Bryant, that is about the best explanation I have ever heard on this topic. It is wery well explained and clearly laid out. I agree with you. You sir have a blessed day. Congratulations on becoming the President of the Sourthern Baptists, this can either be a blessing or a curse, it will be up to you which. I will be praying for you.

thank you God for your mercy!i love you:)

We all love John 3:16. All we need to do to get the full picture is read on. John 3:18 says,
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
The Gospel According to John was the first book of the Bible I ever read, at age 11 or 12. It's still my favorite. It goes so deep into my heart and soul. I suspect that I am not unique in this regard.

"...God can't forgive..."

I thought God could do anything. Guess not.

Eric! Welcome back! It's not a question of God's ability, but about the nature of sin. God is holy (sacred, perfect) while we are not. When we reject His Son, we are rejecting the chance to be like him (holy)and to have our sins erased. When this happens God's holiness and our sinful nature just don't mix (think of metaphorical oil and water) which then causes separation from God. That was a good question by the way :)

Thank you Lord for forgiving ALL who accept Your gift of grace through Christ.

"When we reject His Son, we are rejecting the chance to be like him (holy)and to have our sins erased."

Reading the Old Testament, I have zero desire to be like him. Personally, I think I'm the better man.

That's true. Most Christians are willfully ignorant of the OT God. Or they make excuses for him, like a battered wife might do.."he really loves me."

But responding to Sonia- if I can forgive someone who has wronged me even tho they never apologized- I think God probably can too.

I have no reason to make excuses for God. God is God, and I am not. If you think that we are nothing more than matter in motion, then none of that will be meaningful in any way, as would be the case with most content on this devotion.

Bryant used the word "can't". I don't know if scripture does as far as whether God can forgive someone who is unrepentant. However, it is true that God can't compromise on certain things that are specific to his nature, just like he can't make a square circle. The important thing, Erik, is that God does choose to forgive. He asks very little from us. Even if we reject him daily, call him names and ridicule those who follow him, he still forgives if we have a change of heart and reach out to him.

I am glad that unlike God, I CAN forgive anyone who has wronged me, even if they never ask.

I would hate to only be able to do what's in my 'nature'.

Unfortunately, Erik, it is our nature that is the problem.

No Ricky, it's God's nature. You are the ones saying "God can't forgive if you reject him." You guys shouldn't be so hard on yourselves as human beings, and I'd imagine that everyone here is morally better than the jealous, petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak of the OT, who also just happens to be an ethnic cleanser.

So go easy on yourselves. Is this watch religion teaches you to be like?

And again, we are once again hearing more of the "God can do this, God can do that" kind of thinking, all while we do NOT know the mind of God.

watch=what

And another thing, I get TIRED of religious people saying "Without God, your life has no meaning,...you are random molecules in motion." Not that God exists, he doesn't, but IF he did, aren't you still just a bag of molecules anyhow? How does that change anything?

There is no god, or gods, yet my life seems to have plenty of meaning, at least for me anyhow. It's sad you guys need to believe in imaginary people to envoke justification for your existence, and to bring self-worth to yourselves.

p.s. Christians really have an adversion to this word 'random'.

Interesting, JCO, how you think you have the ability to know the mind of Christians. I happen to like the word "random". To me it is a word that can be used to glorify God in that He can take what we think of as random events and weave them all together to make something good come out of something bad. You do not have the current mind or heart to understand this but someday you might. Is it a random thing that you keep coming here to this sight and keep punching away at the Christian's beliefs? I know you think you are in control of what you are doing but you never know how God might use it for good. Still praying for you to be blessed with salvation and that you will in God's will and in God's way know of His great love for you. He is quite familiar with the disrespect you show to Him. I trust in Him to know what to do with it.

Why are you on this earth then? What is the purpose of you even being here? If you do feel you have a purpose to have been born how did that purpose come about from your birth? Just wondering why it is so much easier for you to think all these things "just happened."

"Why are you on this earth then?"

Why? Because my parents had sex 39 years ago, and his sperm merged with my mother's egg. Same reason any given spider is here.

"What is the purpose of you even being here?"

My purpose is to learn all I can, do well, be all that I can be, be good to others, love those around me, and to be successful. And hopefully have some fun along the way. Yours?

"If you do feel you have a purpose to have been born how did that purpose come about from your birth?"

I didn't have a purpose to be born, that was luck of the draw. But now that I'm here, might as well do good things with this life, hey?

"Just wondering why it is so much easier for you to think all these things "just happened." "

What things? This argument of the "prime mover", if this is what you are talking about, has been debunked over and over by philosophers, scientists, and by anyone who minds to think about it for 5 seconds.