Since we apparently have so many self-professed experts on God's love, I have three issues to raise to challenge your childish Santa Claus view of God. I would dearly love to hear the reply of all FWs! My challenges consists of three primary passages which deal with
Christ did not pray for all men w/o exception for whom he allegedly died; Christ did not make any post-resurrection appearances to the non-elect; and Christ never knew the non-elect even though it's alleged he loved them all and died for them all. Let's look at each of these briefly in turn.
1. Christ Did Not Pray for the Non-Elect of This World
John 17:9
9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
NIV
A rather strange and bizarre attitude coming from one who loves all w/o exception. Why wouldn't Jesus pray for all w/o exception?
2. Christ Hid Himself From the Non-Elect After His Resurrection
John 14:15-24
15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, "But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?"
23 Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
NIV
Jesus meticulously avoided revealing himself to the world of non-elect -- to those "of the world". He limited his post-resurrection appearances to only his chosen ones (1Cor 15:3-8), which again is quite strange to say the least if FWT is true! Why wouldn't the "Savior of all men" w/o exception, who doesn't want anyone on the planet to perish, appear to the non-elect? Instead Christ appeared to only those who had saving knowledge of Him. He appeared to those whom He and his Father loved -- to those in whom He and his Father took up their abode! Jesus no more appeared to the ungodly than he and his Father indwelt the non-elect.
3. Christ Never Loved Those Whom He Never Knew
Matt 7:21-23
21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23 Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
NIV
This passage is King of Bizarre if FWT is true. The first very odd and "quirky" thing we see in this text is that Jesus didn't condemn these people because they didn't know Him (although this is true)-- but because He never knew them. Really strange when we consider passages like Rom 1:18ff wherein Paul teaches that the unregenerate suppress the truth they knew about God in their unrighteousness; for they did not desire to retain God in their knowledge. Or even from an OT perspective when the prophet told Israel that they should boast in their understanding and knowledge of the Lord (Jer 9:23). But yet...here we are -- straight from the Savior's lips: He will tell the non-elect evildoers on the last day, "I NEVER knew you. Depart from me you evildoers".
On the other hand, Paul reminded the Galatians that while they indeed "know God", he quickly reminded them that they had this saving knowledge because God knew them first (Gal 4:9). In fact, Paul took this idea even further when he stated that "the man who loves God is known by God" (1Cor 8:3). And this teaching harmonizes beautifully with all three of the primary passages quoted herein!
Since the hearts of unregenerate sinners are evil (Mat 7:11; Mik 10:18, etc.) and the mind set on the flesh is hostile towards God and incapable of pleasing God (Rom 8:7-8), we can better understand where Jesus is coming from in Mat 7. When he said, "I never knew you"...he's saying essentially I never had a personal covenant relationship with you. You were total strangers to me! Christianity, after all, is all about God restoring fallen mankind's personal relationship with Himself through the medium of covenants, which also is the Doctrine of Reconciliation (cf. Gen 3:15 for a great example). Since there was never a covenant relationship between Christ and the condemned in Mat 7, this means there was never a covenant of love between Christ and the evildoers. Besides who can love what or who has never been known by them? Is there any command in the bible to love all men w/o exception? Or is the command to love our neighbor predicated on us having some knowledge, some kind of relationship with family, friends or even strangers (cf. Parable of the Good Samaritan) with whom we actually come into personal contact?
So, when Christ said "I never knew you", he's really saying *I* never entered into a personal covenant relationship with evildoers. This is why the emphasis is on who Christ doesn't know since all the covenants are initiated by God and He sovereignly chooses with whom he wants to enter into a personal, covenant relationship (again, Eve being the very first example of this in scripture). Since there is no covenant relationship, no covenant of love with the the unregenerate, non-elect, wicked, then it's not possible that God can love anyone he never knew. God knows intimately and personally, only those who love him! And God loves only those who love Him and His Son and are obedient (Jn 14:21; 16:27; Rom 8:28; Ex 20:6; Deut 7:9-11; Ps 25:10; 37:28; 86:5, etc.). Also a major characteristic of God's love is its eternal nature (Psalm 136). Therefore, Jesus never loved the evildoers in Mat 7. I'll take the clear, plain, explicit statements in scriptrure as to who God loves over all the eisegeis of FWs -- with texts like Jn 3:16, for example.
You FWs might as well believe in tooth fairies and Santa Clauses since you believe that God loves all mankind w/o exception. Jesus most certainly had a very odd way of manifesting his love toward the non-elect. He didn't pray for them, he didn't show himself to them, and he never knew them.
But what I do vehemently deny is that it is the human volition of sinners that ultimately puts any of us in Christ. So...if you're feeling up to it, Mr.Blowhard, why don't you explain to us how Paul could have written what he did, since in your dark universe God's grace is ineffectual and man's volition is effectual -- since God's grace only provides the opportunity for men to be saved whereas a sinner's "freewill" decision is what actually, finally and effectually puts him in Christ -- since the buck doesn't stop with God but stops with man whose "freewill" is the sole determinant of his eternal destiny?
