https://www.facebook.com/sing.f.lau/posts/10218471659878261
##GodisLove_hell_lakeoffire
A Brother inquired:
My former varsity classmate, a Roman Catholic, opined:
since God is love, and Jesus came to save the
whole world, why should He punish some of His creatures in hell.
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I will address your classmate thus:
Every person has some opinions of God, i.e.
the God of the Bible. To opine that God is love is a good start; He is love
indeed. But that’s an acknowledgment and confession with grave and serious
implications too. What is hell but God’s
love spurned and slighted; heaven is God’s love embraced and reciprocated.
I love reminding people that it is not
unreasonable to let God speak for Himself if we are to know Him rightly and to
represent Him faithfully; otherwise, we will run afoul of the First and Third
Commandments:
First Commandment: “Thou shalt have no other
gods before me” – a god of our own imagination is having another god before the
God who has spoken in the Bible.
Third Commandment: “Thou shalt not take the
name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that
taketh his name in vain.” Misrepresenting the LORD God is simply taking His
thrice holy name in vain, with the solemn warning. Any God-fearing man will be
careful in representing the LORD God faithfully.
Surely a good Roman Catholic like you will agree with this basic principle; if you are to be known and represented truly, then you yourself must be the source of information about yourself and not some opinions of others about you. That being so, we ought to let God speak for Himself and His love expressed in His works of creation, providence, and redemption. He has spoken plainly in the Holy Scriptures.
Yes, the LORD God is love, and He so loved…
He gave Adam and his woman - of whom Adam
said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called
woman because she was taken out of Man” - a paradise, the garden of Eden.
Yes, the LORD God is love, and He so loved…
He not only made Adam and his woman perfect
and upright, thus very good, He also put them in the universe that is described
as “very good” – “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was
very good.”
Yes, the LORD God is love, and He so loved…
He did not leave Adam and his wife to
themselves after they had chosen to listen to the devil, in broad daylight
rebellion against the LORD God’s plain and clear command, and damned
themselves. He not only cursed the devil through the promise of the Seed of the
Woman, He also provided salvation for them – “Unto Adam also and to his wife
did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” The coats of skins
were obtained through the blood sacrifices of innocent animals, foreshadowing
the promised Lamb of God, the Seed of the Woman who will crush the serpent’s
head…
You likely can recite John 3:16 - God so
loved that He gave us His only begotten Son. Jesus said that He came to save
sinners. Those who end up in hell are those sinners who have spurned and slighted
the Savior that God has so lovingly provided; they despised and scorned the
love of God.
Yes, the LORD God is love, and He so loved...
You are right in your opinion, God is love.
But men are hateful against Him; they spurn and slight His love. And I find it
perverse that you would find fault with God that they end up in hell. Put your
hand to your heart, and ask yourself, have you represented the LORD God of the
Bible fairly. Remember the First and the Third Commandments.
A man who finds faults with the LORD God is a
wicked and evil man, especially when he is blind to man’s own wickedness and
evil in his rebellion against his Creator and God.
Think about these, and may the LORD GOD give
you understanding.