GOD OR THEM

GOD OR THEM
I am constantly reading the writings, and hearing the messages of those who do not believe the Bible when it says...

* God so loved the world (they say He only loved the "world of the elect," which to them are the unilaterally and unconditionally chosen).

* Christ died for the sins of the world (they say He only died for the unilaterally, unconditionally elect).

* Christ will save His people from their sins (they say He only saves us from the penalty of our sins).

* God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (they say that He is not willing that the unilaterally and unconditionally elect should perish).

* God will have all men to come to be saved (they say that God will only have the unilaterally and unconditionally elect to be saved)

* God cleanses from all sin (they say that we cannot be cleansed from all sin in this life).

* God purifies His children, even as Christ is pure (they say we cannot be pure in this life).

* God says that His children do not sin (they say that we cannot help but sin).

* God says that those who are in the Spirit are not in the flesh, the carnal mind (they say that all of us are in the flesh, the carnal mind).

* God says that we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight (they say no one can keep His commandments or do the things that are pleasing in His sight).

* God says His children are righteous and godly (they say no man is righteous or godly).

* God says we are to be perfect in love, even as our Father in heaven is perfect in love (they say we cannot be perfect in any capacity).

According to them, all of these Biblical statements are true if we understand them to not mean what they say, that they are only true when understood with explanation.

And the list goes on. By the way, the elect are not unilaterally, unconditionally chosen by God to salvation. There is no such creature. God calls and enables people to believe and receive Christ, but God has determined that men make their own choice to either be saved by Christ or not. The idea that God allows us to be unable to choose to go the right way and then punishes us eternally for it is not Biblical and is contrary to the loving, just nature of God. Evangelism only makes sense if men have a choice. Judgment only makes sense, if men have a choice.

Either we accept what God says or we accept what some false teacher says that God meant when He supposedly misstated what He meant. When we believe the Bible, we do not have to protect a man-made doctrine. When we accept what God says, it actually makes sense. When we tell the good news to people, we understand that they must respond; we understand that we are not just going through the motions (since God has neither unilaterally chosen some to salvation and excluded others); we understand that sin does not please or glorify God; we understand that either God separates us from sin or sin separates us from God; we understand that we were not saved to sin, but we were saved from sin.