What does a prostitute, thief, murderer, and liar, have in common?

God loves them all. Every one of them. Just as much as He loves everyone else. He doesn't discriminate or hold back His love, to any. He never hates nor condemns the sinner. He hates sin; not the individual person. That places all of us on fair, equal ground, when it comes to salvation. One no better than the other, because sin claims and places all in the same category: Sinners in need of a Savior.

God does not categorize sin, like we do. All sin seperates us from God, no matter what sin that is. That is, until we're sick and tired of living a sinful lifestyle and want to trade our old ways of living, for a brand new life in Christ. Then we can confess our sins to Jesus, and receive His forgiveness. He'll never turn anyone away.

God knows us better than we know ourselves. He can't be fooled. He knows if we have a repentant heart and if we mean what we say to Him.

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Lester · 56-60, M

I believe in good and bad, not “sin” which is often an excuse for people to fear God, thinking God is going to somehow “punish” them. God is not to be feared for ANY reason. God doesn’t hate (period.)

LadyGrace ·

@Lester

I don't know where you get this fear idea. People don't fear God, they love Him! There is no fear in perfect love and God's love is perfect! There's no PUNISHMENT. Jesus TOOK our sins upon Himself on the cross, to SAVE us FROM the punishment and condemnation that SIN placed on us - not GOD.

You can sugar coat it all you want, but when we choose "bad" over "good" as you call it, it's still called sin. That's what God calls it and coming to God to ask for forgiveness is not done, out of "fear" of God. You got that completely backwards. It's an opportunity for people to get their lives right before God, out of great love for Him and His atonement for our sins on the cross, so that He can do what He wants to do, save us ALL from hell.

There is no fear in loving God. What you don't realize, is that Jesus did NOT come into this world to condemn the world, but to SAVE it. Read John 3:16 and verse 17 and you will see that. And then you might want to read the verse that says there is NO CONDEMNATION when we have been forgiven by the Lord. It's just the opposite. Jesus came to save us from the condemnation that SIN placed on mankind. GOD didn't place it there. Man chose to sin on his own. And man is personally responsible for his sins.

Instead of using "I'm only human" as an excuse to walk in the flesh and keep sinning, man should try using "I'm saved", as a reason to walk in the Spirit and show God how much we love him and are thankful to him for saving our souls. You got it all wrong about God. If it wasn't for Him, every one of us would go to hell. The notion that God forces people to love him or serve him, comes from absolute ignorance of His Word. It's just the opposite. People love and serve Him because of their great love for Him and what He did for us on the cross, in saving us from hell....which He did, btw, strictly because of His great LOVE for us. So don't make him out to be the bad guy here. He suffered in great agony, just to save us from our sins so we could have eternal life in heaven. Don't belittle that. It was no small feat!!

Lester · 56-60, M

@LadyGrace Hello. Thanks for your words. I love God with all my heart and do not make her out to be the “bad guy” at all, I just don’t believe God EVER judges and certainly God would never “condemn” any one of It’s blessed creations. God loves us all no matter what we do on this planet. And I believe that love is eternal. There is no hell. It’s ridiculous to me that people who say they love God also believe that he is going to condemn them eternally.

LadyGrace ·

@Lester You mean "him" to be the bad guy. And that's what I said, he doesn't condemn anyone but don't forget that sin condemns us to death and the Bible says so, it's not wrong. And God does love us unconditionally but you're forgetting that sin Keeps Us separated from God until we are forgiven and ask God to forgive us. If there was no hell, and I wish you were right, but Jesus warned about hell so that we wouldn't have to go there if we follow his Plan of Salvation. We just can't dismiss his Plan of Salvation because if we leave our souls to chance, they will stay separated from God and His kingdom. All this is in the Bible. God is not a liar.

I never said I believe that God is going to condemn anyone. He doesn't. Our sins do. As I mentioned, God did not come into this world to condemn anyone and he doesn't but you're forgetting the fact that our sins do. Ignore that and God said we can't drag our sins into heaven with us. If there was no hell then Jesus would not have warned against it and if there's a heaven then there's the hell. Besides that, if there was no hell then Jesus would not have had to die on the cross so that we could be saved from the condemnation that sin places on every one of us until we go to Jesus in prayer and ask him to save us by His grace, which is unearned favor from God. He can't save us from hell, if we won't let Him. And to teach anything differently from that, God said is teaching false doctrine. The whole purpose in Jesus coming to this Earth was to tell people about his Plan of Salvation so that no one would miss heaven. He didn't die in the cross just because he was a good person and only a prophet. He was approved and appointed by God the Father as Savior of the world. If there was no hell then we wouldn't need to be saved but Jesus is death was not in vain. It's not up to us, and God did not give man the authority, to change his Plan of Salvation to suit himself.

Lester · 56-60, M

@LadyGrace Okay, thanks for replying 😂!