This website will investigate the aspects of the Character of God and seek to answer questions which ARE, or SHOULD BE, on the minds of ALL Christians!
Consider the time-honored theories about God. He is viewed as One Who initially seeks the salvation of His creatures. From His position of supreme authority, He calls upon men to repent of their sins, obey His will and worship Him. He demonstrates patience while men play with His appeals, but the time comes when that patience is exhausted. Then He arises to perform His 'strange act'. With terrifying power, wielded in His own hands, He wipes the rebellious from the face of the earth, thus demonstrating that He is not a God to be scorned. He thus asserts His will by the naked use of destructive force, convincing men that they must obey Him or perish. This is the view of the Christian world."
This is what we Christians call a God of "love"!
Now let's look at the way Satan works. He appears initially to seek the best for Christ when, in Matt. 4:8,9 after taking Christ to a high mountain and showing Him the world, he offers to bless Him by giving Him the entire world if Christ will only worship him. "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." Satan implies that by the act of obeying and worshiping him (Satan), Christ won't have to go through a cruel death on the cross in order to save the world, Satan will give Him the world. Satan demonstrates patience and apparent kindness for a time, but after his offer is spurned, the time comes when, with terrifying vengeance he instigates men to kill Christ by the most vicious and cruel methods known to man.
Now I ask you, if the "Christian" view of God is the correct view, what is the difference between God and Satan? They appear to operate in exactly the same way.
But when Jesus came to earth, He came to reveal the EXACT character of God. "If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father," He said. "I and the Father are one."
And He said, "I NEVER change." I'm the same "yesterday, today and forever."
If we look at the life of Christ, we see that He was ALWAYS the same. He NEVER hurt anyone who rejected Him. In fact, He allowed the creatures He had created, His own children, to mock, insult, whip and kill Him and He NEVER fought back. His ONLY response was -- to forgive them.
If Christ's life on earth is a true and complete revelation of the character of God, then the vast majority of Christians are worshiping the WRONG god!
A stranger coming into Christendom would most certainly conclude from the sermons preached and from the Christian literature available, that there are two great powers struggling for supremacy, one good, and one evil, and that the evil power is not only winning at present, but it will forever prevail over the good, because only a small fraction will be saved from the clutches of the evil one.
Most Christians believe that those who give their life to Christ will spend eternity with Him, but those who DON'T know Christ will be destined either to permanent annihilation or a burning hell of some duration, either forever or at least for a time. (Some think the "time" will be "as long as each individual deserves" -- since God is "just"!)
Some say it's really a "loving act" for God to burn up His children because they wouldn't want to be in heaven anyway! It's interesting how we human beings would think it a heinous, monstrous crime if our neighbor purposely burned up his children, but when God does it, somehow it's classified as a "loving act". Many explain that God's burning up His children is God's "strange act". Others say, "Well, we just don't understand the ways of God" and they ignore the subject.
It is man that destroys those he can't control or those who don't agree with him. But God says He's NOT like us. His ways are HIGHER than our ways.
The Bible says that "to KNOW God is life eternal." John 17:3
Therefore, EVERYTHING we can know about God is important.
As we study together, let us all remember:
"There can be no more conclusive evidence that we possess the spirit of Satan than the disposition to hurt and destroy those who do not appreciate our work, or who act contrary to our ideas." The Desire of Ages, pg 487.
The apostle Paul says, "Though I understand all mysteries and all knowledge...and have not love, I am nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the TRUTH. 1 Cåor 13.
Let us move forward in Christian brotherly love.
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