our sin.

God in no respecter of persons.

John 3:16 God loved the whole world.

Should I go on?

strawman argument yet again. Address the post not a twisted meaning of it.

[Floatingaxe]

While my husband and I love all the children on the block, we only intimately love and care for and favour our very own. Those other kiddies are not our children.

It's the same way with the household of God. He loves His creation, but he has relationship with only a few...those who are in His very own family, related by blood--Jesus' blood. The others are of another's household.

[BurnForChrist]

Burn, are you telling me that God will ask us to do something He will not even do Himself?

Love you enemies, love your neighbor as yourself ect...

Not to mention that Christ died for us when we were still in our sin.

God in no respecter of persons.

John 3:16 God loved the whole world.

Should I go on?

Ezekiel you missed the point as to what I was saying. I never said God doesn't love even the lost, but not in the same sense He loves His elect. How does Christ dying for us believers endorse that? GOD being no respecter of persons has to do with justice, and being impartial with all men, it doesn't have anything to do with the subject. Also you haven't even responded to the scripture I posted.

Burn

[Guest ~zoe-girl~]

Unlucky for us all that some have chosen to make war on these threads and not peace and simple talks about life , God etc.

Why in the world does WB have to be a war zone-

Still stand by this statement~

[mrs]

Ezek AGAIN strawmen arguments. Nowhere did either of us say God does not love the lost. Yet you ignored the entire tone of our posts and argued against things we did not even say. That is called a strawman argument, a weak and cheap form of arguing. If you believe you are right, respond to what we actually say, not what you want to convince people we said.

I gave you strong evidence that the love God has for Christians is unique and distinct from that for the lost, yet you gloss over it and claim I teach God does not love the lost. Bad debate skills, very bad indeed. If this was a true debate you wouldn't be allowed to stay because you are following neither etiquette or the rules.

Your logic is also wrong. Love DOES hate. If you love babies you hate abortion. If you love good you hate evil. Period.

I remember again why I said i would not discuss things with you - because you do NOT discuss. You say things and when you are refuted you just make strawmen arguments and avoid the real statements.