I'm A Calvinist/Universalist

[Michael_H]

Did this for my best friend. He’s an 85 year old man that I take care of.

https://scontent-dfw1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xaf1/v/t1.0-0/p526x296/11034040_120189514980821_3035765944356432854_n.jpg?oh=00b3ffa454790c53db10c271fc2e31c4&oe=56612584

[Michael_H]

Sister In Christ

Sister in Christ of the soft light
Love from you is a great delight
At a distance I see you in the night
As mercy binds us together tight

Sister of Beauty from the bright Son
New days of wonder have just begun
May glory bring you joy and deep fun
In everything you are & will become

[Michael_H]

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. - Romans 15:13

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. - Romans 8:28

And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. - Psalms 9:10

The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. - Psalms 28:7

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. - Isaiah 26:3

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. - Jerimiah - 17:7-8

[Michael_H]

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. - Romans 12:3

A lot of people have the misconception that God is egotistical because He seeks praise and worship. What they fail to see is that pride is thinking of yourself more highly than you ought to. For humans to desire the praise and worship of others is egotistical. But we aren’t God. God is the greatest. He is more admirable than anything. We were made to make much of something great. When we do this it completes our joy. The reason God seeks our praise is not because He won’t be complete until He gets it. He does it because we won’t be complete until we give it. Therefore, this isn’t arrogance on God’s part. It’s love. He doesn’t think more highly of Himself than He ought to. He is the greatest Being in existence. His loving and thinking of Himself is in direct proportion to who He is - the greatest of all Beings. Even Christ said to worship only God when He was tempted by Satan.

God is Christ

God is Father

Christ worshipped Father

God worshiped God

God worshiped Himself

God loves Himself more than anything. For us to do this is vanity for we are not God. There are ways we are to be like God and ways we are not to be like God. He alone is God. He delights in His image more than anything which is first and foremost His humility.

God worships God therefore I worship God.

[Michael_H]

Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying…The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let one who hears say, Come. And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.

Since the bride is saying “Come” then the offer is to those in the lake of fire showing a distinction between the first fruits and the second fruits. Notice that the passage mentions washing the robes before this though so that they may have access to the tree of life. Only if you are thirsty do you come. But this implies a new birth. For only those born again seek God. So, the washing of the robes is the purification in the lake of fire. Those who have faith in this age are purified by Christ’s blood. Those who are baptized in the Lake of Fire are punished and purified in the lake. When we all see Christ face to face the faith and hope of the elect are fulfilled and realized as it passes away. There will be nothing but perfect expression of love.

And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Rev. 20:15

And nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Revelation 21:27

I think that those who are destroyed (old sinful self) in the lake of fire and made new receive a new name. Just as Saul was changed to Paul when he was born a new. These new names are the names written in the book of life.

[Michael_H]

And therefore divine and Christian love, above all love in the world, is contrary to a selfish spirit. Though other-love, a moral love, may in some respects be contrary to selfishness, as it may move men to a moral liberality and generosity, yet in other respects it agrees with a selfish spirit; because if we follow it up to it’s original, it arises from the same root, viz. a principle of self-love. But divine love has it’s spring elsewhere; it’s root is in Christ Jesus, and so is heavenly. It is not anything of this world, and it tends thither whence it comes. As it does not spring out of self, so neither does it tend to self. It delights in the honor and glory of God for His own sake, and not merely for their sakes. And it seeks and delights in the good of men for their sakes, and for God’s sake. How Christian love is in a peculiar manner above and contrary to a selfish spirit appears by this, viz. it goes out even to enemies. There is that in the nature and tendency of it to go out to the unthankful and evil, and to those that injure and hate us, which is directly contrary to the tendency of a selfish principle, and quite above nature. - Jonathan Edwards

[Michael_H]

In arguing about the problem of evil and suffering I use to try to place God in a human category and say He must behave a certain way. What I failed to take into consideration is the holiness of God. Holiness when applied to God not only refers to moral purity but also to everything that sets God apart from His creation and His creatures. We are to imitate God in certain ways but there are also ways we cannot be like God. For example: God is self-sufficient, God is all-powerful, God is all-knowing, God is infinite in wisdom. These are just a few ways we are not like God. To be like God in every way leads to megalomania.

The Bible says God is love. It doesn’t say He is ONLY love. And while it says God is love it’s a Holy love. For the Bible says God is Holy, Holy, Holy. The Bible also says God has a Holy hatred as well. So, it’s my contention that the problem of evil and suffering doesn’t even get started. For God’s love is a Holy love. This isn’t the same Omni benevolence that we try to ascribe to God. Nonetheless, God is completely Holy and deserves our worship.

Scriptures on holy hatred:

Leviticus 20:23 - “And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.”

Leviticus 26:30 - “And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.”

Deuteronomy 32:19 - “And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.”

Psalm 5:5 - “The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.”

Psalm 5:6 - “Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.”

Psalm 10:3 - “For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.”

Psalm 11:5 - “The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.”

Psalm 53:5 - “There were they in great fear, where no fear was: for God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them.”

Psalm 73:20 - “As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.”

Psalm 78:59 - “When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:”

Psalm 106:40 - “Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.”

Proverbs 6:16-19 - “These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.”

Proverbs 22:14 - “The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.”

Lamentations 2:6 - “And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.”

Hosea 9:15 - “All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters.”

Zechariah 11:8 - “Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me.”

Malachi 1:3 - “And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.”

Romans 9:13 - “As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” - Romans 12:19 - 20

I hold to this scripture that says “Vengeance is Mine I will Repay” Rather if your enemy is hungry feed him. I think God will have His vengeance. The way I see it is that there are ways we are to be like God and ways we are not. Vengeance belongs to Him. And as I stated above, there are other ways we are not to be like God. My faith is in God who promises to work all my circumstances together for my good because I love Him. And it’s because of the suffering death and resurrection that this is so. My faith is in God and this opens my heart up to love and hope. If justice isn’t done in this lifetime it will be done in the next. In this way I will be loving the way Jesus did.

When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting to him who judges justly. - 1 Peter 2:23 (the word himself isn’t in the original)

There is no attribute more important of God’s than His holiness. This is why it’s the only attribute in the Bible that is repeated three times in a row to stress it’s importance. The Bible says God is Holy, Holy, Holy. God’s wrath or justice is holy. However, His anger doesn’t last forever. But it will not turn back until He accomplishes the desire of His heart - the salvation of all. While I believe there is a remnant chosen by grace in this lifetime called the firstfruits there are also the second fruits. They will be purified in the fires God’s holy love/hatred as God destroys the old self resurrecting the new restoring all to Himself.

[Michael_H]

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. - John 8:44

The Bible tells us that God is our Father in the sense that He created us. But because of the fall sin has separated us from God. The fallen human race has Satan as their spiritual father. The idea of the mystics and Christian mystics is to come into a faith union with love and beauty. For the Christian this is Christ as revealed in the Gospel. We are the bride of Christ and He is neither male or female in the spirit. In faith union we are no longer separated from God. He becomes our spiritual Father and we become children of God.