Quote:
Originally Posted by awareness
like God said or thought, "I gave my son as a sacrifice for the sin of the world, to forgive them," but ... but, "oh hell, forget the cross, I'm just going back to being angry and wrathful."
|
This question coincides with a great debate between Calvinists and Arminians.
Limited atonement view:
Jesus just died only for his elect. God only loved the ones he chose and saved.
Unlimited atonement view:
God loves everyone and Jesus died for everyone. It's up to others to accept his gift with their free will as God cannot force himself on them. Unfortunately few do.
In both cases the majority who do not accept Jesus are damned. Yet Jesus' sacrifice still makes a difference because the ones who are saved from God's wrath would have never stood a chance without it. I find support in scripture for both views, and one may not necessarily rule out the other in the logic that God operates in which may be beyond our own time-based, finite minds.
Ephesians 2:1-6
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
Jesus also considered those who were destined to hell as "dead" (Luke 9:60) and he told the Sadducees that God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the God of the living and not the dead. Ultimately those who make it are the ones who matter, and the ones who don't, don't have any share in the next age and hence God does view them as if they were 'dead'. If it were not for Jesus there would be no humans asides from Jesus 'alive' by God's definition and eternal viewpoint as everyone would have been an deserving object of his wrath.
Hence, anything God does for us, is unmerited, undeserved; it is *grace*. If God were simply "fair" by his own definition, we'd all be screwed. But because God is loving and merciful we received grace through Jesus Christ.