Help! I'm at a crossroads in my faith!

[rosered]

I think what you are fearing is the consequences of balancing love with justice and mercy. God must be just, yet He also must be merciful. An easy fix often does not reach the core of the problem. Jesus had to be the sacrifice for our sins. No one else could truly do this act of love. He was God, so He was the perfect sacrifice, but, He was man, so He could represent us. He was the perfect sacrifice, and the last need for sacrifice. His death satisfied both mercy and justice.

God so understands the delicate balance between the two. We must also remember that to God, death is not a bad thing. It says in the Bible,

Luke 20:
37Even Moses demonstrates that the dead are raised, in the passage about the burning bush. For he calls the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive."

And, remember Paul's words, that nothing can separate us from the love of God.....not even death.

D.

We also need to remember that Jesus came to show us that there will be trouble for us, in this world, but that, He has conquered the world. He counts every hair on our head.

  Beautiful truth !!   :HeartThrob:        :dsunny:

[GodIsLove]

I wanted to go through and highlight the responses that resonated, but there were so many! This is what true uplifting, spirit-led fellowship looks like.

[Shadrak-Daniel]

 :iagree:

Thank you everybody for all the information and avalanche of help and prayers!  :friendstu: :cloud9:

I only wish i could feel this comfortable to speak my mind to the church i go to but sadly they are ET soooo...  :sigh:

I still praise God that He found it that i will be capable to bear the knowledge of His true purpose without forsaking Christ like so many other Christians did soon after or even later after finding out about the plan to restore every single human soul! :Pray:

And am actively praying for this ministry to increase and have its own building of worship and maybe even expand further in Yeshua's Name! :Pray:

I'm just saddened that every time a Universal Reconciliation church was coming up in the past, it quickly faded into forgetfulness as its founders would die and nobody would take over...
And how the majority of older UR churches joined with the Unitarian church which has nothing in it but mysticism and deception pointing that Jesus is not the only way to Life and God...  :doh:
I pray for those Unitarians too!  :Pray:

[Shev]

When you are tempted to doubt the love of God, ask where love comes from? Even the basest of people often have family who they love unconditionally. Where does this unconditional love come from, this love that would cause us to die for the sake of a spouse, a child, a family member? Did the human race, tarnished as we are, invent this love, or conceive of it? By no means. When we experience unconditional love within our hearts, we verify that this love exists, and when we know it exists, we know it came from somewhere. And deep down, we all know where it came from, because love is not a thing, Love is God, and God is Love.

I have a daughter who is not yet two. She is often upset with me because I insist on a course of action (not walking towards the busy road, making her go to bed, and so forth) that seems unfair to her childish eyes. If she could talk eloquently by now, I dare say she would struggle to believe I always love her, because so much of her life does not go according to her assumptions, and I often intervene in a way which seems harsh and pointless. But little does she know just how much she is the apple of my eye, and how a smile from her lights up my heart!

Similarly to the above, many of us have read exciting stories in which, should the characters have become aware of the author halfway through, they would have cursed that author for the predicament they have been placed in, little guessing of the wonderful finale that they are heading towards.

Love has been revealed to us. Truly revealed. God was revealed in Jesus Christ. Christ is revealed in us. This love is a fountain of beauty that shall well up to the healing of the very world. Do not doubt this wondrous, joyful reality. God shall wipe away every tear - think of the imagery. He will not just "stop us crying". He will wipe away tears, which (though symbolic), denotes intimacy and compassion. Let us face all things like flint for the sake of this Love, for this God, for this Christ, knowing that we are but partway through the story, and like my little sweet daughter, we still do not understand the way in which our Father is harmonizing the events of our lives. Should we see the end now, we would slap our heads and say "Of course, Father, of course! Of course you love us all, and were weaving all things towards the ultimate blessing of mankind!"