Loving but not liking

[nobspeople]

You can love someone without liking them. They may be a good person at heart, but you don't like how the talk to others, their political views, their style....whatever.

Can you love God without liking him?

You may be able to love God for what or who he is, but not like what he's done to people in the past (or what he's doing or allowing currently). Or not?

[JehovahsWitness]

Then, according to your logic above, it would not be possible for God to distinguish the people who freely love him from those who don't if the harm that occurs from their choices to commit evil actions were reduced by even the slightest amount.

How do you come to this conclusion? Biblically, God judges us by our choices not from the fallout from our choices. The whole principle of salvation equates to God mitigating the fallout of negative choices.

...God is claimed to have the capacity to judge people by their freely chosen thoughts alone, whether they act upon those thoughts or not.

Emphasis MINE

An omnipotent God, by defintion, has the capacity do anything he likes, whether or not he chooses to use that capacity any give time is another question.

... So, how do you reconcile those two ideas?

What two ideas. Unless you are asserting God does indeed choose to judge us for our thoughts rather than our actions, there is no conflict to "reconcile". Indeed I fail to see how the issue is even relevant. The question was about whether God can " distinguish the people who freely love him from those who don't " without causing harm, not how he judges those that make negative choices. Recognising a burglar is not the same as sentencing one.





JW

[bluegreenearth]

How do you come to this conclusion? Biblically, God judges us by our choices not from the fallout from our choices. The whole principle of salvation equates to God mitigating the fallout of negative choices.

So, if God judges us by our choices alone and not from the fallout resulting from our choices, then what would change from God's perspective if the fallout from our choices was just a little less harmful? For instance, if the fallout from Adam & Eve disobeying God included all the same tragedies humanity currently experiences except that natural disasters would never cause harm to anyone, would God still be able to judge people by their choices and would the principle of salvation still equate to mitigating the fallout of negative choices?

[Purple Knight]

Just for fun, let's throw in the claim that the god also has foreknowledge. If this doesn't change the type of test the god would use, would it change the need for the test to be carried out in full?

That's an interesting question and it might depend on the nature of right and wrong as it relates to the concept of Minority Report. (In a future where a special police unit is able to arrest murderers before they commit their crimes, an officer from that unit is himself accused of a future murder.)

Is it okay to reward people for things they only would do? Is it okay to punish people for things they never had a chance to avoid doing?

I don't have the answer to that.

[JehovahsWitness]

How do you come to this conclusion? Biblically, God judges us by our choices not from the fallout from our choices. The whole principle of salvation equates to God mitigating the fallout of negative choices.

So, if God judges us by our choices alone and not from the fallout resulting from our choices, then what would change from God's perspective if the fallout from our choices was just a little less harmful?

I don't know. I suppose since he doesn't enjoy seeing us suffer, he would be glad one pitfall would have been avoided.

To learn more please go to other posts related to...

FREE WILL, RESPONSIBILITY and ...ORIGINAL SIN

[1213]

...Does God have the ability to grant freewill to a soul that isn't occupying a human body, or is a human body required for a soul to have freewill? If we had been created as souls with freewill and existed as souls without physical bodies, would God still have the ability to distinguish the souls who freely love and obey him from the souls who don't?

I believe so, but then I don’t think we could experience this way what evil means.

[bluegreenearth]

...Does God have the ability to grant freewill to a soul that isn't occupying a human body, or is a human body required for a soul to have freewill? If we had been created as souls with freewill and existed as souls without physical bodies, would God still have the ability to distinguish the souls who freely love and obey him from the souls who don't?

I believe so, but then I don’t think we could experience this way what evil means.

I'm not understanding your response. Please elaborate.

[1213]

...Does God have the ability to grant freewill to a soul that isn't occupying a human body, or is a human body required for a soul to have freewill? If we had been created as souls with freewill and existed as souls without physical bodies, would God still have the ability to distinguish the souls who freely love and obey him from the souls who don't?

I believe so, but then I don’t think we could experience this way what evil means.

I'm not understanding your response. Please elaborate.

Ok, sorry. My answer to question “Does God have the ability to grant freewill to a soul that isn't occupying a human body, or is a human body required for a soul to have freewill?” is yes.

Also, I think God has ability to distinguish souls, even without physical body.

[bluegreenearth]

Ok, sorry. My answer to question “Does God have the ability to grant freewill to a soul that isn't occupying a human body, or is a human body required for a soul to have freewill?” is yes.

Also, I think God has ability to distinguish souls, even without physical body.

If God can achieve his objective for humanity without humans needing physical bodies, then what is the purpose of physical bodies?

[1213]

...
If God can achieve his objective for humanity without humans needing physical bodies, then what is the purpose of physical bodies?

That people can achieve what they want, which is, to know like God what evil is.

[brunumb]

...
If God can achieve his objective for humanity without humans needing physical bodies, then what is the purpose of physical bodies?

That people can achieve what they want, which is, to know like God what evil is.

That's a pretty useless purpose for our existence. Let's face it, God hasn't achieved anything. He hasn't even demonstrated a single one of the attributes we humans have given him. He is just a character in a lot of fairy tales drawn from the imaginations of people trying to explain the world they found themselves in.