Monday, May 01, 2017

God As Primary Relationship And Sovereign Authority

Responds to https://twitter.com/Polemic_Pigeon/status/729655592365658113
Re: "the Bible implores morality, but threatens non-compliance with the concept of 'Hell'", what might your perspective be regarding that?

Being "Saved" By Evangelistic Effort
To me, the Bible seems to suggest that the issue to which the term "save" refers is the extent to which God is not individuals' primary relationship and sovereign authority. To me, the Bible seems to also suggest that, at most, humans present that information, including the apparent potential to accept God as primary relationship and sovereign authority, but that God is the sovereign administrator of the God/human relationship.

Absence Of "Sin" Versus Absence Of "Free Will"
To me, the Bible seems to use the term "sin" to refer to (a) accepting a point of reference other than God as primary relationship or sovereign authority, (b) undesirable behavior that causes undesirable outcomes and results from such acceptance, and (c) the undesirable outcomes that result from such behavior.

Sin seems logically-suggested to be facilitated by free will, but absence of sin seems Biblically-suggested to result from the ubiquitous, voluntary choices of individuals to accept and maintain God as primary relationship and sovereign authority, rather than from God repossessing the range of free will that God seems Biblically-suggested to have granted humans.

Response to: https://twitter.com/theuntruegod/status/730376762710970368
To me, the Bible seems to suggest the key to optimal human experience is individuals' accepting God as primary relationship and sovereign authority. The extent to which human presentation of God detracts from that seems to constitute getting in humans' way of achieving optimal human experience.