1 Thess 1:6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,

8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

So the wicked are punished just by being in the presence of the glory of His power.

It is a horror for the wicked to be in His presence, but does He know this? Does He willingly reveal himself for such a purpose? Of course He does, that is the recompense.

In the day of final judgment, every lost soul will understand the nature of his own rejection of truth. The cross will be presented, and its real bearing will be seen by every mind that has been blinded by transgression. Before the vision of Calvary with its mysterious Victim, sinners will stand condemned. Every lying excuse will be swept away. Human apostasy will appear in its heinous character. Men will see what their choice has been. Every question of truth and error in the long-standing controversy will then have been made plain. In the judgment of the universe, God will stand clear of blame for the existence or continuance of evil. It will be demonstrated that the divine decrees are not accessory to sin. There was no defect in God's government, no cause for disaffection. When the thoughts of all hearts shall be revealed, both the loyal and the rebellious will unite in declaring, "Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints. Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? . . . for Thy judgments are made manifest." Revelation 15:3, 4. {DA 58.1}

Who is on trial? What is the main focus of the Great Controversy? GOD and His character.

It is the darkness of misapprehension of God that is enshrouding the world. Men are losing their knowledge of His character. It has been misunderstood and misinterpreted. At this time a message from God is to be proclaimed, a message illuminating in its influence and saving in its power. His character is to be made known. Into the darkness of the world is to be shed the light of His glory, the light of His goodness, mercy, and truth. {COL 415.3}

This is the work outlined by the prophet Isaiah in the words, "O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him." Isaiah 40:9,10. {COL 415.4}

Those who wait for the Bridegroom's coming are to say to the people, "Behold your God." The last rays of merciful light, the last message of mercy to be given to the world, is a revelation of His character of love. The children of God are to manifest His glory. In their own life and character they are to reveal what the grace of God has done for them. {COL 415.5}



God has bound our hearts to Him by unnumbered tokens in heaven and in earth. Through the things of nature, and the deepest and tenderest earthly ties that human hearts can know, He has sought to reveal Himself to us. Yet these but imperfectly represent His love. Though all these evidences have been given, the enemy of good blinded the minds of men, so that they looked upon God with fear; they thought of Him as severe and unforgiving. Satan led men to conceive of God as a being whose chief attribute is stern justice,--one who is a severe judge, a harsh, exacting creditor. He pictured the Creator as a being who is watching with jealous eye to discern the errors and mistakes of men, that He may visit judgments upon them. It was to remove this dark shadow, by revealing to the world the infinite love of God, that Jesus came to live among men. {SC 10.3}

That is the picture you project jsot. YOU may not think so, but in your words, this is how you project God, a severe, exacting creditor, with stern justice. Look at Christ, Behold Your God!

How can you do that without your conscience being seared?

Your own quote condemns what you advocate. Didn't you understand this part of your quote... "It will be demonstrated that the divine decrees are not accessory to sin".

In OTHER WORDS, God's many decrees to destroy wickedness and eveyrone who refuses to repent does not make Him a murderer. Get it?

In fact the very argument that you are making is the whole argument Satan brought against God. He took the truth of the destruction of the wicked and made God out to be a tyrant by twisting facts just like you are doing.

Satan did the same thing to Abraham.

"Satan was at hand to suggest that he must be deceived, for the divine law commands, “Thou shalt not kill.” God would not require what He had forbidden." {EP 92.1}

"The Day of Final Judgment" is at the second reurrection, and like your quote states that is when "every lost soul will understand the nature of his own rejection of truth". God is not responsible for their outcome.

The point that you don't get is this, what you quoted is still exactly correct with the fact that God still commands the execution of the wicked.

There is a perfect picture that you do not see.

What you quoted does NOT contradict this...

"The hand of Omnipotence is at no loss for ways and means to accomplish His purposes. He could reach into the bowels of the earth and call forth His weapons, waters there concealed, to aid in the destruction of the corrupt inhabitants of the old world...." {7BC 946.8}
"Since the Flood, God has used, to destroy wicked cities, both the water and the fire that are concealed in the earth. In the final conflagration God will in His wrath send lightning from heaven that will unite with the fire in the earth. The mountains will burn like a furnace, and pour forth streams of lava [Nahum 1:5, 6; Psalm 144:5, 6 quoted] (Manuscript 21, 1902). {7BC 946.10}
"God... caused His judgments to come upon them, and consumed the most guilty by lightning from heaven." {CD 376.1}

There is a perfect ballance of these two issues that you are missing, but claiming that I am guilty of making God to be a monster. That is very cunning of you, and it is an argument like Lucifer's that the angels couldn't argue against because no matter how hard I or anyone else trys to convict you of your error you will NEVER conceed.

Here is the final word on the truth that you advocate...

"When the professed people of God are uniting with the world, living as they live, and joining with them in forbidden pleasures; when the luxury of the world becomes the luxury of the church; when the marriage bells are chiming, and all are looking forward to many years of worldly prosperity—then, suddenly as the lightning flashes from the heavens, will come the end of their bright visions and delusive hopes. {GC 338.2}

A house divided cannot stand.

God used poisonous snakes in His wrath to punish the people in the wilderness.

jsot - you really need to understand the great controversy. Read again, PP chapter 1,2 and 3. Read again GC chapter 29. Read again Steps to Christ, the whole thing. The history of this terrible experiment of rebellion was to be a perpetual safeguard to all holy beings, to prevent them from being deceived as to the nature of transgression, to save them from committing sin, and suffering its penalty.

The problem with this topic is that it polarizes extremes.

Of course APL brings out quotes of God's awesome love and grace -- salvation, restoration -- all wonderful truths, but he does this in a way to negate God's justice.

Somehow APL links any thought of justice to Hitler-- strange connection as Hitler was not executing justice at all. Justice needed to be executed to STOP him.

Rather think of the 18 year old girl that was gang raped and abused by three men, wrapped in a sheet tossed in a ditch and set on fire. The girl was hospitalized, doctors tried to save her life by amputating both legs and an arm, she tells her story, and dies. The men who did the deed were released on "lack of evidence" -- free to destroy other young women.
NO JUSTICE! Is that love?

Yes, God wants to restore and save everyone possible -- He has poured out all heaven for our salvation. Without His matchless love and grace, we would have no life, no hope. He longs to restore and cleanse each one and fit them for a better world.
But God hates sin -- and though He must allow it to demonstrate its terrible, degrading, effects, and give it time to reveal its full terrible nature, there will come a time when He will stop it.

It must be absolutely painful and heartbreaking for a God of love and righteousness to see all the inhumanity and terrible things going on in our world -- how He must long to stop it all, and bring His redeemed into the glorious kingdom of peace and love. And He will stop it!

"Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments." Rev. 16:7

Yes, the idea that sin punishes sinners when Jesus permits it robs Jesus of His kingship. It assumes suffering and first death is the punishment for sinning. It clearly is not. Jesus does not punish sinners for their sins until after He resurrects them, judges them, and then casts them alive in a lake of fire.

A dictator tortures, burns and kills, it is a crime. A "righteous" government takes those dictators and tortures, burns and kills them for their crime and it is justice. Interesting.

What is the sentence for transgression of the law? The second death, right? You do agree, right? EGW says that God is not the executioner of the sentence against transgression, but leaves the rejectors of His mercy to receive the natural consequence of their transgression. It is not an imposed penalty. Sin is a heinous thing because it destroys what God has made. This is a main point of the great controversy! If Satan had received the consequence of his sin in the beginning, it would not have been apparent to the on looking universe that this was the natural consequence of sin. They would have interpreted it as God executing the sinners, and they would have served God from fear, not from love.

Justice (the very definition of the word) demands that everyone fair and square receives what they deserve.

Justice demands that we all deserve death for we've all been rebels -- destroyers of ourselves, destroyers of others God given rights, and destroying the creation and laws of God.

The ONLY reason we can escape our just sentence is because Christ suffered the sentence that we deserve.
You (ALP) don't believe this -- but its the foundational truth of salvation.
Christ suffered what we deserve so that all who believe in Him and live in Him will not suffer what they deserve, but they receive what Christ (the spotless Lamb of God) deserves.

Those who reject this gift of salvation will suffer what they deserve.

Sin is allowed to show its true nature -- it is not sustainable -- it results in everything evil, and God is just to end it. The total injustice of sin had to be demonstrated for universe to see the justice of God in ending it.

Yes, sin is destructive, if God did not hold back its destructive, evil force, the world would have destroyed itself long ago. It is the mercy of God that we enjoy life at all on this planet.
But God isn't going to let sin win and destroy everything. The earth isn't going to just peter out in ashes on its own. God will stop the evil BEFORE that happens, and all, both redeemed and lost, will see they are simply getting what they deserve.

The righteous will be praising Christ for taking what they deserved upon Himself and healing their backsliding and imputing to them His merits.

The lost will fully understand they are just getting what they deserve, eternal death.