I am reading a commentary on Galatians by Scot McKnight, I would recommend this, the book is called The NIV Application Commentary on Galatians by Scot McKnight.

What I would like to start a discussion on is everyone perception of God. Most of us call ourselves "Christians" yet some of us here have a hostile view of God. Others have a more passivistic view of God, some like me have a more balanced view. We are not bouncing up and down trying to steady God in our view.

Many here have various backgrounds and we bring that into our view of God, some rightly, most wrongly and that skews our view of God. It can be the reason why one has peace and the other is hostile toward God.

We all have an enmity between us and God, established by the law. The law became an enmity between us and God and Christ made peace with that enmity so that we can have access to the Father.

Quote :

Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Eph 2:14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,
Eph 2:15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,
Eph 2:16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.
Eph 2:17 AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR;
Eph 2:18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

We all hold to a traditional view of God, either through Calvinism or Arminianism or some other traditional form. When we enter into the church, we tend to take that view, thinking it is the proper way to believe. Than we run into someone different and they throw our system into a tailspin. We find ourselves questioning God, wondering if we really knew him at all.

We tend to think that we have to follow rules and laws for God to accept us, Galatians tells us otherwise. We are free from the law, we are free from our old slavery that we came out of.

If you came out of Satanism, you are free from that slavery, Christ set you free. But if you return to it, even in a small way, you negated Christ and returned under the enmity. It must be CHRIST ALONE!

When we add church stuff to our salvation, I have to read the bible everyday, or I have to pray everyday, I have to go to church every weekend, we negate Christ. Christ gave us a new "law" the law of the Spirit, the Spirit of Christ is our guide. When we come into Christ, we are, as Paul puts it in Galatians, we have come to full adulthood, the age of inheritance.

When we go back to our old ways of life, we turn that down and live like children. Paul said the Law of Moses was a teacher (something a child would learn from) or a guardian for us, til we grew up. Coming to Christ is like graduating College. But when we bring in something else into our salvation by Christ, it is like entering into ninth grade again. We negated our college education to play High School again.

This is why I say when we filter our understanding of God through a prism of human understanding, it is idolatry. The system we live under with Christ is Christ alone! When you tear that system apart, you will find a living, breathing Christ.

If I tear apart Calvinism, I will find the dead corpse of John Calvin.
If I tear apart Dispensationalism I will find the dead corpse of John Darby and Schofield.
If I tear apart Protestantism I will find the dead corpses of Luther, Calvin, etc.
If I tear apart Catholicism I will fidn the dead corpse of Augustine, Aquinas, etc.

Christianity should not be seperated like this, we should all be under the "Law" of the Spirit of Christ and under the work of Jesus Christ, whom we all can call on to reach God the Father.

Salvation is not based on "How good I am", but on the grace of Christ.
Salvation is not based on "My parents are Christian", but on the grace of Christ.
Salvation is not based on "I said a prayer", but on the grace of Christ.

If you view God in a hostile way, than there is still enmity between you and God. If there is peace between you and God, than you are on the path of God. There can only be two options, peace or enmity. There is no middle ground. Christ died to give us peace between us and God, and if there is peace, than Christ and God are there.

If you are hostile, if you are unsure, doubting, unsettled on the issue, hatred, mocking God, etc, than you are on the other side of the fence of peace.

Many would want to say, there is a middle ground, but what can be between peace and enmity? That would be uncertainty! No Peace.

This is an open discussion, add to what I have said. If you disagree post it, this is about knowing God, so what can be better than that?

lord voldemort wrote:

, I have to go to church every weekend,

I agree with all of this, but I just have one question pertaining to this line I quoted, what exactly do you believe "Keep the sabbath day" holy means?

The Sabbath and keeping it holy was for the Jews to remember the day of rest one out of seven.

One day out of seven days a week. One year out of seven years.

So it was a reminder for them to rest themselves and rest the land and remember God.

Christians should do it in "remembrance of me", to remember Christ and what he did on the cross and when he rose again. That should be the base of our Sabbath's.

Awesome post!!

God is cruel. That is true. IT is also true that God is loving and Good.

Creulty comes from his Love and Good.

And as we learn form the Book oF Job.. it is not our jobs as Believers to Like God. We can dislike Him plenty. It is simply our Job to always know that HE is God.

Job knew God indeed as a cruel God, did he Not? And yet.. it is written in that book.. that after all Job had said towards God... In none of it did he sin! Because he acknowledged throughout that all of his great sufferings and punishment came from God. Even the suffering that Satan had caused upon him.

HE was mad at God.. and rightly so... and God did not holld it against Him as a Sin.

SO simply believing tha God is cruel is not actually an umbilical view to possess. He can indeed be cruel.. and aldo kind and loving. THe Lion and the lamb.. all at once.

interesting, to me my views on god were formed about 2 months ago when i actually felt him in my presence, its an unexplainable thing where you just KNOW god and who he is. to this day the experience has left me forever changed. when you have that contact with the most high being in all the universe and beyond, it is something that leaves you permanently shaken, for the good.

wizardovmetal wrote:

interesting, to me my views on god were formed about 2 months ago when i actually felt him in my presence, its an unexplainable thing where you just KNOW god and who he is. to this day the experience has left me forever changed. when you have that contact with the most high being in all the universe and beyond, it is something that leaves you permanently shaken, for the good.

I had a similar experience when i was younger.

Two or so in the morning I guess. I hear a voice call my name similar to Samuel. It called my name three times and then I fell back a sleep.

My views on God...hmm

well most of you know I am Calvinistic in Doctrine, but allow me to explain WHY I got to where I am. I was born with Spina Bifida, and it confines me to a wheelchair. I have never had any "atheist" moments in life, always a believer in God for as long as I could remember.
my first experiance with "Christianity" was TBN and the Word of Faith movement. I loved the 700 club and I remember praying with Pat robertson every time it aired that God would heal me of the Spina Bifida. years passed and it Never Happened, so I started sort of "rebelling" (though never stopped believing in his exhistance) in 2001 the worst news to hit my family came, my father was diagnosed with Cancer...but The day before his diagnosis, a lady from a local church presented to him the gospel (granted, it wasn't an accurate presentation, i know this looking back) and he became a believer. later in 2002 he died. and i fully believe, even though he didnt know alot about theology, that he was Saved by Grace, through Faith.

I was angry at God, it was only by His Grace i didn't fall into Drugs or alchahol. a little while later we were invited to Church. I remember vividly going in my Metallica Shirt and a very depressed look on my face. but the pastor welcomed me with open arms,...as a matter of fact, the first thing he said was "Dude, i used to Love metallica, have you ever heard of any bands like Stryper or Deliverance?" so we went to that church for a couple years and to this day keep in contact with them. Great people. i started slowly growing my faith back because of that Church.

why do I believe in the reformed View? because I know for a fact, when Christ Saved me,..i didn't want it,..i Fought and Fought, I resisted, until he said "no more!" and HE broke me and HE said "YOU WILL follow me"

Interesting story, have you been healed or has this experience grown you faith?

lord voldemort wrote:

Interesting story, have you been healed or has this experience grown you faith?

nah im still handicapped, theres no cure,...and I dont expect to wake up walking one day. Im fine with it, God has a Sovereign plan for My life, He deserves The Glory,...It wasnt until I realised God owes me NOTHING that I stopped wanting to be Cured of my dissability.

In the Long run,...I can pretty safely say I would NEVER been saved had it not been for me being Disabled,..I don't get out much because of the wheelchair, so I never had much of a party life or anything,...my chair literally saved me from a long dark life of drugs and sexual immorality,...i am certain of it.

lord voldemort wrote:

wizardovmetal wrote:

interesting, to me my views on god were formed about 2 months ago when i actually felt him in my presence, its an unexplainable thing where you just KNOW god and who he is. to this day the experience has left me forever changed. when you have that contact with the most high being in all the universe and beyond, it is something that leaves you permanently shaken, for the good.

I had a similar experience when i was younger.

Two or so in the morning I guess. I hear a voice call my name similar to Samuel. It called my name three times and then I fell back a sleep.

interesting, well i never heard a voice, i heard god tell me something once, but that was only because i actually needed an answer right then, it was urgent and could not wait, i was faced with a descision. secondly this presence happens to me frequently i dont have blind faith, i can tell god is real, it requires no physical perception at all.

God is cruel?

What?

Who would be drawn to that?
I wouldn't use that to describe Him at all... never. Why do you use that to describe what you think of Him Ash?

He is a jealous God, He loves us and wants the best for us. He gave His son to die, even though he knew some of us would choose to totally ignore it and not become close to Him.

No cruelty at all...

He is powerful, loving, graceful, merciful, fearful- as to His awesomeness... not to be a quivering scared mess when thinking about Him, A fearsome awe and humbleness is what comes to mind.

He is... Everything... that is my view.

i dont think god is cruel, i think god is amazingly merciful, everyone is given a free ticket to eternal life, if someone hands you a ticket, says tke it, and your stupid enough to rip it up and throw it away, that is your fault, not gods

Just becaue I say that God can be Cruel.. doesn't mean I don't love Him. Cause I do.

It is also because I give God credit for the bad things that happen to me.. not jsut the good. I see this as the scriptural things to do. nonetheless,

Some people only give God credit form good things... and then blame satan or themselves for teh Bad. I don't share that view.. not to say that Satan or ourslves don't cause bad things to happen.. but it is God who reigns over all and allows these thigns to occur.

The True test of faith is to be able to accept both good and "evil" from God, without denying him.

Usually, it is when you are in a heavy relationship with someone that you can consider them cruel from time to time.

Nor does that mean that God is not Good and Kind and merciful. But God is Love and Love is something that is not Easy or merely nice or merely pleasant...it can be fierce and raging and wild.

As Solomon put it-

Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy [a] unyielding as the grave. [b]
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame. [c]

7 Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot wash it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of his house for love,
it [d] would be utterly scorned.