Is God a God of Judgment or Love?

Is God a God of Judgment or Love?



For many people, I believe because they have grown up under a “Christianity of Religion” (Not family) in which they have heard so much about the Judgment of God and little about His love, they have in fact either shied away from or denied altogether that there will be a Judgment Day.

NOTE: My views are based on the Word of God, the Bible. And although I know that there could be an argument raised concerning my doctrinal persuasions or own views and opinions based on my interpretation I would still like to point out one fact: That if my views are in fact somewhat distorted or seemingly unlearned, let it be; but whether or not God will judge every man, let not that issue be debated. For the Bible is very clear that there will one day be a great Judgment Day where God will judge every man. (Person)

In the book of Revelation when God judged every person, he said there were TWO BOOKS OPENED. Keep in mind … he said “books,” specifying there were two. (Rev. 20:11-15; 21:27)

One was the Lamb’s Book of Life, and the other was the book which the works of man were recorded, and he said, if your name wasn’t first written in the Lamb’s book of life then you had no place in heaven, period. So having your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life is a prerequisite to being able to abide in heaven and with God. (The God who is the Judge)

I will stop here, and look at another attribute before I get further into God’s Judgment, and only because there might be an argument raised that I am dwelling too much on God’s Judgment when the Bible also says, “God is Love.” (I John 4:8)

But here’s an important truth we must take into effect: Although we may be uncomfortable with the fact that God is judgment and that He will one day judge every man, we CANNOT take one thing the Bible says and disregard the other.

Case in point: The love of God.

I feel that what has happened with our conception of this attribute is partly based upon that fact that we can’t determine how to mix one thing the Bible says with another. We of course as human beings have finite minds and this principle is hard to be understood. It’s hard for us to comprehend that a God which the Bible says is “Love,” is also a judge who will (According to the Bible) judge every man.

So what usually happens? We have an imbalance.

One party throws out God’s love per say, and embraces His judgment. Stating that God will judge you, so you better cross every “t” and dot every “i” in this life, or He’ll cast you into a lake of fire forever and ever!

I think we could affectionately call this theology a “Fire and Brimstone,” method to salvation. By the way, I am not agreeing with this theology either, because it causes a person to almost go crazy trying to do everything by a Law Which Man/not God has conjured up as being truth. Consequently this way to life totally disregards God’s love, mercy, true judgment and faith.

But, let’s look at the other side of the coin. What happens when someone really finds out that God is love and tries to intellectually understand Him based on the fact that the Bible says, “God is Love?”

A total opposite effect
So now, everyone is saved … “because how can a God who is love send anyone to a place referred to in the Bible as ‘A Lake of Fire,’ for all eternity?”

It is intellectually preposterous to think that a God of love could do so. I agree. But my agreement is only based on one variable, and that variable is if we take one thing the Bible says and hold it above another, and in some cases disregard the other altogether.

Again, - intellectualism, the human being’s finite mind and life’s experiences - These things were never a prerequisite to obtaining eternal life.

I want to bring this to a conclusion by saying this: Perhaps God is both, judgment and love. And perhaps we have heard both a “Fire and Brimstone,” message and a lifestyle to live based on innumerous laws you must uphold, and a total “Love,” message, where you can live anyway you please and God grants you passage into heaven regardless. …Honestly, I’ll tell you, for me it would be easier intellectually to agree with the “Love,” and leave out the judgment.

There is much more to this “Teaching,” or “Blog,” but I just wanted to open this subject a bit … more will come later.

Let me leave you with this thought. Jesus was the physical embodiment of God in human form. He is Love, for He and His Father are one.

Look at how Jesus corrected the Pharisees

Matthew 23:23
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

Now the Pharisees understood the Bible through what we could call being “Book-smart,” but they didn’t really KNOW the God of the Bible.

Notice Jesus didn’t speak against the Law which God had given to Israel; He spoke at the Pharisee’s interpretation of it … and NOTE: Jesus spoke against them, not because of what the Law said, but because they left out the most important parts, being judgment, mercy and faith.

Okay, now we see something. These guys were overbalanced, and would probably be over on the side of the “Fire and brimstone,” theology. But they left out the important parts.

Even they couldn’t keep it themselves, and that’s why they were hypocrites. …By the way, Jesus several times pointed out that they by “Their own traditions,” made the law of God of none effect. In other words, they added stuff to the Law, which made it impossible for people to uphold. So they left out the important parts and added parts based on their own traditions … interesting. Living under this would make anyone want to tuck and run and omit the Law altogether.

My point being, God is judgment but He is also mercy and faith, which encompasses love. But Jesus wasn’t saying the law was evil.

He wasn’t saying that they people of that dispensation shouldn’t live by the Ten Commandments, which for us in our dispensation would be our moral compass which is our born again spirit. He was saying in essence that God knows your heart.

There is a difference between someone walking into God and wanting more of Him and someone who only wants to FEEL safe and adopts a doctrine of “Love,” trying to convince themselves that what they do in life means nothing.

I want you to look at this example and only participate in it as an experiment. Look for yourself and judge based on a balanced force of both judgment and love. (Both being needed)

1) Scenario One:
A man, who loves God yet is full of faults and shortcomings, yet does not justify his downfalls or lifestyle and struggles in life yet he hates the sin that His spirit detests.

2) Scenario Two:
A man who wants “Fire Insurance,” against a day he’s heard about called the Judgment Day, and accepts a doctrine that God is love and therefore could never judge him to eternal damnation, and justifies his lifestyle of sin (As is described in the Bible, Old and New) He has never repented nor wants to, keeps his lifestyle and continues to walk into pleasure and the things of the world.

Whose heart is right with God based on the fact that the Bible says there will be a Day of Judgment (Rev. 20) and the fact that God is love. (I John 4:8)
(Don’t make this harder than it is. Walking with God was never designed to be an intellectual walk. He made His salvation and fellowship available to even the most unlearned person.)

Why Do You Struggle with Condemnation?

Why do you struggle with condemnation?

It’s because you have no peace.

Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace: Having your feet “Shod,” or “Secure,” in your shoes, is what gives you traction or footing in the heat of the battle. (Whether you know it or not, you are in a battle right now)

We feel condemned so much of the time because we think that we’ve really “Missed,” God and somehow “Can’t make it back.” We somehow get a picture of this imagined spirituial landmark that we are certain we "Should be at by now," and so we miss peace.

Without peace, a person will get into a mode of striving, wanting to be at some predetermined “Place,” that they feel they "should be by now" in their walk with God. The only trouble is … this reasoning opens a huge door that allows frustration to come in. Because now, according to your perception, you are so far from where you feel you should be that you begin a mode of striving.

Striving: Trying to compensate for a spiritual position by frantically “Seeking God.” (Its equivalent to cramming the night before a big exam. It’s usually not a pretty sight.)

We forget, God is always with us, whether we are doing what’s right or not. Our position in God is not lost simply because we fall or fail. What happens though - as we move in our journey – is the inner things in our “Being” are exposed. We are only tempted by our own lusts. (James 1:14) This means if you succumb to temptation, you really had a capacity to fall to it the whole time. Adequate pressure was simply applied to your vice.

So if you’ll look at what you feel is “So unforgiveable,” in yourself, all you are seeing is a capacity that God saw from day one. It didn’t seem to offend Him then … you just made it to a place in Him where the Devil your enemy felt it was time to test you and you failed.

Big Wooptie-do. We have lost the whole point if we think that falling and falling and falling again is utter failure. No … even in the natural, a baby when growing up will fall. (You could say they failed) Even as babies and young children are learning and developing they make mistakes and “Fail,” …but not really. Because who they are in their developmental stages is only learning, and failure is part of the learning process.

I feel that peace can come through understanding. Hopefully you have some peace to keep standing. Step back and assess the situation out of peace and understanding.

~Johnny

Excerpt:

Question: What is the meaning of the saying, “The righteous man falls seven times?”

Answer: The verse you are thinking of is Proverbs 24:16, which says, “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again…” The point of this proverb is that even a righteous man can fall due to the weakness of the flesh.

Even the most devout and committed believers can sometimes fall short of the glory of God. But the important point in this verse is the part you left out: “and rise again.” The unrighteous man falls and does not get back up. He sees his failure only from the human perspective. He is trusting in his own righteousness for his salvation instead of looking to the grace of God found in Jesus.

In contrast, the righteous man may fall (even seven times), but because he is depending on God’s grace and not his own good conduct, he gets back up and continues to live for God. The real problem for every backslider is that he has given up on the grace of God. How sad!

-Excerpt from “A Glorious Church” website (Question and Answer Section)