How God Shows Love

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A Bible believing seminary student attended a postmodern church service one Sunday. The pastor announced his sermon theme that all religious beliefs are true. He assured the congregation it was quite true. The Bible believing student squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. After service, he tried to slip out of church unnoticed. But the heavy-set robed pastor waited at the door bear hugging everybody. He shook the student’s hand and asked where he was from.

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“I’m a seminary student visiting here from Bowling Green,” the student replied. “Wonderful” the pastor responded. “And what do you believe young man?” “I’d rather not say sir,” said the student. “Oh it’s alright son” assured the pastor. “I believe all the doctrines are true. Tell me what you believe son.” Leaning over toward the pastor, the student whispered, “I believe sir that you’re going to Hell.” Surprised with face red as a tomato the pastor said, “Well, I guess I don’t believe every doctrine is true after all.”

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Many people claim Hell is a torture chamber and the very opposite of a loving God. Even schools, churches and Christians who claim to believe and teach the Bible are afraid or ashamed to mention Hell. They fear non-Christians might think the doctrine incredible, irrational or cruel. It would scare persons away from church. Let me give you six reasons that show how Hell actually proves God’s love.

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God Shows Love by Punishing Human Abuse and Injustice

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Unjudged sin would show a God indifferent to human abuses and injustices. Does God not notice our misery, feel our pain, hear our cries, or see our tears? Then He’s not even as compassionate as persons are. Does He care about us—are we not worth His time? An indifferent uncaring God is not the God of the Bible. At Lazarus’s tomb, Jesus wept. And God weeps at all our agony and adversity. Civilized nations protect their citizens--they justly put criminals in jail. Why then wouldn’t a caring God do the same? Lofty mountains of human abuse go unpunished and no punishment of injustice condones and encourages further injustice.

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Unjudged sin would mean our defiance defeats God. Who’s in charge God or man? If it’s man, then God’s defeated and evil terrorizes us. But if God’s in charge, then He’ll judge and punish evil doers confining evil to Hell. The Almighty can never be defeated. Unjust kings and heartless conquers bring untold devastation and misery to human lives and lands. But God will right all wrongs when sinners come before the King of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ. Mighty Satan and his followers have no power to stand before the Lord Jesus. Paul told the Philippians

“At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow . . . and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”. Phil. 2:10.          

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Unjudged sin would mean God is not even as just as man is just. Unlike prejudiced fallible man, God knows the whole truth making Him alone the only perfectly just judge. And God judges each sinner according to their own knowledge and works—that means different degrees of punishment in each case. Serial killers will be more severely punished than liars will be. Thus, in these three ways God punishing sin demonstrates his love.

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God Shows Love through His Word Warning Us of Hell

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A loving parent will warn their child to look both ways for oncoming traffic to avoid disaster or not to play with fire. So God’s Word gives us metaphors or pictures to describe Hell’s nature and warn us of it. Hell is like outer darkness (Matt. 8:12), a wandering star (Jude 13), a waterless cloud (Jude 12), burning in a city dump (Mark 9:44-48), a bottomless pit (Rev. 20:1-3), an everlasting prison (1 Peter 3:19) a place of torment (Luke 16:28), a lake of fire (Rev. 21:8), and God’s abiding wrath (John 3:36). It’s our responsibility to heed the warning.  

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“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, will inherit the kingdom of God”.

1 Cor. 6:9-10.

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God’s Shows Love by Giving us a Conscience to Discern Good and Evil.

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Everyone has a conscience, a sense of right and wrong, a feeling of what behavior is fair and unfair, good and bad. But we can choose to make our conscience insensitive, oversensitive or irrational. We can suppress our natural feelings of compassion for others like ourselves. We can learn to hate and to twist things believing evil is good and good evil. See Jer. 17:9-10; Isa. 5:20.

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We may overlook evils when others are mistreated. We may excuse ourselves saying it is not my business, or I don’t know the circumstances, or maybe even that they deserve it. But how quick we are to protest and scream unfair when someone abuses us. We have no difficulty of discernment then. We don’t suppress our conscience or make excuses then. The reality of good and evil is deeply impressed upon us then.

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Our conscience is not imaginary—it’s real. But it makes no ultimate sense unless there be a standard to which we are accountable. We can’t be accountable to the energy of the universe as pantheist religions suppose. Universal energy can neither know nor care anything about us or can be a standard of good and evil. We can’t be accountable to an uncaring God who abandoned us as deists suppose. And the ignorant dependent God evolving with the world that process theologians imagine can’t hold us accountable either.

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Jesus, however, confirmed our accountability as he fulfilled ancient prophecies, performed many miracles and plainly told us he is our God. And his death for our sins and bodily resurrection demonstrated both God’s justice and love. No world religion or dead religious philosopher has anything to match that.

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Our conscience and ethics makes no ultimate sense unless there’s an Absolute Moral Lawgiver who holds us accountable. That infinite, personal ethical God revealed Himself in biblical history. God’s Word is true and dependable and there’s no law that God must excuse religions contrary to his Word no matter how sincere their devoted followers. The Bible’s God is our Creator, Owner, Life-giver, Judge, and his will not ours is the law.

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God Shows Love by Bearing our Punishment on the Cross

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Jesus did only good and delivered oppressed persons from the devil. But, he was ridiculed, spit on, falsely accused, condemned as a common criminal, merciless beaten, nailed to a cross, exposed naked to gazing eyes, and forsaken by the Father. He took our sins upon himself—it was the just willingly bearing the punishment of the unjust. This is the greatest expression of love known to man. A God of love was unthinkable before Christ’s cross and remains so today among peoples who have never heard of the Savior.  

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 As selfish, self-centered persons, we don’t see ourselves as immoral or filthy sinners that need cleansing and saving. What God calls sin we think is fun and a good time. God seems like a tyrant trying to impose impossible rules upon us and spoil our fun. We generally feel this way until God opens our spiritually blind eyes, softens our hard heart and floods our soul with his love, peace and purity.

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God Shows Love by Letting Us Choose Our Own Destiny

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God can’t force us to accept Him—forced love is rape. Forced love would dishonor God saying his abundant blessings and Christ’s death in our place is of no avail. Anyone—the worst sinner—may come and millions have. Heaven or Hell then is our choice. The Bible’s unmistakable that without Christ unbelievers will dwell in outer darkness in tears and torments forever.   

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There is no second chance, neither annihilation nor reincarnation. “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment (Heb. 9:27).” God must keep his promise to provide a perfect home for believers (John 14:1-3). So we read, “There shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Rev. 22:11)”.

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God Shows Love by His Patience with Our Excuses

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 Procrastination and good intentions have sent many persons to Hell. Don’t let them send you. Now is the time to be saved. Evolution is no excuse to deny God’s providence and judgment—it’s only a lie. Problems with the Bible have solutions if you’re willing to take the time to look for them. Hypocrites inside or outside the church are a poor excuse to go to Hell. Don’t take the most serious risk of your life. The grim reaper may be knocking on your door. God gave his Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life with him in paradise. Delay may prove fatal! Humbly trust the Savior of sinners. Then get with God’s Bible believing people and serve the Lord. Let the goodness and love of God lead you to faith and repentance. Then link this blog with yours & tell others about it so they can trust the Savior & go to heaven. God bless your ministry.

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