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Subject: Why Does God Let People Live Who He Knows Will Not Get Saved?

 

q.gif (1639 bytes)   We know that God is omnipresent. (Prov. 15:3).  He knows of any person, all having free will, who will never choose to accept He or His son in their lifetimes.  Are they allowed to continue on Earth only to act as stumbling blocks to those who believe, and choose the daily walk down the narrow path?

 

a.gif (1659 bytes)   Yes, God is omnipresent.  Proverbs 15:3 says, "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.”  Jeremiah 23:24 says, “Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.”

Do people have a free will to accept Christ?  Yes.  Romans 10:13 says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. “  Revelation 22:17 says, "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”

Why does God allow people to live who He knows are going to reject Him all their lives?  Before we jump to conclusions that God only allows them to live to be stumbling blocks to others, we must realize that we do know what God thinks, unless He tells us.  Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

This is what God says about why He lets people live.  2 Peter 3:8-9 says, "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”  

We do not really understand much about God’s love, and patience, and longsuffering toward people, because we are selfish, and impatient with people that do not quickly do what we want them to do.

The bottom line is that we are selfish, and sinful, and love ourselves more than we love others.  God is different than that.  God is love.  1 John 4:8 says, “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”

To further your question, “Why would God place the sins of the whole world upon His Son, and not just the sins of those who would end up receiving Christ?”  1 John 2:1-2 says, "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

The answer is, “Because God truly loves the ‘whole world’—even those who will never accept Him.”  John 3:16-17 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

If only we truly loved people as much as God does, and wanted them to be saved, as much as God does.                     

 

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