Can Someone Who Does Not Love God Be Saved?

No argument here. Though I have debated some on here who do beleive a person can die a rejecting the gospel and be full persuaded to be a believer in Budda, Morman, or whatever, but if God has perdeterminded their salvation they are saved regardless of their belief. God saves whom He has chosen regardless of if they will have faith or not.

EDITTED In>>>
Here is some of the discussion from the thread "Can you be saved and not know it":
one person states:

The same person states later:

I stated in responce to that:

And that persons responce was :

 

J.D. did your children love you as soon as they were born or was that something they learned as they grew?

 

1. The way to God is true Jesus (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). I don't think this has changed. Has it?

2. Some will suffer eternal destruction who do no obey the gospel and know God (2 Thess. 1:7-9).

3. How can a person love God without a personal knowledge of Him through Jesus as presented in the gospel? Jesus died to bring us to God (1 Pet. 3:18).

4. Love God, we must.

 

That's not quite what the scripture says (that you can't be saved if you don't love God), but I still agree the answer is no.

 

Sorry, I was only using it as an example that some do believe. And then they want you to 'prove' something like that was said. I admittedly placed the cart before the horse. Sorry.

IN Response to the 'Love' question:

Salvation is about a releationship of and in Christ, where there is no love there is no releationship and therefore no salvation.

 

Really? How do you know that? How can they "love" when they don't even know what it is? By the way I have two small kids 4 and 2 so you are not dealing with someone that has no experience in this area.

 

Yes, I'd prefer those texts. Your original quote wasn't bad, it could simply be rationalized that it meant something else.

 

He that loveth not knoweth not God for God is Love.

 

Just to clarify...Is the question "Can someone who does not love God come to be saved?" or is it "Can someone who does not love God already be saved?" Those seem to be significantly different possibilities.

 

1. Even I may have misunderstood your question a bit.

2. My answer would be No. That would a contradiction at best. Those who are saved love God.

3. But I can see how a person's love can grow cold, but not totally cold, where there's no more Love for God.

 

To the first, I think one might be, but it would be the exception that proves the rule to be otherwise. One might be able to love the attributes of God without loving God as a person, in which case he would seem to be a man "after God's own heart" without actually being a man after God Himself. Since it would be impossible for an unsaved man, in enmity with God, to love the Holy attributes of God, the existence of such a love for the things of God would seem to indicate salvation even if no love existed for God as a person. Of course, the chances of such actually happening are extremely unlikely, but it still seems an abstract possibility.

As for the second question, certainly someone who does not love God could come to be saved -- indeed, if they were not such an unloving person they would have no need of saving in the first place!

 

[Double post]

 

If you mean, "Can someone who doesn't now, at this moment, love God ever be saved?" my answer would have to be yes. I would point to Saul of Tarsus. While he was consenting to the death of Stephen, or while he was resolutely on his way to Damascus, breathing threats and murder against those who followed Christ, he was not loving God, yet God saved him. (Acts 9)

But if you mean, "Can a person have been saved if they continue to hate God?" the answer surely has to be a resounding "no". (I must admit that I have not come across anyone who would claim to have been saved, and who would also says that they hate God - what would such a person imagine they were saved from and to?)