“Pursue love...” 1 Corinthians 14
To say that God forces our love by threatening hell misses the very essence of love. Apart of the essence of love is the freedom to choose not to love. Forced love is an oxymoron; there is no such thing. Love must be freely given or it is not love at all. In light of this, it seems reasonable to suggest that this is why God gives people the freedom to love Him or not. This does not mean that there will not be consequences to our choice. There are always consequences. We may ask why there are bad consequences if God loves us. The answer of course is the same reason why there are good consequences. If loving God is truly our best interest and not loving Him truly our worst, then God could not have made it any other way. God can no more deny that He is the source of all goodness, no more than He could tell a lie. If He could do either He would not be God. Conversations Within ts 1/23/2012 (Camp Farrington, AL)
Just me trying to be honest with God.
