The PuritanBoard - View Single Post - What to say when a "Christian" chooses Hell over God's Sovereignty?

toddpedlar · #14 (**permalink**) 04-23-2008, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kim G

Quote:

Originally Posted by puritan lad

Ditto. Any person who would choose to go to hell instead of being with God, simply because God doesn't measure up to his own humanistic moral standard, cannot have been taught of God, doesn't know God, doesn't love God, and is ignorant of the sufferings of Hell.

I don't know that I'd go that far.

For those of us (I'm speaking of myself here) who did not grow up knowing and believing the doctrines of grace, the completely sovereignty of God over everything is a very scary concept. I first confessed faith in Christ when I was eight years old, and I have no doubt that God saved me then. But I balked against the doctrines of grace until I was twenty. I didn't know that I was holding God to my humanistic moral standard, even though I said, "God couldn't be that way." "So God is just a programmer and we are His robots?" "God wouldn't do that." "I have to choose to put faith in God!" etc. In my mind, I had the correct view of who God is. And I probably would have said, "Why would I want to go to heaven to be with someone who forced me to be there?" In my mind, GOD was not that way.

It was only by reading the Word of God that He opened my eyes to understand what grace really is and what comfort there is in believing that God is Sovereign. Maybe I was ignorant before; maybe I was taught that election wasn't scriptural . . . but I was still a believer in God and in Christ. And after kicking against the idea of sovereignty for over a year, God's Spirit used the Scriptures to patiently teach me the truth.

Just my

.

I want to treat this as gently as possible, but ask very directly... you said above "in your mind God wasn't that way".

Is it possible that you didn't at that point know God? God's sovereignty over all things IS a scary concept - and he is a terrible and awesome God, rightly to be feared because of His sovereignty.

What if one does not have that fear concept? What if one takes the position that she cannot serve a God who is like that? Does she truly know Him?

A similar question - suppose someone think that he did 1% and Christ did 99% in order to save him. If that were his position, would he truly be trusting in Christ for all? Would it be fair to question his salvation?

I'm not calling you into question - but I am saying that I am quite sure I was utterly ignorant of who God is until He graciously convinced me of His full and complete sovereignty. What does the Bible say about those who do not know God?