Emotions, Truth, and Freedom

One of the most precious and glorious and profound scriptures in all the Bible, I believe is also one of the most neglected.

John 8:31,32 says this:

If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

When this great passage is not neglected it is often used incorrectly by the world. You’ll see it on government buildings, and in political rallies of the most unbiblical kind. People sometimes think that THEIR idea of truth is what sets free. But of course, it’s the truth of God that truly sets us free.

Emotions, or the way we feel, often governs the way we act.

Ask any trained salesman, and they will tell you an old maxim that goes like this, "People buy according their emotions, and then justify their purchase with logic."

That’s just one example, of course. Much of what we decide to do or not do in life is decided by how we FEEL about it. And this is not automatically bad. Emotions certainly are a gift from God.

To be able to feel often means to be able to enjoy. To be able to feel often means that we don’t just live as robots, but that we live with zest and passion and compassion and focus and fun.

Of course emotions also may allow us to feel grief, despair, depression, rage, and misery.

But how do we take these wild mustangs of emotion and drive them into the corral, and train them to do what is best for them? To be able to value them, and not dread them? To get them to help us in making decisions in life that are wise decisions? Without becoming robots?

The answer is in the word TRUTH. As the passage says, The Truth shall make you free.

Let me make a radical statement here. I have tested this statement for many years, and found it solid. Like any generalization, there may be exceptions, but they are rare. This radical statement is solid. And here’s the statement:

"Whenever we are in bondage, in our minds or our emotions, it is because of error in our thinking."

Now this is actually good news, for three reasons:

1. We can limit the error that we take into our minds. We can’t eliminate it, because it assaults us through our eyes, our ears, and even internally from repetition of past error. But we can limit it. We can stay away from input that we know contains great amounts of error, whether it be books, TV shows, or a particularly destructive person.

2. We can fill our minds with truth. The most obvious source of this truth for the Christian is the Word of God. Secondary sources may be trusted teachers of the Word, including books, spoken messages, and so forth. But filling our minds with truth sets us free.

3. Our emotions are the result of our thoughts. And our thoughts are the result of what seems true to us. And what seems true may not be true at all. If you think a rattlesnake is inches from your face in the dark, it doesn’t matter one bit if it’s only a rope. Your heart will pound, your skin will perspire, your muscles may go rigid…you get the idea. It doesn’t matter what the truth really is in this case. What you THINK the truth is affects your emotions.

Now the reason this is good news, is that if you can limit the error you take in, and if you can fill your mind with truth, and if your emotions will respond to that truth, then you can be made free. Free in your thinking, free in your feeling, and free in your decision-making.

Listen to "Grace For Life" Radio Program.

Christian Artist Association

There is a new organization whose goal it is to honor Christ in Contemporary Christian Music.

You may want to take a look:
http://www.christianartistassociation.com/

They're called the Christian Artist Association, and provide promotion for Christian Artists, and a way for others to help the cause. Their motto is "worship inspire create serve".

Too Much Theology?

Don't be afraid of Theology. Christian Theology, while technically, "the study of God", encompasses all the study of all the truths of Scripture.

We all have a Theology framework, a way of understanding Scriptural truths. Some of our Theology frameworks may be defective, some may be accurate.

When you see someone who is "so Theological that they're no earthly good", don't think, "They are just filled with too much Theology."

The truth is, they need more Theology, not less. But they need the right part of Theology, added to, or replacing their current parts.

For example, if they delight in the death of the wicked, they need to understand that the Lord does NOT delight in the death of the wicked.

2nd example: If they are operating under the Mosaic or Old Covenant, they need to understand that the Old Covenant is made obsolete by the New Covenant.

3rd example: If they are "cold" in their Theology, they may need to incorporate the Theology of 1 Corinthians 13, the famous "Love" passage.

4th example: If their Theology understands that they can do anything if they set their mind to it, they may need to understand that we can do nothing apart from the Lord, and must walk in His Spirit.

5th example: If their Theology puts them under condemnation because they fail, they may need to understand that there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

6th example: If they think they're "better" than the next guy because they have some theological knowledge, they need the theology that asks them, "What do you have, O man, that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you didn't receive it?"

Etc, etc.

Don't throw out the "baby" of Theology with the "bathwater" of bad or incomplete Theology. Keep seeking the face of the One who IS the Truth, keep studying the Scriptures, and be being filled with the Spirit, and your Theology will be the better for it.

In other words, we need to be full of the Word of God, rightly divided, and filled with His Spirit, and that's Theology of the highest sort.

Listen to "Grace For Life" Radio Program.

Loving Jesus vs. Admiring Jesus

Admiring Jesus seems to be admitted by practically everyone.

From Mahatma Ghandi, who through modeling the peaceful ways of Jesus changed the face of India and the world, to Mohammed, who called Jesus a prophet, to the average person on the street, just about everyone admires Jesus of Nazareth.

In fact, I’ve never met a person who would not say that they admired Jesus, at least until His gospel rips open their heart and separates the real admirers from those who admire from ignorance.

But my real point in this message is not to cast stones at those who are outside the church of Jesus Christ, who are outside the body of Christ, yet claim to admire Jesus. My real point is to encourage those who are in the body of Christ, to go beyond admiring Jesus, to a new level of loving Him.

There are those believers who have been born again, basically love the Lord, basically know their bibles, and know for a fact that Jesus is God, that He is good, that He is righteous, that He sacrificially gave His life for our sins, that He rose again, that He is Lord over all, and that He deserves all the glory and honor that He could ever receive.

But with all that born-again admiration, with their cries of "we must glorify God in all we do", with their exhortations of obedience, obedience, obedience…with all that, I often see a lack of loving intimacy with this admired Savior.

Why is that? I think it’s for two reasons.

1. Many travel in theological circles that are law-oriented.

They see the Christian life, not primarily as a relationship or fellowship with our Friend and Brother and Savior Jesus, but as a life of rules and regulations. They know Jesus loves them, but the degree of that love is dependent on our performance. You will find them emphasizing that verse, "If you love me you will obey my commandments." But you won’t often see them quoting the verse, "…[nothing] shall be able to separate us from the love of God which Is in Jesus our Lord."

So some lack this intimate loving relationship with Christ, just because it is considered sort of selfish and distasteful in their theological circles. Sort of mystical, sort of anti-good-doctrine. They use derogatory terms such as "touchy-feely" or "kum-ba-ya around the campfire emotionalism".

If you are one of these, please keep reading.

2. Many are scarred by a perceived lack of love, or perceived rejection, in earlier times of their lives.

Now, don’t think I’m getting all psychological here. And particularly, if you belong to category 1, the law-oriented type, I know the hairs are standing up on the back of your neck at the very mention of our past lives affecting our walk with Christ.

But here is the simple fact. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. And when we are born again, and come to Christ, and we become new creations in our spirits…we sometimes still have a lot of renewing of our minds that are needed.

Many times, a perceived lack of love, or perceived rejection of some kind by parents, or peers, or a teacher, for example, can make us instinctively feel that we can’t really be loved. And that carries over into our feelings about whether God can really love us. And that can keep us from really having the intimate and loving fellowship with Jesus that we may want to have.

And then sometimes a mis-guided kind of cold-steel theology is piled on to make it even worse. These perhaps well-intentioned folks say things like, "You don’t just feel unworthy, you are unworthy. Get over it. You’re a sinner. You’re a worm and a jerk. Don’t let these Dr. Feelgood softies make you think you’re loveable. Just pull up your bootstraps and start obeying. Bring glory to God. It’s all about Him, it’s not about you, you selfish pig. Start performing, and see if you can bring your level of performance up to where it should be – in the power of the Spirit, of course."

And the implication is that if you perform well enough, that then you might be loveable . . . at least a little.

But of course this is hogwash. If you feel unloved, you feel unloved.

Now listen please to this: The only way you will ever feel loved by God, is through understanding from His Word that you were loved by Him long before you were "loveable". And He loves you because He chooses to love you. And there is nothing you could ever do to make Him love you more, and there is nothing you could ever do to make Him love you less.

And it’s because of one thing…Grace. There is a rest for the people of God, the Bible says, wherein they rest from their works! That doesn’t mean we don’t do good works. We will, as God works them in us, and we walk by His Spirit. It means we rest from our works as means of gaining love and acceptance and fellowship with God, with Jesus.

Read these verses in Romans Chapter 8 (or read the whole chapter), and you will see the love of God in writing: 10, 15b, 16, 18-19, 28-30, 32, 35-39. Don't doubt it. Don't think it can't mean you. It does mean you. And when you really "get" how much He loves you, apart from your performance, then you can experience and appropriate His love, and then you can really love, too.

Frederick Lehman was deeply moved by a poem written in 1050 A.D. in Worms, Germany, the site of Martin Luther’s historic meeting, the Diet of Worms, 500 years later. And it led Lehman to write a hymn in 1917, in Pasadena, California, part of which goes like this:

Could we with ink the oceans fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the oceans dry,
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Don’t just admire Jesus. He wants you to be in close, intimate loving fellowship and communion with Him. There is nothing standing in the way. Not even your sins. They are paid for. They are forgiven. "It is finished."

Listen to "Grace For Life" Radio Program.

Political Correctness of the Theological Variety

I'm not advocating false teaching.

I'm not advocating lack of discernment.

I'm not advocating doing away with the Berean spirit. (Test all things to see if they are so)

I'm not advocating being tossed by every wind of doctrine, as some are.

I think doctrinal statements are valuable in many cases.

I’m not advocating an ecumenical big tent that includes everyone who spouts any ol’ doctrine of demons they feel like at the time.

But there is a Political Correctness of the Theological variety that is hurting the body of Christ.
A dividing up of the body of Christ into camps who see their mission not as loving God and enjoying Him forever, and fellowshiping with others who do the same. They see their mission as sitting around in their theological hot tub with the five other people who think just like they do, and spitting mineral water at anybody that differs.

If you are one of these people, two things are happening right now in your mind: First, you know the shoe fits, and you’re wearing it. You know that "thou art the man". You know I’m referring to you.

And how do you know I’m referring to you? Because secondly, you’re getting up your defenses to justify what you have been doing. After all, you’re right, aren’t you? And all those other people just don’t get it, do they? And you are charged by God to defend the faith, and to stand for truth. And if the whole rest of Christendom goes down the toilet, not you. Right?

Even when you do see something good in that other camp, or when you learn something from them, you can’t say it out loud, can you? Why? Because of Political Correctness of the Theological Variety (PCTV).

Your group wouldn’t like it if you said you enjoyed a book written by one of "those" people. They would look upon you suspiciously, and you couldn’t have that. You couldn’t discuss some things in your blog circles, because you would be guilty-by-association. Associating with "those" people.

Now I know some of you have the hairs standing up on the back of your neck. And I haven’t even mentioned any particular theological or doctrinal persuasion, have I?

That's because it’s not a doctrinal problem, it’s a heart problem. It’s a flesh problem. It’s that fleshly tendency to bite and devour one another. It’s that flesh tendency to bring down the hammer on those who don’t toe the line of your little theological hot tub group.

And it’s destructive. It wounds the body of Christ, and then shoots the wounded.

And we forget that, "the body is not one, but many." (1 Corinthians 12:14)

And we forget that, "...God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired." (1 Corinthians 12:18)

"And the eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you.'; or again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary." (1 Corinthians 12:21,22)

Why did God compose the body in this way? "...that there should be no division [schism] in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another." (1 Corinthians 12:25)

And so PCTV becomes similar to heresy, even if it has a correct doctrine.

Why is it similar to heresy? Because the core idea of heresy is false teaching that divides. Heresy leads to division of the body.

You may be right, but are you giving honor to the "weaker" member of the body? You may be right, but are you giving honor to the parts of the body that think you’re wrong?

By all means, be a Berean. Seek the truth. But first seek the one who is the Truth, and the Way, and the Life.

If you’re not in communion with Him, if you’re not filled with His Spirit, just lay back for a while and don’t bother splashing your truth acid on people to burn them. We’re not qualified to handle truth if we’re walking in the flesh. We can handle facts, but we can’t handle truth, unless we are walking by the Spirit.

This Political Correctness of the Theological Variety is bondage. "It was for freedom that Christ set us free." (Galatians 5:1)

Listen to "Grace For Life" Radio Program.

Do You Know Why Jesus Died On The Cross?

To my Roman Catholic friends, who may not have heard the simple beautiful truth of the crucifix, the cross:

Too often the crucifix has just been a superstitious token of religion. And religion is often portrayed as a bunch of rituals to gain favor with God.

But what is the real reason that Jesus was on that cross?

Simply this: To pay for sins, as a sacrifice Lamb, so that all who believe in Him would have their sins forgiven, once and for all. And as He died on that cross, He declared, "It is finished!" The sins are paid for -- past, present and future. No more sacrifices needed. Salvation by Grace, through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the GIFT of God.

Then He was buried, and He rose from the dead, authenticating Himself as God, the Son.

It's been said that there are really only two religions in the world:

1. One seeks to do some Works, or some Rituals, or some Sacraments, to gain favor with God, or gain salvation. This includes virtually all the religions of the world except the following:

2. True Christianity, in which salvation is entirely by Grace (unmerited favor), a free gift given by God, through Jesus Christ.

Number 1 can never work, simply because we have all broken God's laws. And He Himself said that if we have broken one law, then we have broken them all. And that's sin. And the wages of sin is death, and ultimately the Lake of Fire.

But the free gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

That's why He's shown on that crucifix.

But He's not there anymore. He now declares, "If anyone will come to Me, I will in no way reject them. Whoever will may come."

Come to Him. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Flee the wrath to come.

Listen to "Grace For Life" Radio Program.

Resting In God's Providence

Providence is the teaching that God is in control. Otherwise know as the Sovereignty of God. In it’s full biblical glory, it is expressed quite clearly in Ephesians 1:11, where it says "…being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will."

And when we say God is in control, we don’t just mean that He is controlling a herd of cats that He can barely get his hands on. Or that He reacts to things by some corrective measure that barely averts tragedies sometimes, and sometimes, "Ooops, I missed that one."

That borders on blasphemy. When we say God is in control, we are saying that He has determined all things before the foundation of the world. For example, the Scripture says that he has chosen us before the foundation of the world and that even the Lamb of God was slain before the foundation of the world.

God is never surprised. He’s never amazed. He’s never shocked. But He doesn’t just see the future, He determined it.

Now there’s a mystery there, as in so many other things about God. Clearly the Scripture doesn’t portray us as robots. We are thinking, choosing, feeling beings. We might say our mind is our thinker, our will is our chooser, and our emotions are our feeler. And we do choose. We do make decisions.

Yet God "works all things according to the counsel of His will." Before time began, He set forth history. And a thorough study of the sovereignty of God will convince you that when a car drives down a dusty road, not one speck of dust will fall back to earth, but that God determined beforehand where and how it would fall.

And here’s my concern. I see those who believe in the sovereignty of God often in a state of discontentment. I see them mouthing the truth that God is in control, then living as if every circumstance of life was cause for being upset. Knowing that God is sovereign, yet they lack the peace of God too often. Knowing that Romans 8:28 is true, yet they live as if it weren’t.
Romans 8:28 says, "God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are the called according to His purpose."

Some have rightly called this verse the "soft pillow that a Christian can rest their head on." But too many are not resting on that pillow. At some level, they know it’s true, but at some level they deny it in their mind, emotions, and will.

I think there are three main reasons why one doesn’t rest in the Providence of God:

1. We forget that He is in control.

Whether it's other people (I always say you can't live someone else's life), or circumstances beyond our control, or even the weather, He is in control. The old "Serenity Prayer", which is more asssociated with secular gift stores than the church, has a lot of wisdom: "Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference." But if He is in control, then things are not out of control. That alone can be a comfort. Serenity.

2. We forget that He loves us.

Mainly because of Performance-based religion – deceived by the world, the flesh and the devil. We don’t spend the time communing with Him, so we don’t experience the warmth of His open arms. We don’t draw near to Him with the promise that He will draw near to us. When we do spend that time with Him, and when we are reminded through His word that we live by grace, and not performance, then we can experience His love. And not just the intellectual, "Oh yeah, I know He loves me."

3. We doubt His righteousness or goodness.

This is close to #2, forgetting that He loves us. But it extends to all the world. We have the "If I Ruled the World" complex. You know the old song, "If I ruled the world, every day would be the first day of spring."

All I can say is it’s a good thing that neither you nor I ruled the world. I much prefer an all-knowing, all-wise, all-powerful holy, righteous and good God ruling the world. And He does.
Here again, we need to spend the time in His presence and in His word, to really grasp this in our hearts.

The word is filled with the truth of the goodness of God.

Even His justice for the wicked is a reflection of His goodness and righteousness, isn’t it?
"Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God." (Romans 11:22)

Even our repentence is driven by His goodness. "Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?" (Romans 2:4)

But we need our minds renewed by the word, to really get it. "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what [is] that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:2)

May I ask you a simple question? If you knew God was completely sovereign, and that He completely loves you and accepts you in Christ, and that He is completely good and righteous, wouldn’t that make a difference in your life? Wouldn’t that give you a level of rest in the Providence of God? Wouldn’t that take away some of the anxiety that may have plagued you regarding everything from a rained out picnic to a friend who just won’t be the way or live the way you know they should?

Believe me, the more you commune with this Lord of ours, the more you get to know Him, the more you will be filled with His Spirit, and the more you will have the peace of God that passes understanding, the peace of God that rests in His Providence, that rests in His Sovereignty over all.

(Sidebar: The excellent book portrayed above in the photo is A.W. Pink's best work. In glorifying God in His sovereignty for initial salvation, he does a wonderful job, and I highly recommend the book. But in my opinion, Pink is weak in understanding Grace after salvation, advocating law-based Christian living. So I would be very cautious in recommending any other of Pink's books to any but the most discerning Grace-oriented reader.)

Listen to "Grace For Life" Radio Program.

Why Teaching Tithing Is Evil

Giving to the "Lord's Work" is good and right.

Teaching giving to the "Lord's Work" is good and right, if done biblically.

Have I made the above clear? The Lord, and I, love a cheerful giver. Giving is a wonderful thing. And therefore, teaching giving is a wonderful thing. Giving 10% or 90% of one's income is fine, if done biblically.

But teaching tithing is evil.

It's not "neutral", it's not "O.K.". It is evil. But say that to some church leaders who teach tithing, and they will show you how evil they can act.

If you've been around the church for long, you've heard the nonsense many many times. It goes something like this:

"God expects you to give 10% of your money to the local church (the "storehouse"). This is your moral obligation. To not tithe is a sin. Only what is above 10% is your "offering". The 10% is minimum, and it must go to the local church. If you don't . . . according to Malachi, you are robbing God!"

Those who are consistent in their wrongly using Old Covenant Malachi will go so far as to say that those who don't tithe are under a curse from God!

You know the routine. This sad "Clubbing of the Sheep" is done weekly in many churches. Some do it monthly or quarterly, or whenever the budget calls for it. Then they will preface their remarks with something like, "Now you know we don't often talk about money, here at Blankety Blank Church. But today we are going to fulfill our biblical responsibility and Club you Sheep!"

Here is why it is positively evil to teach tithing:

1. It Is Utterly Unbiblical Under the New Covenant.

Tithing was a requirement for physical Israel under the Mosaic or "Old" Covenant Law. Even then it was not related to money, but produce and animals. Jesus spoke of tithing briefly, because He lived under the Old Covenant Himself. But otherwise, it is never taught to the Church.

Cheerful giving is taught and encouraged, but always as a response to the good news of Christ, with no compulsion or set percentages.

When today's teachers of tithing are given the above simple truth about the New Covenant, they often parrot the old mantra they've learned from other teachers of tithing, "If under the Law, one was expected to give 10%, then how much more even under Grace." I'm compelled to give them the benefit of the doubt in not judging their hearts regarding the love of money. So the kindest explanation I can give for that is pure open-eyed biblical ignorance. But that level of ignorance in a teacher of the Word of God is a sad shame.

2. It Puts The Sheep Under False Condemnation.

It's a well-know statistic that over 90% of born-again church members do not tithe. That means that potentially 90% of born-again saints are repeatedly put under condemnation by their shepherds. And for an unbiblical legalistic teaching! This is such a tragedy, because it's wrong and unbiblical in itself. But beyond that, it hinders the spiritual growth of the the saints, because when they are put under false condemnation, the Holy Spirit is quenched in their lives.

Even those who do tithe under such compulsion are often hurt in their spiritual walk for at least three possible reasons:

a. they still feel they aren't "offering" enough above their tithe.

b. they are easily subject to pride for "doing their duty" before God, "not like that Publican over there".

c. they are led away from a biblical distinction between the Old and New Covenants, causing their whole biblical understanding to be askew.

In conclusion, teaching tithing in the church is legalism of the worst sort.

Picture a giant glimmering diamond the size of a basketball, perched on black velour, with a bright spotlight shining on it. It shines with brilliance, and a thousand facets of beautiful light. Its blinding beauty puts a smile on all who see it. Then picture a vandal smashing the spotlight with a hammer, and spraying the diamond all over with black paint, obscuring it's beauty.

The beautiful diamond is "Giving". The vandal is the Teacher of Tithing, who masks the beautiful diamond in darkness.

Who is robbing God?

Listen to "Grace For Life" Radio Program.

God Doesn't Need You, But He Delights In You

God doesn't, and never did, need us.

To quote A.W. Tozer from The Knowledge of the Holy:

"To admit the existence of a need in God is to admit incompleteness in the divine Being. Need is a creature-word and cannot be spoken of the Creator. God has a voluntary relation to everything He has made, but He has no necessary relation to anything outside of Himself. His interest in His creatures arises from His sovereign good pleasure, not from any need those creatures can supply, nor from any completeness they can bring to Him who is complete in Himself....

"The river grows larger by its tributaries, but where is the tributary that can enlarge the One out of whom came everything and to whose infinite fullness all creation owes its being?....

"The problem of why God created the universe still troubles thinking men; but if we cannot know why, we can at least know that He did not bring His worlds into being to meet some unfulfilled need in Himself, as a man might build a house to shelter him against the winter cold or plant a field of corn to provide him with necessary food. The word necessary is wholly foreign to God." (A.W. Tozer, from the Chapter, "The Self-Sufficiency of God")

And yet He has chosen to love us, and we are His "delight".

Amazing.

The Book of Job puts those two almost antithetical truths in perspective when God asks, "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?....When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" (Job 38:4ff)

We can only use non-God things to think of and explain God, so it will always be incomplete. But God's creation of us and delight in us reminds me of a Master Italian Baker who really enjoys his craft, singing opera loudly over the creation of some rich pastry that he didn't need to make, and then thoroughly enjoying it, bite by bite.

Don't forget that He delights in you, even when you don't seem so delightful. Delight in Him.

Listen to "Grace For Life" Radio Program.

Does God Love The Whole World?

An Open Letter To A Friend

By Michele Rayburn

I don't think that the Church has only been teaching that God is love. The unsaved world may seem to be, but it seems that the Church is teaching doctrine (often legalistic doctrine) to the exclusion of love.

The Bible says that we are nothing without love, and yet I do not see its principles expounded upon very often. And I believe that it has had its effect on the body of Christ. If the Church is not "walking in love" then we are not spiritually mature...we are not "walking by the Spirit". And that is what is so lacking.

I don't think that we should deny that God loves the lost just because you think too much emphasis is being given to "For God so loved the world...". That would not be a biblical approach. Because the concept that "God so loved the world" may confuse the unbeliever is no reason to downplay it. It's not a matter of giving them "false hope" by telling them that God loves them, but rather, it is biblically accurate.

We can say that God will not save all people, even though "God so loves the world", and it doesn't matter if it confuses them, because it is the truth. "God's ways are higher than our ways" and we can't always understand His ways. "The deep things belong to God". And, "The natural man cannot understand spiritual things". The clay is not to ask the Potter, "Why did you make me this way?"

But, we know from John 3:16 that God loves the world (the whole world) because in that same verse, God says "whosoever believes". This is a recognition that some (the "whosoevers") in the world will "come out from them" (come out from the world) and believe.

And, nowhere does the Bible say God did not love His elect before He saved them. The Bible says that God chose you before the foundation of the world, which is an act of His love. He sees the end from the beginning and He still set His love upon you before you were created. When John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world...", was it before He knew them or after? God so loved the world always. There is no mention of time limitations on God's love or preconditions for His love.

God's love is the motivating reason (or, at least, the best known reason) for our salvation. It is because He loved us that He saved us. You said the Gospel begins not with love. But even the giving of the Law to convict man of sin was an act of love.

John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world [His love comes first] that He gave His only begotten Son [the good news comes second]". The reason God gave His Son is because He so loved the world. God was motivated by His love.

"We love Him [why?] because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19)

Here are more Scriptures that show that God's love came first and that His love was the motivation for His salvation plan:

Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

1 John 3:16, "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us."

1 John 3:9, "In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.

1 John 4:10 "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

This last verse, 1 John 4:10, by the way, together with 1 John 2:2 "And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world" is a clear Biblical statement of fact. For 1 John 2:2 to say "not for ours only, but also for the whole world" clearly states that God means "the whole world". Because, who is left over after He is the propitiation for our sins?

The word "propitiation" does not mean "turn away God's wrath", but rather, it more closely means "to satisfy God's wrath" ("It does not make God merciful; it makes divine forgiveness possible"--The New Compact Bible Dictionary). It means that Jesus Christ's offer of Himself is a sacrifice that is sufficient for all. But it is not describing an act that is accomplished in all. The turning away of God's wrath comes after the act of propitiation is received by those who repent.

The love of God is the motivation for the salvation of man, and the law is used to convict lost souls in order to show them their need for salvation.

If we see God as only angry toward unbelievers, I think we could very well become angry Christians, since we are imitators of God. God has the right to be angry because He knows how to be angry and not sin. He has a righteous anger, because underlying His anger is His perfect love.

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