[Vision2020] Reply to Ralph Nielsen--God Never Lies

[The Scimitar]

Mr. Nielsen, I'm sorry I did not see your post, and I also cannot always reply as
quickly as I'd like to, not that you asked me to.  The Scriptures you quoted, 
I Kings 22:23 and Ezekiel 14:9, were not shown in their whole context.  Both
these scriptures are in the context of discipline and punishment for sin.  God did
not lie, but permitted an evil spirit to exact punishment.  God can and does 
utilize evil at times for His own purposes.  The verses before Ezekiel 14:9
of that chapter are stating how idolatry will be punished.  God had warned the
people against it and told them to turn from it.  He told them what would happen
if they did not.  They refused to listen.  Evidently false prophets were prospering--
the people in general and their governmental leaders set a welcoming environment to be deluded.  Ezekiel 14:7-10 is concerning discipline and
 punishment for this sin.  Evidently, God will entice false prophets only in a
 qualified sense when an individual continually, willfully rejects His Word and 
admonitions.  God allows this continuance of deception, finally, so that the
individual's self-deception is complete; he's deceived by his own continual
obstinate self-will.  God has given us a free will.  When people willfully and
continually refuse the truth, He lets them pursue their own inclinations and 
gives them over to falsehood, pursuing sin and its consequences
(Ezekiel 20:39).  This is the wrath of abandonment in the two scriptures you
quoted and in Romans 1:18.  God has manifested Himself to us, but "And
even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over
to a debased mind,..." (Romans 1:28).  Also, see Romans 1:21.  "...and with
all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not 
receive the love of the truth that they might be saved.  And for this reason God
will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all
may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in
unrighteousness" (II Thessalonians 2:10-12)--these scriptures in II Thessalonians
are referring to "the" Anti-Christ, but is applicable here also.

As far as the scriptures you quote concerning virgins who are seduced or taken
by force--Exodus 22:15, 16 and Deuteronomy 22:28, 29--we are not Israel and
do not live under a theocracy.  Of course, those who do not believe in biblical
scriptures as the Word of God, in its plain sense, will probably find little 
meaning in this, but from the perspective of those who do believe as this, you
did you bring up something that needed clarification.  By the way, I do not 
believe you can "push" (nor should you, but it should be able to be presented)
Scripture on anyone--the conviction comes to one's heart--this is why there's 
no such thing as "forced conversion," those are contradictory terms; it would not
be a true conversion.

Kind regards,

<Scimitar>

 __________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20060614/64c19c37/attachment.htm