Big Questions, Round 2 (Part Two): God's Intervening Grace

Questions:

1) You said that the wicked are people who directly oppose God at every point of their lives and are hardened against him. Don't all people act like this unless dad intervenes?

2) Sometimes like in Romans 9 the Bible says that God hardens people's hearts. So is everyone who will never belong to dad "wicked,” or is it just certain people that the Bible  says God especially hates? (For example, false teachers and people who stir up dissension among Christians)

So are you saying that dad loves everyone, but chooses only to adopt some people?

Answers:

As far as your questions, I think you’re definitely thinking and praying hard through some really deep topics, and that’s awesome.  I think as far as the Romans 9 part, you’re right on – Romans 1 and 8 talk about the same topics.  I think God uses us like clay and uses us for his glory, whether we show his mercy or his justice.  To answer your first question, I do believe that people are bad until God steps in and changes their heart (see Ephesians 1-2).  That said, there are places where certain people will have a worse time than others – like people who lead children astray (Jesus speaks about this in Matthew 18:6), people who teach wrong things, etc. (see 2 Peter 2:1).

I definitely think that God has a love for everyone because they are part of what he made and they bear his image.  But when we (meaning humanity in the Garden of Eden) rebelled against God and rejected him we were broken, dead, and separated from him (Romans 5).  Then we were all rejected because of that rebellion and pride in exalting our own wants and reasoning above God’s revelation.  And then when God showed us his grace and mercy, he chose some to come back to him as an example of his grace in our lives.  That’s why we live everyday for him – because without him helping us on a constant basis, we wouldn’t be anything other than broken, sinful people without hope, rescue, or faith in anything.  And that’s also why every part of our lives that is great and glorious is a result of his grace, because it’s all due to him ultimately.  So when we see awesome successes, it’s all for him.  And when we mess things up, we can still thank him and rest in Christ because our failure doesn’t mean he doesn’t love us – quite the opposite... He loves us more and loves us in spite of ourselves because Christ Jesus stepped in on our behalf and took our punishment on when he went to the cross to bear our sins and give us his obedience and righteousness.