March 07, 2016

Public Rejection

For a series of articles on local clubs I attended the monthly meeting of the Humanist, Atheist, Freethinker, Agnostic (HAFTA). While making introductions with participants one woman ask that I not use her name in the article, “I’m only just of out-of-the-closet as an atheist.”  Her hesitation was because she had yet to tell all of her family that she has rejected God. John the Baptist testified about Jesus, “The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him” (John 3:35-36 NIV).

1 comment:

Steve Corey said...

Gail;

-----By John’s estimation, her family’s knowledge of her rejecting God should be the least of her worries. The one she needs to worry the most about already knows.
-----I find it interesting that God requires people to accept Christ before His sacrifice applies to their personal sins. Since all sins except blasphemy of the Spirit are coverable by His blood, why could He not just forgive all sin other than that blasphemy whether or not a person has the brilliance to accept Christ? After all, we’re not exactly in a place of bright spiritual light. The darkness here is excruciating. The evidences of God’s reality are scattered about and need searched out before they’re seen. In this world where science has an explanation of natural cause for everything as well as a dismissal for anything it cannot thusly explain, and where those explanations and dismissals have become cultural elements, isn’t it rather understandable that folks would then reject God based on what has come to be “common knowledge”?
-----I think those kind of questions are why I am so convinced desire lies at the root of the truthfulness of our call on Him, and thus the coverage of our sins by His blood. God is a giver. He will give salvation to those who call upon the Lord for salvation. He will remove from His reality those who desire His non-existence. He will abandon those who desire to abandon Him.
-----God is a giver because He is righteous. Giving is right. But giving just anything is not right just because it is given. To be right, that which is given must benefit in truth. This is why our prayers for things of mere pleasure and pomp usually bounce off the ceiling. This dangerous place is not the place for a reckless disregard of the truth and blissful enjoyment of delicacies, fluff, and fat. Being rejected unto hell isn’t a benefit to the careless consumer of pleasure denying God. It is to the benefit of those careful consumers of pleasure accepting God that the careless no longer exist to destroy the perfection of God’s promised, perfect eternity. It is to receive such perfection that they call on God. So it is necessary that His answer of their call exclude all destroyers.
-----So why could God not just fix the destroyers so they would no longer be destroyers, then admit them into His perfect forever as well? Because they did not ask to be perfected like we have. They asked for not God. God’s a giver. He will give them not Him. They will not be happy. But God is not a happy-maker; He’s a giver. It is our job to do the being happy thing. So it is the atheist’s job to do that as well. The fact they will not be happy with what they get has nothing to do with the fact they asked for it, and therefore, received it. It really is sad, because it really is simple. Yet some just refuse to get it. God will give her what she wants. Oh, my.

Love you all,
Steve Corey