A person looking at MSLN, particularly the natural theological side ("MSL"), might see in it support for universalism. Why couldn't a God who loved and valued us wait as long as it took for us to freely repent? Or just make us repent, draw us irresistibly?
If God could draw us irresistibly, then it would be he who was loving him, not us. We would be untouched. So we have to go through the process of temptation (and anti-temptation, have to willingly give in to God as much as we have to willingly reject what tries to pull us away from him), in order for us to be the ones who were in tune with him.
Perhaps God can wait long enough for each of us to repent. He can wait as long as the duration of the Millennium. If each of us irrevocably choose him (the opposite of hardening) at or before the end of the Millennium, then there will be the same outcome as universalism.
But God can't wait forever, because sin is something unbearable to him, and something that is unbearable can't be borne forever. Likewise sin is what is unacceptable to him, and if he never rejected it, it would be acceptable to him.
No comments:
Post a Comment