Board index ‹ Heaven and Hell

[Newbie]

Love must be free, and love that is constrained isn't love. But I'm constrained to love God or suffer in hell. It's like saying that you have the choice to disobey me, but if you do I'll shoot you. That is not a choice at all, and God can't very well expect me to make a fair choice if on the one hand eternal torture in hell awaits me, and on the other hand I can choose to love him and have eternal bliss.

[jimwalton]

Here is the situation. (I'll create a false situation for the sake of analogy, though all analogies break down when pushed too far.) We all live on planet Neptar. It's a distressing place of extremes and hostile environments. There is a wise king there who has garnered resources to bring abundance to the planet, so much so that the population lives in relative comfort and ease, taking for granted that it is the magnanimity of the king who makes it that way. Now, let's say that the citizens on the far side of the planet choose to rebel against the good king and want nothing to do with any of his activity, while the people on the close side of the planet choose to stay allied with the king. So the king withholds his resources from the side that has chosen to separate from him. Within a short amount of time, the far side of the planet reverts to its hostile and toxic state. Is the king to be blamed for cruelty? I would say no. Those people made their decision themselves. But the king always—ALWAYS—holds out an invitation for those people to return to his sovereignty, and if they do, he will once again bless them with this resources. The choice always lies in their hands.

In the Bible the issue is a love relationship with the King. Anyone who chooses to love him comes under the umbrella of his resources, and anyone who wants nothing to do with him gets what they have chosen. After all, love is not constrained, but it is free. Each one of us can choose totally as we wish, with no constraints. But certainly we must realize there are consequences to our choices, but the king is not responsible for those consequences. If someone offered you a million dollars, but you refused it, can you blame the other person for your poverty and misery? No, you chose it. "Well, I just didn't want anything to do with that person." Fine, but you chose it, and those were the consequences. God can't change the consequences of separation from him. He is life and love, and anyone who choose against life and love is disconnected from life and love. There are no other options.