Do You Really Want To Know God?

 

...Or the God you've configured in your own mind?

 

I can say with 100% certainty that Jesus came to meet all of God's requirements for me and you, so now my only requirement is to follow Jesus Christ in heart, word and deed. However, aside from this I will always leave my conclusions about anything in the hands of God. I will never say I know Him so well as to say that He would do something or He wouldn't with a 100% surety.

 

Proverbs 21:2 All a man's ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart.

 

 

There are some things however that I am confident of, altho you'll need to find out for yourselves. One of those being that God has not poured down His wrath yet so as to cause something like 9/11. However, it is in the studying that you begin finding this out for yourself...and it is in finding out that you learn how extremely important 'context' is, as it is what makes or breaks the meaning of any given passage, chapter, parable or story...therefore your further understanding of God.

 

 

 

When reading and studying in context ~

 

 

 ~ Consider who the writer is speaking to or speaking about. The Jews? Gentiles? Jewish Christians? Pharisees? Us?

 

 

 

~ Consider the words that create the meaning ~ such as: any, all, many, few, only, etc, etc.

 

 

 

~Consider that when the writer is speaking about love for instance, (unless it is 'the love of money' and etc.) then that love is God's kind of love, not man's. So you would refer to where you would find the definition and substance of God's kind of love...for instance 1 Cor. 13, 1 John 1-5, 1 Cor. 9. Also, the words; law, the Prophets, Pharisees, gospel/good news, walk/walking, tongue, carnal/sinful nature, etc. It is important you know the definition and content of these words. Such as Gal. 5: 19-21 is where you can find what's contained in the carnal/sinful nature.

 

 

 

Please take some time in the following chapter, considering all the wording so as to get the clearest picture. I submit that God did not cause 9/11 or any other disaster as He is NOT WILLING that any...ANY...should perish, but that all...ALL...should come to repentance. I am not saying that He would not take a specific group of people, or some one's life out of judgement because He knows they will not turn their lives over to Him...but all in all the time of judgement has not yet arrived. I would also add that if the time of judgement has arrived then there are some very evil individuals and groups that He would go after, NOT after a large mixture of people including many young children. Sorry, I think some people are watching too many "The Monster That Ate Manhattan" movies!

 

So, what is God saying in the following portion of scripture concerning this subject?

 

 

 

http://nlt.scripturetext.com/2_peter/3.htm As we read through to verses 14 and 15 God is apparently saying that judgement is to come sometime in the future, but it has not yet happened because of His patience...and then while we wait what we are to do in the meantime.

 

What does it mean to take something out of context? In my experience it means - that the information that should be considered is not being taken into account. For instance what I just mentioned - which is to not overlook the small words.

1- It can also mean, for instance in the happenstance concerning 9/11, that one has not considered the whole reason why God created mankind in the first place. It was to create us according to His image so we can have fellowship with Him and He with us. He did not create us to destroy us.

2- Another consideration is that because He decided to create us with a freewill, He obviously didn't want puppets...therefore when we decided to go our own way He didn't give up on us. He bore with mankind as we went through many situations until it was time to bring about the ultimate in order to show us how much He wanted us. The ultimate, meaning, His Son...who bore the sin of the world, and now God is patiently waiting until that last person that will come to Him does so.

3-God so loved the world that He gave His only Son...and this was not a little thing. In fact it was the greatest act of love ever for all of mankind. This is why I believe God would not waste even an ounce of this gift by causing such an event as 9/11 and thereby destroying so many lives as though His Son died for some and then for others He didn't. I submit that God would not do this and leave such destruction. It was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us...so if He had only died for the righteous and everyone else had no worth, then I could see Him destroying whole groups of people. But again, He paid every person's salvation before they ever received the gift...so because of the high price He paid I can see that He would want to wait til that last person received it!

4-Luke 16:15 He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight." In the above section of scripture (2 Pet) God is addressing people who want the end to come so badly...and then He tells them that He will wait because of His great patience, and to not despise this because it is that same patience that saved each one of us.

 

Can you think of other scriptural reasons why God would be patient and hold off in bringing judgement yet on a large scale?