No. I might advise people likewise, and I wouldn't be recommending drinking sodas.

I fail to see any connection to our subject here.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Yep, you fail, is right.

And you did not even understand what I specifically said, let alone what I was saying.

I bet APL understands. And I would even think MM would understand, although he would reject it.

Too bad you think most things are off topic, except for the off topic topics you instigate.

Here is a better quote about how God has killed children in the past.

"Elisha was a man of mild and kindly spirit; but that he could also be stern is shown by his course when, on the way to Bethel, he was mocked by ungodly youth who had come out of the city. These youth had heard of Elijah’s ascension, and they made this solemn event the subject of their jeers, saying to Elisha, “Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.” At the sound of their mocking words the prophet turned back, and under the inspiration of the Almighty he pronounced a curse upon them. The awful judgment that followed was of God. “There came forth two she-bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two” of them. 2 Kings 2:23, 24. {PK 235.2}

Under inspiration from God Elisha cursed those fourty-two children and the bears ate them. Why would God do this?

"Had Elisha allowed the mockery to pass unnoticed, he would have continued to be ridiculed and reviled by the rabble, and his mission to instruct and save in a time of grave national peril might have been defeated. This one instance of terrible severity was sufficient to command respect throughout his life. For fifty years he went in and out of the gate of Bethel, and to and fro in the land, from city to city, passing through crowds of idle, rude, dissolute youth; but none mocked him or made light of his qualifications as the prophet of the Most High. {PK 236.1}
Even kindness should have its limits. Authority must be maintained by a firm severity, or it will be received by many with mockery and contempt. The so-called tenderness, the coaxing and indulgence, used toward youth by parents and guardians, is one of the worst evils which can come upon them. In every family, firmness, decision, positive requirements, are essential. {PK 236.2}

If you look carefully at this quote you will see all the reasons that God MUST destroy certain people.

The mission of God to save is much more important than individual fallen lives. He sees our hearts and these children had crossed the line.

If you reject God, you have become His enemy, and it is easier for His message to have power if the path is cleared for His servants.

james - We cannot know how much we owe to Christ for the peace and protection which we enjoy. It is the restraining power of God that prevents mankind from passing fully under the control of Satan. The disobedient and unthankful have great reason for gratitude for God's mercy and long-suffering in holding in check the cruel, malignant power of the evil one. But when men pass the limits of divine forbearance, that restraint is removed. God does not stand toward the sinner as an executioner of the sentence against transgression; but He leaves the rejectors of His mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown. Every ray of light rejected, every warning despised or unheeded, every passion indulged, every transgression of the law of God, is a seed sown which yields its unfailing harvest. The Spirit of God, persistently resisted, is at last withdrawn from the sinner, and then there is left no power to control the evil passions of the soul, and no protection from the malice and enmity of Satan. The destruction of Jerusalem is a fearful and solemn warning to all who are trifling with the offers of divine grace and resisting the pleadings of divine mercy. Never was there given a more decisive testimony to God's hatred of sin and to the certain punishment that will fall upon the guilty. {GC 36.1}

"The protection we enjoy". Is this after probation? Does God protect the sinner after probation? What about during the second resurrection?

This quote is specifically talking about the death that every person must go through in this life. The physical death of Most sinners is brought on by inevitable self destruction. But there are many instances that this was not the case. God has destroyed many sinners directly through the flood and so many other ways that we have discussed over and over.

But the fact that you keep using texts out of context is very diliberately anoying.

You didn't even realize that you quoted proof against your own understanding of this quote. The end of that quote reads...

"Never was there given a more decisive testimony to God's hatred of sin and to the certain punishment that will fall upon the guilty. {GC 36.1}

Since this was in the destruction of Jerusalem, this is at the end of this life.

james - open you mind! This quote is telling you HOW the "certain punishment" came on Jerusalem, how God was involved. God is not the executioner. God destroys no man! All suffering comes as a result of transgression of God's law. The history of Job had shown that suffering is inflicted by Satan, and is overruled by God for purposes of mercy. But Israel did not understand the lesson. We should not make the same mistake!

I think this thread has well established in the minds of all but a single individual that God does indeed punish. What is the point in continuing this discussion?

Hi Naphtali, welcom to Maritime.

APL, would you even be able to admit that you are wrong if I found the perfect quote from Ellen White to sum this up?

Here it is, and this is the last that I will say on this subject.

APL if you cannot read this quote and repent of your statement then there is nothing that could reason with you.

"The plea may be made that a loving Father would not see His children suffering the punishment of God by fire while He had the power to relieve them. But God would, for the good of His subjects and for their safety, punish the transgressor. God does not work on the plan of man. He can do infinite justice that man has no right to do before his fellow man. Noah would have displeased God to have drowned one of the scoffers and mockers that harassed him, but God drowned the vast world. Lot would have had no right to inflict punishment on his sons-in-law, but God would do it in strict justice.
Who will say God will not do what He says He will do?—Manuscript Releases 12:207-209; Manuscript Releases 10:265 (1876).

APL and Kland say that God will not do what He says He will do.

You're on your own. After all these attempts to reason with you both you have proven you are not willing to listen and learn.

jim - jim - jim - - your hand it going to hurt with so much desk pounding!

God's love is represented in our day as being of such a character as would forbid His destroying the sinner. Men reason from their own low standard of right and justice. "Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself" (Psalm 50:21). They measure God by themselves. They reason as to how they would act under the circumstances and decide God would do as they imagine they would do. {12MR 207.2}

God's goodness and long forbearance, His patience and mercy exercised to His subjects, will not hinder Him from punishing the sinner who refused to be obedient to His requirements. It is not for a man--a criminal against God's holy law, pardoned only through the great sacrifice He made in giving His Son to die for the guilty because His law was changeless--to dictate to God. After all this effort on the part of God to preserve the sacred and exalted character of His law, if men, through the sophistry of the devil, turn the mercy and condescension of God into a curse, they must suffer the penalty. Because Christ died they consider they have liberty to transgress God's holy law that condemns the transgressor, and would complain of its strictness and its penalty as severe and unlike God. They are uttering the words Satan utters to millions, to quiet their conscience in rebellion against God. {12MR 208.1}

And what is the penalty of sin? Death. And how is God involved? Answer:
God does not stand toward the sinner as an executioner of the sentence against transgression; but He leaves the rejectors of His mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown. Every ray of light rejected, every warning despised or unheeded, every passion indulged, every transgression of the law of God, is a seed sown which yields its unfailing harvest. The Spirit of God, persistently resisted, is at last withdrawn from the sinner, and then there is left no power to control the evil passions of the soul, and no protection from the malice and enmity of Satan. {GC 36.1}

If you persist in sin, God will eventually let you suffer the consequence of sin. Sin pays its wage. When God withdraws, all hell breaks loose. God will not force you to follow Him. If you want to know what happens to sinnes and God's response to sinners, look to Christ and Him crucified.