The "tree of knowledge" explained

[P1tchblack]

To be absent with the body is to be present with the Lord.
If you are a Christian death is nothing but a stepping stone to be in God's presence for eternity. 
If God didn't give us free will and controlled all situations of evil you'd complain that God doesn't give us free will.
He is in a no win situation with you.

 
We all want diffy levels of intervention by authority.  My teenage daughter wants very, very little intervention by the authorities that brought her into the world.

My issue isn't with the existing ANY evil.  My issue is with God being labeled as all-loving and all-powerful, when his actions in no way support it.

[Orbit1]

I want to be clear here…I am definitely not in the “Love Wins” camp where everyone makes it. That is 100% NOT Scriptural. There is a Judgement coming and faith in Buddha, Allah, Krishna, or anyone demonic anti Christ spirit will get you there.
“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭4:12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

There is a Judgement there is a literal Hell
“Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭20:14-15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The only thing I disagree with HT on is where the condemnation comes from…
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
‭‭John‬ ‭3:16-17‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

We also see this in John 8 with the Woman caught in adultery.
“When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.””
‭‭John‬ ‭8:10-12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

So where does Condemnation come from??
“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against Godâ€s elect? It is God who justifies.
**Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”**
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:32-34‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

So how does Christ condemn??
We know the Scripture says the world is already condemned and that leads us back again, to
““He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
‭‭John‬ ‭3:18-19‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

God is a God of Righteousness and Justice. That True Justice demands a Righteous ruling. Because people love the darkness more than light, meaning they rejected Jesus as Messiah, they are condemned. Thatâ€s not what the Father wants, nor Christ. Thatâ€s the result of our own decisions.

"God is a God of Righteousness and Justice."

If you really look at the facts surrounding God revealing his son, and therefore Christianity, to the world, I don't know where you find righteousness or justice.

I study Scripture all the time. I study books about the Scriptures. I look at words in their original Hebrew and Greek texts. I read commentaries. I can assure you that I have “really looked at the facts”  Lol

[Hightop77]

Two things that I want to call out here.. first, ht and K9/orbit believe in the same God and read the same book as their source for information on that God. Despite that, they really believe in completely separate gods. HTs is a vengeful dictator and, on the other side, is a God that is so graceful that he would admit someone to heaven that didn't believe in him, but was just a really good person. Both can find a scriptural basis for what they want to believe.

The second item to call out is this... Every single bad thing that happens is something that God could have prevented. Every child that is being raped right now, is being raped under the watchful eye of a God that has the ability to stop it. Every single rule that punishes a good person, like requiring the sacrifice of your own son, was put in place intentionally by the Christian God.  The same one that the majority of the posters here worship.

If God eliminated all evil in the world, no one would be here.  No one.

I've never advocated eliminating all evil. I'm questioning, the assertion that God is all-loving and all powerful.  You clearly do not believe that he is. Your god is much different than the one that many Christians believe in.

But you talk about selectively eliminating sin and evil.  Why should God only eliminate the sin and evil that you want him to eliminate?  Everyone is equally condemned.

[P1tchblack]

I want to be clear here…I am definitely not in the “Love Wins” camp where everyone makes it. That is 100% NOT Scriptural. There is a Judgement coming and faith in Buddha, Allah, Krishna, or anyone demonic anti Christ spirit will get you there.
“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭4:12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

There is a Judgement there is a literal Hell
“Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
‭‭Revelation‬ ‭20:14-15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The only thing I disagree with HT on is where the condemnation comes from…
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
‭‭John‬ ‭3:16-17‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

We also see this in John 8 with the Woman caught in adultery.
“When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.””
‭‭John‬ ‭8:10-12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

So where does Condemnation come from??
“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against Godâ€s elect? It is God who justifies.
**Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”**
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8:32-34‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

So how does Christ condemn??
We know the Scripture says the world is already condemned and that leads us back again, to
““He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
‭‭John‬ ‭3:18-19‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

God is a God of Righteousness and Justice. That True Justice demands a Righteous ruling. Because people love the darkness more than light, meaning they rejected Jesus as Messiah, they are condemned. Thatâ€s not what the Father wants, nor Christ. Thatâ€s the result of our own decisions.

"God is a God of Righteousness and Justice."

If you really look at the facts surrounding God revealing his son, and therefore Christianity, to the world, I don't know where you find righteousness or justice.

I study Scripture all the time. I study books about the Scriptures. I look at words in their original Hebrew and Greek texts. I read commentaries. I can assure you that I have “really looked at the facts”  Lol

I bet you know more about the Bible than I do as it relates to the historical details and other devotional subjects but, when you read/study devotionally, you don't generally look at it critically or even objectively. There's a whole area of study devoted to this called historical-critical.

You say that God is righteous and just, yet he revealed his son to only the smallest portion of the world and did so after other religions had been established for thousands of years.  By doing that, he basically ensured that, to this day, the entire population of India is condemned to hell for believing in the wrong god.  Does that seem like justice?

[Blinky]

Looks like India is pretty close to the Middle East to me. 

[P1tchblack]

Looks like India is pretty close to the Middle East to me. 

Hinduism existed starting somewhere around 2300 BC.  In other words, it had been around longer, at the time Jesus was born, than Christianity has existed today.

[Blinky]

And?

[Alabuckeye]

Pitch has never heard of Thomas.

[Hightop77]

Once again Pitch staying with his template and won't respond to the questions that knock him off of it. 

[P1tchblack]

And?

And why do you think that India, which is in the part of the world where Hinduism began, to this day, is almost entirely Hindu?

[Blinky]

And?

And why do you think that India, which is in the part of the world where Hinduism began, to this day, is almost entirely Hindu?

How old were the Euro-Pagan religions?

[P1tchblack]

And?

And why do you think that India, which is in the part of the world where Hinduism began, to this day, is almost entirely Hindu?

How old were the Euro-Pagan religions?

That's not an answer to my question.

[Alabuckeye]

Sure itâ€s an answer. Just not the one you want because it destroys your narrative

[Blinky]

And?

And why do you think that India, which is in the part of the world where Hinduism began, to this day, is almost entirely Hindu?

How old were the Euro-Pagan religions?

That's not an answer to my question.

My goal was not to answer your question, it was to expose your point as pointless. 

Europe and India were both nearby, and both had established religions. One converted to Christianity, the other didn't.

[P1tchblack]

And?

And why do you think that India, which is in the part of the world where Hinduism began, to this day, is almost entirely Hindu?

How old were the Euro-Pagan religions?

That's not an answer to my question.

My goal was not to answer your question, it was to expose your point as pointless. 

Europe and India were both nearby, and both had established religions. One converted to Christianity, the other didn't.

I'll try again... do you believe that the fact that Hinduism had been established for thousands of years had anything to do with it?  Do you believe that God, all-knowing guy that he is, knew that India would be 80% Hindu today, thereby condemning 80% of children born there to an eternity in hell?