They why are you rejecting the truth? Hosea 4:17.

GC, I agree. APL is convinced he is right. No matter how plainly it is stated he will interpret it to mean - Jesus withdraws His restraining hand and permits sin, nature, evil men, or evil angels to punish sinners. Nothing we say or quote will persuade him otherwise. He dares to attribute to Satan the "strange work" of Jesus. I don't think it is a salvation issue for him. He seems like a good Christian.

mm - did you actually read what EGW wrote on Korah? Did you get the final paragraph??? It is exactly the same as in GC36! Hosea 4:17, leave him alone. Give them up, let them go. He leaves the rejectors of His mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown.

God may well have given you up to your own understanding and pride, APL. There's not a bit of teachableness left in you on this subject that I can see, and perhaps it is a bit of an indicator for all else as well.

You refuse to see the light. You are consistently unable to answer some straight questions, and use worldly-wise "smart" techniques of dodging the question, asking your own question in place of answering what was asked, or any number of logical fallacies which have apparently convinced you but will not convince me--for they are not Biblical.

This thread is a waste of time for every participant in it, unfortunately. It may well be that this forum itself is a waste of time for some of us. Many posting here have no inclination to accept truth when they see it.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Have you ever considered that thought that perhaps it is you that is wrong? That it is your pride that has blocked you seeing God, AS HE IS? It is not my job to convince you! That is the work of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit speaks through God's Word. I'm listening to that. God's Word tells us plainly that God will punish. If you don't believe the Bible and Jesus....



The Bible's word on this subject should be sufficient for every true disciple of Christ to properly understand the answer to this topic that has had literally thousands of posts now, with so much misunderstanding.

God must weep.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

What is interesting is that you reject the picture of God that Christ, in His life on this earth, came to reveal? Why? You say we learn little of the character of God from the life of Christ on this earth. That is the most remarkable thing to me.

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}

Satan sought to intercept every ray of light from the throne of God. He sought to cast his shadow across the earth, that men might lose the true views of God's character, and that the knowledge of God might become extinct in the earth. He had caused truth of vital importance to be so mingled with error that it had lost its significance. The law of Jehovah was burdened with needless exactions and traditions, and God was represented as severe, exacting, revengeful, and arbitrary. He was pictured as one who could take pleasure in the sufferings of his creatures. The very attributes that belonged to the character of Satan, the evil one represented as belonging to the character of God. Jesus came to teach men of the Father, to correctly represent him before the fallen children of earth. Angels could not fully portray the character of God, but Christ, who was a living impersonation of God, could not fail to accomplish the work. The only way in which he could set and keep men right was to make himself visible and familiar to their eyes. That men might have salvation he came directly to man, and became a partaker of his nature. {ST, January 20, 1890 par. 6}

The Lord is constantly at work to open the understanding, to quicken the perceptions, that man may have a right sense of sin and of the far-reaching claims of God's law. The unconverted man thinks of God as unloving, as severe, and even revengeful; His presence is thought to be a constant restraint, His character an expression of "Thou shalt not." His service is regarded as full of gloom and hard requirements. But when Jesus is seen upon the cross, as the gift of God because He loved man, the eyes are opened to see things in a new light. God as revealed in Christ is not a severe judge, an avenging tyrant, but a merciful and loving Father. {1SM 183.2}

The Bible is a very remarkable thing to you, isn't it?



Let's see...how many books in the Bible do we have that were written on the life of Christ? So how much did we "learn?"

Your error is in thinking you know more than you do.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

All that man needs to know or can know of God has been revealed in the life and character of His Son. {8T 286.1}

"No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." John 1:18. {8T 286.2}

Taking humanity upon Him, Christ came to be one with humanity and at the same time to reveal our heavenly Father to sinful human beings. He was in all things made like unto His brethren. He became flesh, even as we are. He was hungry and thirsty and weary. He was sustained by food and refreshed by sleep. He shared the lot of men, and yet He was the blameless Son of God. He was a stranger and sojourner on the earth--in the world, but not of the world; tempted and tried as men and women today are tempted and tried, yet living a life free from sin. {8T 286.3}

Tender, compassionate, sympathetic, ever considerate of others, He represented the character of God, and was constantly engaged in service for God and man. {8T 286.4}

"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, . . . full of grace and truth." John 1:14. {8T 286.5}

"Unto the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world,'' He said, "I manifested Thy name," "that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them." John 17:6, A. R. V., 26. {8T 286.6}

"Love your enemies," He bade them; "bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven;" "for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." "He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." "Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful." Matthew 5:44, 45; Luke 6:35, 36. {8T 286.7}

Oh that we could be like Him...

Perhaps APL's Jesus was not "alive" before His incarnation, nor after His ascension to Heaven. So sad.

Note that "character" is mentioned alongside of "life."