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My pastor has recently covered some old material, doctrines I learned many years ago, but he has
inserted some fascinating principles in this latest treatment of these subjects that should be
introduced to all of Christianity, and I will do my part in that regard and address them here.
You may recognize some, or all of these principles, as part of mainstream Christian doctrine, and I
hazard a guess that many people will find one or more conflicts with what is presented here, and
what their minister teaches, or what they may have read or heard on tv.
The truth we will examine: God gives all men a fair shake, no matter who they are, what they have
done, or any other factor that involves personality, etc. And, there are some other factors involved that
we will look at, such as the oft stated question, "how about people that have never heard the gospel. Are
they damned to hell anyway?"
Unlimited Atonement
The "fair shake" principle we will look at first is the controversial issue, which has been the subject
of continuous debate over the centuries, especially since it has become a tenet of Calvanism; Atonement.
The myth is that the saving work of Christ on the cross atoned for only the sins of "the elect", which
are a body of individuals that God ordained as saved, termed "predestined", before creation.
The truth is that Christ atoned for all sins of mankind, even sins of those that will never
accept him as their Savior. Now, I don't know about y'all, but if it were me up there writhing in
agony, sustaining the "wrath" of God as He administered punishment for those sins, I would have
been tempted to pray something like; "Father, why don't we brush aside the sins of men that will never
believe? After all, they will never benefit from my sacrifice on their behalf anyway!".
Keep in mind, the sins in question, those of all men who will never believe in Christ, number in the billions.
In fact, in as much as only a relatively small minority of human beings are Christians, it is safe to assume
that Christ could have escaped punishment for probably 60%-70% of all sins ever commited. Yet, God demanded
that all sins, of all men be judged."
I suspect that it may have even been possible to pay for just the sins of believers, and salvation would yet
have been available, but God just doesn't handle things that way, as my Daddy would say, "half assed". When God
tackles a job it is accomplished far beyond the norm of what we would consider "complete". One such
task is in view, salvation.
Ofcourse, none of us is qualified to second guess God, or suggest that some other course of action may
have been acceptable. In any case, we have documented testemony, from God Himself, concerning this issue.
"For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." (1Tim 2:3&4)
"For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the
living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe." (1Tim 4:10)
"Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to
condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto
justification of life." (Rom 5:18)
Conclusion; No human being on their way to hell will have a valid arguement in favor of reprieve, claiming that
they didn't get a fair shake. Christ was punished for their sins, and offered them the free gift of salvation
without strings or conditions, but they delined to accept the gift.
Be it noted, however, that God's will is for all men to saved, and He made provision for that liklihood, as demonstrated
in the preceeding verses.
Accountablity
Fair shake principle number 2 answers some troubling questions; "Are some people sent to hell without hearing the
gospel?", and other related queries.
God has provided 5 specific means of coming to a realization that He exists, which I won't go into at length here.
All this information is available on another page. Suffice it to say, that all men have the latent ability to
conclude that there is a God. The working of this principle is called "God Consciousness", and bears upon our
culpability as sinners to the indictment concerning our corruption.
God Consciousness is a "pre-qualification" issue which precedes the gospel. Let me explain;
Remember, we are dealing with the divine attribute of omniscience; God comprehends all things. Thus, He foreknows
the determination of every person. So when a person arrives at God Consciousness, and rejects God, it absolves God
of the responsibility to get them the gospel. This is not based upon spite, however, but on the fact that God
knows exactly who will believe and who will not.
Exceptions to the Accountability Law
There are instances, however, which eliminate accountability as a basis for judgement. One such is birth defects.
If a baby is born with an impaired mentality it is automatically saved. The same exception applies to children who die
before reaching an accountable age. God will not judge those incapable of comprehensive cognition!
This fair shake principle offers comfort to those who mourn for the unfortunate victims of natural disaster or
starvation, as we have seen in many African nations in recent years. Millions of Biafrans and Somalis will be
in heaven becasue they died as small children.
Incidentally, I have confronted people that do not agree with this view of Grace, who have challenged me to produce
a verse as documentation, to wit I say; Some principles are so obvious, so undeniable, so clearly true that God does not
clarify them for us, as in this case. In part, this is a method God uses to encourage our faith in Him, express our awe
and esteem for Him without alot of weighty evidence.
There are verses that allude to this fact, but they are not at arm's length at present. Besides, I've never been
a verse person. I prefer to learn the meat of a passage of scripture, what God is telling me, and the motivation
that has been lacking as well...I never learned the Bible with the thought in mind that I might teach it to other
people. I appreciate the demand for documentation, a desirable footnote to any subject so critical to life itself,
but I have admitedly been lax in my note taking. Perhaps I'll dig the scipture up if someone requests it from the
"Insights" board.
Before I abandon this topic for the next, I want to focus on the inner workings of God's attributes in this matter.
Even a fairly decent human being would not condemn a child, even a really bad child, for failing to understand a profound
concept on the adult level. This is how our human instincts function, to forgive out of hand, impulsively even. But
keep in mind, the absence of accountability is the issue at hand in God's view, not kindness or compassion as such. This
is what solidifies the principle, gives it validity; for the Righteousness of God must approve a transaction, and that
litmus test is absolute, perfect, infinite. God doesn't spare children because he is emotional or maudlin, because they
are cute and cuddly, but because His Righteousness demands it.
But God is not cold and impersonal, as this facet of His Person might imply; For Righteousness and Justice, which work
in tandem (what +R demands, +J executes), are components of His integrity, or whole Person, and the wonderful designation
for His integrity is LOVE! All that God does is done in etrenal, perfect love. So, while His +R and +J are evaluating and
acting upon countless situations, there is the undercurrent of timeless love, humility and tenderness.
Of all the dimensions of our God, this is the most misunderstood, almost unknown. While Christians assign do-gooder
parameters to God, they come abysmally short of knowing the whole of God. They invoke the name of God to endorse their
pitiful crusades, and ignore the core values and standards that make up God's thinking. God's immaculate integrity is
sometimes expressed in punishment, even everlasting damnation. How 'bout it? Does this fit your purring "Mr. Niceguy"
depiction of God?
At the Second Advent, Jesus Christ will slaughter millions of men, amassed aginst Israel in a valley called Armeggedon.
Their blood will flow 3 feet deep for a hundred square miles. Hou 'bout that? Is that image of Christ compliant with your
cheesy visage of a hippy with birds perched on his shoulder?
Well, that's God! That's Love!
To simplify what I'm trying to help you see; Consider that God's actions are determined by the stimulus when He is
one-on-one with a human being, so this is very personal, between God and each man. When I am good, God responds with
blessing. When I am a miscreant, He kicks my butt. Under certain extreme conditions, He will even remove a person from
this life. But all of this category of divine actions manifest the worthiness, or lack of same, in the human subject.
Also prevalent in this category is Justice. God is fair.
There is His omniscience; He knows all the facts.
His veracity; He processes all things through a filter of truth. God is Truth.
His immutablility; He never changes, cannot change, will never change.
His happiness; God cannot be unhappy. No failue of His creatures ever has, or ever will, make God unhappy.
And there are other attributes involved, but the point is...we do God a disservice if we represent Him by reflecting
only a splinter of His whole Person, and sometimes, His perfect modus vivendi will cause things to happen that are
unpleasant, even horrible to our puny mentality. What the hell! They are horrible when death and destruction are
involved!
But we cannot judge God from the same bag by which we judge man! In fact, I suggest you refrain from judging God
at all! But when we do pause to ponder God's work, we must embrace the entire spectrum of His essence as to the
purpose and nature of His actions to usward.
The crusader types I mentioned earlier want to think of God only in the cramped little space that they have
fabricated for Him without the complete view, all of God. Take Christians against capitol punishment. That ilk
emphasize the Love of God to the point of distortion. The Old Testement makes it chrystal clear that God endorses
execution of criminals. He makes no bones about it.
How then do we justify a policy that is in direct conflict with God's? I don't know, but I'm sure they have some
emotional crap that sounds "good" and forgiving. This, to those folks, is the entire God, little more than a real
super man, somewhat more distinguished and older than they are.
Incidentally, on the subject of capitol punishment; God repects the victim of crime, and His pronouncments are
both fair and reasonable in both redressing the injury and punishing the perpetrator. The one factor bleeding hearts
like to shunt aside is volition! God holds us accountable for our actions (sound familiar?). I might
add that God is practical, a charactaristic that is demonstrated in this very context. People shun the "preventative"
impact of killing criminals? Well, how more effective a preventative is there than snuffing a scumbag? You have one
dead creep that will never rape or murder anyone again, ever!
But, I won't digress any longer. We have more "fair shake" principles to look into.
Salvation
At the moment of salvation all believers are equal, no exceptions. This, ofcourse, only lasts until the human volition
starts having an effect, but the blessings and principles remain constant as only eternity can make them.
Just a few of the significant parameters of "fair shake"; There is no racial, social or gender distinction between
persons. We all receive an equal opportunity, and equal priviledge, regardless of any other factor.
In addition, our natural accumen, called "I.Q." is set aside where learning The Word is concerned and a supernatural
"spiritual I.Q." is installed. No person is limited in assemilating doctrinal truth. The Holy Spirit oversees this
process, and thus...the fairness of God is manifest. Were it not so, the smarter of us would have an advantage in
learning truth, and a resultant edge in accomplishing The Plan of God for our lives.
Under the terms of "The New Covenant", or contract, which is what the word "testement" actually means, all is new. Christ
has fulfiled the law, which is now replaced by the "Law of Grace". The severe restrictions for priesthood are lifted, and
now all believers are priests, Royal Priests in fact.
We all receieve the standard issue blessings; Eternal Life, Righteousness, sanctification, union with Christ, The endwelling
of the Trinity in our bodies, the filling of The Holy Spirit, heirship with Christ, adoption as mature sons...39 things
altogether.
Eternity
In heaven there will be great differences after the dust has settled, and all the rewards are distributed. Some believers
will be "Winners" and some "Losers". But just as both carnal and spiritual believers are provided for here in variable
ways and levels of blessing, so all resurrected believers will have the exact same everlasting life, indestructable body,
and many other things.
Death
Death is a special event for God..."precious in His sight is the death of His saints (set-apart ones)". That event is
not subject to human will, although many blow themselves away. Only God decides when we die. This is another "fair shake"
principle, for the everpresent factor of uniformity is at work.
We die different wyas, at deifferent levels of spiritual growth, so in dying there are many nuances, but the final
departure from this world is identical. We go to be face-to-face the Lord, and we will all be the same until the "bema",
or evaluation throne of Christ where some will get rewards, and some will not.
The Book of Life
The last application of the fair shake is the final disposition of the unsaved, or more to the point, how they got
in that predicament, and what God does about it.
As background for this principle I direct your attention to the most authoritative account of Final Judgement; The Book
of Revelation.
"He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his
name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels." (Rev 3:5)
Every human being ever born has his name entered in The Book of Life. As stated above, this book contains the name of
all saved persons. It also assures us that our names will not be "blotted out" of that book. Ofcourse, the obvious
conclusion is that some people do get "blotted". What's that all about?
First, please note that all men are, at one time, in the book. This bespeakes the will of God, that all men
be saved, and He reinforces His desire with this record of the saved. Most important is the fact that the damned are
not predestined to damnation, for they appear in the Book of Life at birth, and remain there until they die. Not until
the last bell is sounded does God remove their name. This is a "fair shake"!
Another incredible fact about the Last Judgement; No sin is even mentioned! The Judge will not send people to hell for
their sins! Obviously, sins were effectively retired at the cross. When Christ was judged, as our substitue, the issue
of sin, as regarding punishment, was settled. No sin will ever be judged again, and no man who commits a sin will be
damned for that reason.
There is another book, and the names of the unsaved are recorded there;
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was
opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books,
according to their works." (Rev 20:12)
In this verse there are an unstated number of books lying opened, and yet another book is opened...the Book of Life, in
order to establish that the accused is not recorded in it. They are judged "out of the things" in the books, and very
critical to understanding this; "according to their works". To drive home the "blotting" concept, already stated;
"And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." (Rev 20:15)
The most prominent issue in this sad account is that human beings are judged, not for bad deeds, but for "human righteousness",
which falls pitifully short of God's +R. They have depedned on their own good to earn salvation, unawares that it is not
compatible with God's Righteousness. The only way the saved get divine Righteousness is by imputation, for we are not
capable of producing it ourselves.
"For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for
righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth
righteousness without works,..." (Rom 4:3,5&6)
God gives all men a fair shake, and the damned are where they are because they reject His Love, and the initiative of
Grace which offers the free gift of salvation.
Got a comment? Have your say, click on the "Insights" link and visit my bulletin board. Your input will be
appreciated.
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