Sorry this is so long, but I've got to admit that I agree with Josh here. The there comes a point that you have to just accept that God is God. The way He made this whole deal is acceptance first, understanding later.Consider also, that the whole point to life is relationship with Him, which is expressed through love for others. Choice exists, but for most of us, it needs a little redefining. Choice is about willing participation in God's plan. A big poblem with modern evangelism, is that it's tainted the statement "God has a plan for your life." Modern evangelism has painted that to imply the importance of the believer, as in "God needs you to get His work done". The emphasis is always on "His plan". It's a matter of, "Here's what's happening. You're either in or out."Consider the following hypothetical situation. God chooses for Person A to reevive the church, and for Person B to display His judgement on a nation: Person A grows up in a satanist family. He spends his lifetime manipulating people for power, and causing enemies to bicker until they've destroyed each other. He makes it his personal project to descredit the pastor of the local church, ruining every marriage and disbanding the church along the way. He joins the church, quickly rising to leadership, due to his "supernatural abilities" and spreads ever subtle heresies and successfully seduces the married women with subtle flattery, realising that their husbands have been starved of affection. His efforts lead to a church split. Half of those who leave are the result of the pastor buying into the man's lies, half again the result of hurts caused by lives lived in accordance to the teachings, while of those who remain, all but two are loving it, utterly besmitten by this seducer. The two that remain see the lies, and that leads them into their Bible, to search for truth (it's amazing how decption is one of the best catalysts for seeking the truth). The two begin to warn others, only to be heckled, and accused of being "devisive". As they warn, they discover each other, and begin to meet to pray. Then the unthinkable happens, the seducer is arrested by the Spirit of God in a "Damascus road" type experience. He repents and confesses to the pastor, and then dies in a car crash on his way home. The pastor now begins to meet with the "two" and as they study and pray together, truth begins to come forth in his preaching, as he weighs truth, long neglected. May are saved, and the church grows to ten times it's previous size, however not all in the same place, but several other churches are planted, mostly on the foreign field.Person B, on the other hand, grows up in a God fearing family. Early on in his life an angel appears to him, revealing God's purpose for him. The thought of this fears him, and so he seeks the counsel of other believers. He receives conflicting advice from different "christians", eventually settling on the angel being satan coming as an "angel of light" to deceive him. After all, God is a loving God, and any God who would judge a nation isn't loving in his book.Like many, the existance of God is successfully disproven in college, but still this strange vision from his youth haunts him. He decides to go on to become a peace activist. He goes to Africa and deciding to follow "Christ's example" he helps orphans by improving living conditions and providing education. One student shows promise, and so he takes him under his wing, ensuring that he takes up a peaceful ethic and doesn't fall for the notion of a "vengeful God", like his parents. The child grows and the kind man dies. However, with his death, aid to the childs village diminshes, and the children begin to starve again. The child is now a man, and he finds refuge in a Jihad training camp, where he is converted to Islam, and takes a special hatred to the "American who gave him false hope"'s nation. He moves to America, and begins a terrorist cell, which spwans and multiplies, until their are cells in every major city. Within a few years, there are dirty bombs going off everywhere, and the nation is left saking themselves, "Why has God forsaken us?"The question is, which one deserves hell? The Person A or Person B? The answer is simple, both. However, which one will be in heaven? One would assume only the first.Though the first dedicated his life to cruelty and distruction, and the second to benevolence, the first led to many being saved from hell, while the second led to many deaths. However, in the end, God had his way, regardless of the participant's actions.The first man entered into heaven in shame, while the second entered hell in glory.Sin is simply misused freedom. God judges the heart, based upon our works, in the light of his word. Judas had already rebeled against God several times in his life, by stealing money, and judging Christ's actions and motives. I believe that if he hadn't, he would have "dipped the sop" with tears in his eyes, as he knowingly fulfilled God's intended plan for his life.Salvation merely brings us into a right relationship with God. His plan for us never changes, it's now simply about whether we fulfill it, or He fulfils it through us. Never forget, salvation is never about us anyway.:-)
