Featured Ten Reasons to Revel in Being Chosen

God's love is eternal (Jeremiah 31:3); our love isn't.
'For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.........' How much love are you going to get out of that, Utilyan?
'...........But when the kindness and the love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness [like love] that we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Lord' (Titus 3:3-6). All of grace, every last bit if it, through faith, which is itself the gift of God.

Love is not God because love is not all that God is. 'This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all' (1 John 1:5). But light is not God, because light is not all that God is. To worship either love or light is idolatry.

1. Whoever said it did? The Holy Spirit gives faith and life (2 Corinthians 3:3-6).
2. Faith is a living thing not a dead thing. Paul says, "I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me' (Galatians 2:20). Faith is also precious (1 Peter 1:7; 2 Peter 1:1).
3. Hope is also a living thing (1 Peter 1:3).

 

Faith by itself is a dead body.

James 2
26For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

You have a dead body theology.

A body without spirit is DEAD, So Faith without works is DEAD. (wow I just repeated the verse)

Exegete that.



"But light is not God, because light is not all that God is."

You are saying God is Evil.

That expression means God is good, and darkness is evil.


"To worship either love or light is idolatry."

We worship Love, God almighty. If you are told to worship Love.........who or what did you have in mind?

If you can tell one difference between Love (agape) and God, you have a lot to learn about both.



Even some Calvinist crumble on this one:
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What is agape love?

"Agape is used to describe the love that is of and from God, whose very nature is love itself: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). God does not merely love; He is love itself. Everything God does flows from His love."
============

God is LOVE ITSELF.

The reason you can't manage to compute this, like a soldier who doesn't question orders you think your under a EVIL God with just a label of being Good.

Its over your head that God is ACTUALLY GOOD, Sincerely the highest kindness of all, Perfect love, Endless mercy.



GOD is LOVE. Love is a PERSON. Think of the Trinity. Since when has Love not been eternal?



You want to fight against LOVE, LOL. There is no greater brick wall to bang your head against.


Without LOVE, without GOD, all you have is a EVIL GODLESS FAITH.


Martin, tackle this one subject "Idolatry of Love" That God is not Love.

If you can convince me Love is not the highest priority I will be obliterated.


You can have EVERYTHING in Christianity, EVERYTHING in Scripture, Everything in the world. but No love.

I have LOVE alone in my corner. Bring it.

 

Did we get the Spirit thru faith alone in jesus,or by good works and keeping the law?

 

Certainly. I offered to do so in my last post, though I'm not sure why since you won't take any notice but keep on spouting your nonsense.

Someone without the Spirit is spiritually dead. That's not rocket science. Someone with the Spirit will naturally produce the fruit of the Spirit. That's not rocket science either, 'The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.' So someone who claims to be born again but has no fruit is deceiving himself.

So what do we say about someone who claims to believe but shows nothing of the fruit of the Spirit? We deduce that he is deceiving himself. True Biblical faith, the faith that saves, is not just a belief that there was someone called Jesus of Nazareth who lived a long time ago and did some good stuff. True Biblical faith is seeing yourself as a lost sinner (Titus 3:3), turning away from your sin (Matthew 4:7; Luke 19:8) and trusting in nothing whatsoever but the grace of God and the blood of Christ to save you (Luke 23:39-43; 1 Peter 2:24) and acknowledging Him as Lord (1 Corinthians 12:3; Colossians 2:6). The one who does these things will inevitably produce the fruit of the Spirit, which of course, includes love (Romans 6:22).

So someone who believes on Christ with saving faith will automatically produce good works (Ephesians 2:10). But salvation is by grace alone through faith alone (Romans 4:5; Ephesians 2:8-9). "Don't be afraid; ONLY believe." What is it about the word 'only' that you don't understand?

 

It looked like you started to exegete the verses and jumped right off the bridge.


We can go word by word and slowly if we have to.


James 2
26For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Is not FAITH here compared to the BODY?

Is not WORKS here compared to the SPIRIT?

Is the BODY superior to the SPIRIT?


^welcome to rocket science.

 

So because I claim God is Love there is no possibility of hatred for wickedness? LOL.

God is love. 1 john 4:8 I tried looking for Calvinist to exegete this line......calvin's institutes, commentaries.....

God is love apparently the most hated bible verse among Calvinist.

No..... I'll keep looking....sure ill find something.

 

You know these debates could go a lot smoother if you could ask God to give me the free will to choose your "truth".


That way you don't have to get upset when I'm predestined to disagree.

 

I knew it was a waste of time trying to explain anything to you. You have made no mention whatsoever of what I wrote, so why would I bother to write any more?

If you were actually interested in finding something you would surely do so. Go to The Attributes of God by A.W. Pink (Baker Book House, ISBN 0-8010-6989-0) It's on Page 77 of my copy, but it's also available on line. There is also an extended treatment in The Epistles of John by Joel Beeke (Evangelical Press). These were just the first two books I looked at.

Heigh-ho! It's back on Ignore for you.

 

Romans 9:20 makes it clear that you can't blame God for your own stupidity.

 

that's what I want, ill check it out, thanks.

 

I don't have a choice to blame God. He just chooses for me.

 

Well here it is guys in the very book you present the point I'm making.

The Attributes of God

"Thirdly, "God is love" (1 John 4:8). It is not simply that God "loves," but that He is Love itself. Love is not merely one of His attributes, but His very nature." -- Arthur W pink



How badly can I emphasize LOVE IS NOT MERELY ONE OF HIS ATTRIBUTES?

I hope you guys can admit error here.

In the scope of salvation to say the very nature of God isn't a requirement or unnecessary?

Please reconsider your positions.

 

I need help with this issue right here.

I challenged that GOD is LOVE



You guys say:
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Love is not God because love is not all that God is. 'This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all' (1 John 1:5). But light is not God, because light is not all that God is. To worship either love or light is idolatry.

===

You want to push that Love is just a attribute.


So I ask for a source of your exegesis of 1 john 4. And what do you give me? The "attributes of God" by Arthur W Pink.


The Attributes of God

"Thirdly, "God is love" (1 John 4:8). It is not simply that God "loves," but that He is Love itself. Love is not merely one of His attributes, but His very nature." -- Arthur W Pink

Here is the KNOCK OUT. Those are the words of MR. PINK. That HE(GOD) IS LOVE ITSELF.

Arthur W PInk goes on to say LOVE IS NOT MERELY ONE OF HIS ATTRIBUTES, BUT HIS VERY NATURE.


Your choices here is take back this source say Arthur Pink who you claimed knows better then you is in ERROR and wrong.

Or your going to have to ADMIT you are in error.


You guys said:

"Love is not God because love is not all that God is."

1 john 4 said:

"God is love."


If I want to know your theology all I have to do is take all scripture backwards.


Hey Amen to what Arthur Pink says right there...... you wanted it! NOW EAT IT!

 

Common now is what he said the truth or not? Do you agree GOD is LOVE ITSELF?

"Thirdly, "God is love" (1 John 4:8). It is not simply that God "loves," but that He is Love itself. Love is not merely one of His attributes, but His very nature." -- Arthur W Pink



Menno I agree with what you quoted. But like any other text we might be seeing two things.
For example:
"The divine love is commonly regarded as a species of amiable weakness, a sort of good-natured indulgence; it is reduced to a mere sickly sentiment, patterned after human emotion."


If you see it is mistakenly regarded as weakness, sentiment, patterned of human emotion good-natured, we might be on same page.

But if you see divine love as something that's actually violent and self-seeking, we are reading different things.



Some folks might be impressed with splitting the planet in half, snapping a finger to make folks lose their live or bring them back to life, flooding the planet, or burning it, the capacity of destroying everything.

Now some folks would call that power, they might even call it the wrath of God.

But this will always remain a infantile perspective of POWER thru eyes of FEAR rather then from the eyes of the FEARLESS.

The highest form of the wrath of God I have ever seen is Jesus Christ on the Cross. That is a massive act of POWER.

But again there is plenty of folks who are only impressed by the natural and spiritual mechanics that's their idolatry that's their idea of "power". Which is to satisfy "FEAR" with Control.


Letting Jesus die for you is a existential statement that transcends a value system that our universe is incapable of containing. The Love of God can't fit in there its so big.

God is communicating a declaration that's thicker then any word, they even call Jesus the word for a reason.


If God were to hand the Devil the GUN that decides who goes to heaven and hell, There's a lot of folks who would worship the Devil in a heart beat, even if he changes his name to GOD.

But that's not me, THANK GOD, Because God put into perspective the priority of things of what really counts when it is all said and done. God literally saved my soul.

The #1 priority, #1 person, #1 "thing" that matters in life is LOVE.


I used to think POWER and being in control was most important maybe back when I was child in playground. The only thing that mattered was who can beat who up.


There is a HARDWAY, an absolute terror. That's having to lose someone you love sometimes a person themselves finally don't matter any more, ego gets wiped out real quick. Then who can beat who up or what I can get doesn't matter any more all that mattes is the well being of the other.

 

You can't read anything without misunderstanding it, can you?
Just read the first paragraph again, slowly....carefully.......and you will see that there are three things that God is that are His very nature. 'God is Spirit' (John 4:24), 'God is light' (1 John 1:5- pointed out by me earlier). 'God is love' (1 John 4:8).

THEREFORE Love cannot be God, because love is not all that God is. SO SUCK ON THAT!