Easy question, if you know what a soul is.
Let’s look at it again.
Mind – God most definitely has a mind. He has thoughts, for sure, and says His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. After all, anyone who could think up this whole universe CAN think.
Will – God also surely has a will. Why else would Jesus tell us to pray, “Thy will be done.”? His Word tells us He is not willing that anyone be lost, for instance. Always good, He is.
Emotions – Yes, He has those, too. His Word expresses anger, pity, and joy, among several others.
So, He loves His creation, including us, and He hates sinners for messing it up.
Kinda puts Him in a bind — both loving and hating people.
But He sent a solution to the whole thing, a Way to reconcile His hatred and love.
Pretty great thinking. Awesome, in fact. He tells us: His Son co-signed on our debt.
We defaulted.
So He paid.
And that is the kind of personality He has, the kind of soul He has.
The kind of soul we join our souls to when we go His way.
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Oh boy … he hates too? Never thought too much about that … maybe that’s why i don’t fully pour myself into religion, at least in the traditional sense. I think of God as loving and accepting even those who are flawed. Mel
Yes, God is love & wrath, mercy & justice, generosity & jealousy, forgiving & condemning, Father & Judge…and all of His qualities are perfect, good, and holy in ways we cannot possibly understand.
We humans are so terribly flawed in the way we express those qualities that we can’t imagine wrath, jealousy, condemnation, judgment, etc as virtues of a holy God. And that is why He says His ways are far above our ways, His thoughts past finding out. Even when God expresses those qualities that we typically get wrong, He does so perfectly. All we can do is gape in wonder and exercise our faith.
I think that is why God counsels agains our anger–we just don’t know how to do it and our anger is so pitiful, we almost insult Someone Who really knows how to do it.
Happily, it also is true that His love is far beyond what we can imagine or copy.
Happily, He gives us the love to love WITH, so we have a hope of copying Him, there, at least.
Oh, I know, Mel. Before I turned to Him, I had problems with His total power over me, His total claim to me, His total right to pull it off, too. I am thankful I did not wait until too late to realize He has that power whether I submit myself to it, to Him, or not.
I found, though, that His mercy and pity toward me trump it all. When I was most desperate or scared, I would turn to Him and He jumped right ON my ridicuoous prayers and miraculously gave me what I requested, He was so eager for me to notice Him. It really was a big splash gift from Heaven. I never was sorry.
One thing that eased my mind about it all was all the ancient ones (tiny, frail grannies, etc.) who had lots of practice trusting Him, had such peace and joy. I knew a little ol’ lady who was given away by her parents (not given up for adoption, but just given away as a child–she remembers being dropped off!) She endured a childhood as a second-class person and grew up to be a wonderful gift to all who knew her. Then in her 80’s she was violently raped. (Well all rape is violent, but these nuts “ganged” up on her and had knives.) Did she lose her peace? Not a minute.
I don’t know much, but I do know God is good all the time. Even His hatred is beyond any goodness we could conjure up by ourselves.
And when I got to the bottom of my list of ones who might be the answer, He was there, waiting . . . and I will never turn back. He’s my life.
I always thought he loved the sinner but hated the sin…
Hi Amy!
That is a popular saying and a popular belief, but I don’t find it in the Bible. I mean, He does love people, all people, but He hates sinners. That is His reason for sending Someone to break the power of sin and set us free. But so many of us love our chains and refuse to be freed, insist on going the “way that seemeth right to a man…” We need more fear of God, or rather, we need to fear God, period. So few do.
I need to catch up on your posts…this is meaty stuff. And I love it.
Thanks so much! Welcome back! I know you’ve been so busy . . . 🙂