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Ramblinman (no login)
Posted Mar 30, 2009 6:52 PM
Reconciliation against our will may be the most exciting theme for this new "Cheap Grace" doctrine, but it is not a doctrine from the Bible.
Jesus "struggled" or more accurately lamented the fate of Jerusalem, echoing the words of the prophet Jeremiah. The people would not repent and God, powerful though he is, voluntarily refrains from forcing them to repent nor does he send them, in most cases straight to Hell. But our love for God cannot exist without free will to choose to love him. Therefore, God must allow for the possibility of our choosing death and Hell. Typically God gives time for repentence, but certainly God did pass immediate judgment upon those whose iniquity was "full". For example, the sinners among the Children of Israel in their post-Exodus sojourn in the Wilderness of the Sinai died immediately in a state of mortal sin, testing God's patience past the breaking point.
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