Power Without Mercy
Imagine what it would be like to be
able to control life by inputting data into your computer. Not simply
influence or impact, but actually control, determine life, either one
person or the whole world, for good or evil, simply by keying in you
own will. For instance, if I had that power, I could type, "John
Q has two heads," and presto, two heads. Scary, huh?
No Such God
There are Christians who believe God
has chosen to use His sovereign power to do things that are much more
scary. They believe God creates people and predestines some of them
to eternal life and others to eternal damnation, without any chance
of deliverance. They claim that God is merciful, in that He has
chosen to save some, but they claim He is not unmerciful when He
deliberately and unilaterally chooses to create people for the
express purpose of spending eternity in torment, without any choice
or any chance of deliverance. While they wrest a few passages to
support their view, the whole message of the Bible denounces such a
claim.
God not only has the power to do what
He chooses, He is merciful and just and therefore uses His power to
benefit all of lost humanity.
John 3:16-17
(16) For God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life.
(17) For God sent not his Son into the
world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be
saved.
1 Timothy 2:4-6
(4) (God) ...will have all men to be
saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
(5) For there is one God, and one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
(6) Who gave
himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
1 Timothy 4:10
(10) For therefore we both labour and
suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the
Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
2 Peter 3:9
(9) The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to
us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come
to repentance.
1 John 2:2
(2) And he is the propitiation for our
sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole
world.
Upward and Onward in Christ,
Pastor David L. Gould
