MM:
Did God execute judgement on Jerusalem? YES
Was Jerusalem destroyed? YES
Is the destruction of Jerusalem a warning to us? YES
Was God the cause of the destruction of Jerusalem? NO

Speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem:

Kind of an eye opener isn't it? If we were to take the same position as skeptics, where does that leave us?


Yes, the husband is killing the bride in 'perfect fairness and love'. He is killing his bride who does not love him, purely out of his love for her.

(Does that make any sense whatsoever? )



It comes down to one's view of God.

Do you believe Ellen White when she says God is the restorer and not the destroyer?

If you believe God is the restorer, then everything you read you will either see God restoring or you will see that you must have misread something, and keep searching to make what appears to be to fit in that God is not the one destroying.

Likewise, if you believe God is the destroyer, then everything you read, you will see Him as destroying, and those places where it appears otherwise, you will assume you must have misread it and keep searching to make what appears to be to fit in that God does indeed destroy.

It's much like the evolutionists. They see as an absolute fact that God did not create life. Therefore, anything that appears not to have evolved on it's own, they spin it to make it so. Creationists do the same. It's a matter of your presumed premise.

So when you read things like:
1Ch 10:13 So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it;
1Ch 10:14 And enquired not of the LORD: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.

and if you believe God destroys, then is there any further need to understand it? It's as plain as day that God slew Saul, the Bible tells you so, therefore you don't need to think any more. Right?

So which is it? Is God the destroyer or the restorer?

Genesis 6:7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

Genesis 6:13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Genesis 7:4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made I will destroy from off the face of the earth.

Acts 3:23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.

Jude 1:5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

1 Corinthians 1:19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

Psalm 101:8 I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord.

Tell me APL, who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha? Did fire NOT come from heaven? Are you saying the devil sent fire from heaven to destroy the wicked in those cities?

Do you remember Jesus saying, "as it was in the days of Lot so shall it be at the coming of the son of man"?

Psalm 145:20 The Lord preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.

You prove to whom you listen to and serve by your testimony in this issue.

If we do not permit God to restore us, He reluctantly destroys us so there will be harmony throughout His creation.

I am shocked, I had no idea you were this far away from truth Kland.

Where do you get the idea that God is on our level? Where you born perfect?

If the woman I wanted to marry treated the truth as most in our church do, I would never have married her in the first place.

The analogy of the husband and wife is when we accept his forgiveness and receive His seal, so where do the people who never accept God fit in your analogy? Does he not destroy those who hate Him?

What about those who break the marriage covenant?

"No stronger delusion can possess the human mind than that which makes men believe they are on the right foundation, and that God accepts their works, when they are sinning against him. When placed in the furnace fire to be tried by the great Refiner, much that has been esteemed fine gold will be consumed as dross. Can Christ say of his professed followers, These are my peculiar people; I gave myself for them, to redeem them from all iniquity, that they should show forth my praise, who have called them out of darkness into my marvelous light. Would not the Lord say, rather, How is the beautiful city become a harlot, and my Father’s house a place of merchandise. Because of your unbelief, I cannot do many mighty works among you. (changing us into HIS IMAGE is the mighty work) The same spirit is coming into the church. However guilty a wrong-doer may be, however lamentable the results of his course, he will find sympathizers. When he is reproved, there are unconsecrated ones who stand ready to sustain him. By their unwise sympathy, they lead him to look upon himself as abused, and thus they effectually bar his way to repentance and reform. {RH November 7, 1882, par. 14}

(This is what is happening in this discussion right now! You are proving yourselves.)

The approval of men—even of professed Christians—is no evidence of the favor of God. The Christian experience of thousands is gauged by the standard of those who profess to love the truth and to be servants of Christ, but who serve Satan. In their blindness and self-complacency, many are saying, “I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing,” when Christ declares that they are poor and miserable, blind and naked. To such he addresses the solemn admonition, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.” {RH November 7, 1882, par. 15}

We all must go through the furnace of affliction so we may purged of evil. Evil dies in the flames but those who love God are purified.

APL, it sounds as though you believe God
does not mete out punishment Himself.

Perhaps APL and kland believe that it is a bad thing to destroy sinners. If their own mothers or children were in danger of being shot by an armed robber in their home, they would not want to call in the police, because the robber might get killed. And if the robber were killed, the police would have sinned because they didn't love the robber. And, of course, there's no way that they would choose to kill the robber themselves. Just let him keep on pillaging the home and harming its occupants. That would be the loving thing to do.

Satan is the robber. He is destroying God's children and stealing their joy. Does God love the Sinner too much to stop him?

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Seem? MM, I'm disappointed. Am I that obscure? God does not have to "mete out punishment". The punishment of sin is intrinsic to the Sin. That is what makes sin so evil. EGW has make it clear in the quotes I have provided before how it is that sinners suffer punishment.Green likes to twist things to say that I believe sinners will not be punished. But nothing could be farther from the truth. THE question is how is God involved? Read Patriarchs and Prophets, chapter 1, "What was sin permitted?". It was permitted because of the accusations of Satan. If the sinners, Satan and his followers, were allowed to reap the natural consequences of sin, they would have perished. The on looking universe would not have understood the result of sin because of the lies Satan had told. The universe would have served God from FEAR. Toe the line or He will kill you!!! Nothing could be farther from the truth. The real truth is that if you reject God, then He will let you have your way, in fact freedom demands that He must, let you go. And you will die. God is not the destroyer. God is not the executioner. And we are believing Satan when we believe He is the destroyer. Satan is the destroyer. God is the restorer.

Green has a problem. God had the power to stop Satan in the beginning. Why didn't he?