To my friends who are so inclined to ask:
It is not that you are a bad person; you have just made a choice that when compared the good of God’s plan and desires, does not measure up.
God is not mad at you for the choice you have made. He is mad about you; as in crazy in love with you. So when you DO what disagrees with Him, He sends you encouragement to choose differently, to choose His way. Sometimes He does it through someone who already knows and usually through someone who has already been down that path and finally figured it out.
God has no interest in seeing you get blasted for making decisions based on the ungodly influences put upon you. He is however extremely interested in being your primary influence. In fact Jesus wants to be your ONLY influence in deciding what is right and wrong. He created the universe and all that is in it (including the human race) in six days. That is what He says. Any other opinion is a lesser influence (meaning it is wrong). He created beauty and wonderful amazing plants and animals and even the entire solar system; all with a purpose; all for our enjoyment and benefit. Then He created a man and a woman to love Him and each other selflessly without any reservation or fear.
Another influence suggested He might not have the purest motives and introduced doubt and selfishness. Listening to and forming a decision based on that improper influence introduced sin into the creation. We may have to live with that but we don’t have to follow it.
God intends for you to choose wisely and obediently. He intends for you to choose Him. If you choose otherwise then there are certain consequences that go along with those choices. Choosing Jesus means you choose all of His ways. Choosing part of His ways means choosing partly evil ways. Which begs the question of who you are really choosing.
I am trying to say all of this without naming a particular area where you might disagree with God’s decision because for each of you it is different and if I list a few I may miss the one which applies to you. Or I may hit several that affect you and you might think I am pounding you into the sand. I really don’t have to though. Right now as you read or hear this, you already know inside of you the things which are out of line with God’s choices. You know because God the Holy Spirit is troubling your soul to choose rightly in these areas. In the gospel of John in chapter four, Jesus explains to the Samaritan woman that God (He Himself) is a Spirit and those that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and truth. One of the most famous and often repeated quotes in history is Pontius Pilate in John 18:38 saying “What is truth?”. Jesus claimed in John 14:6 that He is truth. The Bible says of it self that it is the word of God. John 17:17 says that God’s word is truth and that it is impossible for God to lie (Hebrews 6:18).
You have probably heard the phrase “my way or the highway”. This of course means that you do what you do according to the dictates and preferences of the one making that statement or you suffer the consequences of having to go somewhere else to obtain the benefits and blessing you would have if you did it their way. Jesus wants you to choose His way. He has designed it for your greatest benefit. He knows to do otherwise will injure you and deny you the blessings He desires you to have.
Allow me to analogize. In many countries around the world it is a mandatory law with great consequences for disobeying it that you have young children in motor vehicles secured in proper safety seats. If a company manufactures a safety seat which does not protect its occupant, it will be severely punished. The reason is that the safety, the protection, the well being of the child is the most important consideration to those who made the law. They know, the lawmakers and the manufacturers, that protecting the child is vitally important. The consequences to disobeying this law are devastating for the children. They may survive an accident in a poorly made or used safety seat but may be crippled for life. Or they may not survive at all.
God sees you in the same way. He created Adam and Eve and by extension through procreation, each one of us. He desires for all of us to live with Him in joy and harmony for eternity. He knows the consequences of disobeying Him will be devastating. You may through disobedience enter into heaven after a crippled and ill fated life or you may not enter in at all. Remember that God is good and loving and kind. He will not force you to spend eternity with someone you did not want to be with for your entire life on earth.
In His Word the Holy Bible, God explains all that which is good for us and how we may know Him and live a life that will obtain the maximum blessings from Him. We are accountable to know the consequences for not heeding His word to accept His payment for our sin is eternal separation from Him. We are also responsible for knowing that even if we know Him as Lord and Savior, our failure to understand and obey His Words will bring us the pain and suffering of not receiving His blessings and protection.
I started out by writing “To my friends who are so inclined to ask: It is not that you are a bad person; you have just made a choice that when compared the good of God’s plan and desires, does not measure up.” So let me say now that it is most beneficial to read His word, understand His protection and fear the company of those who disobey Him. Why? Because I’ve been there, I’ve done that and it is definitely a bad place to be. I am determined to not go back there and I pray you will be of the same mind also.