I won the lottery and invested the money, I am now a billionare.
I drive my very expensive car to the shady side of town and pick up a street prostitute (total depravity).
She asks "Why did you pick me out of all these other girls?" I respond "No particular reason, just did" (unconditional election).
She asks "Can one of my girl friends come?" I reply, "No, I am only taking you" (limited atonement)
I share with her "I am not interested in what you have to sell, rather I am here to make you a offer you can't refuse". I explain "It will mean a change of life style for you, but I am offering to be your husband and make you my wife, all that I have will be yours". (irresistible grace).
She exuberantly accepts, but confesses "But what if I fall back into my old lifestyle." I reassure her "I will always be with you and have many servants to protect and watch over you" (perseverance of the saints).
It's not a perfect illustration, but let's see what I can do here.
1. She hasn't done every bad thing possible, but she is still totally in love with her line of work and believes it's the most satisfying option in life.
2. Perhaps a better answer would be, "Because I love you."
3. You will take others, yes, but you didn't pay their pimp for all of them and who is coming is ultimately up to you.
4. You tell her, "I know you love prostituting yourself, binge drinking, and multi-day benders, but I have been changing your heart, and you now see that not only will that not satisfy you, but that if you truly want to be happy, you will seek your satisfaction in me. We both know you needed someone to buy you back from your pimp, and I will help you to trust that you are truly free from prostitution forever.
5. "Not only was there an original change in your heart that caused you to come with me, but I will continue changing your heart to cause you to love your old habits less and love me more.
6. "This isn't really about you though. This is about bringing myself more glory."
I enjoyed reading your additions, however your last line took me by surprise : "This isn't really about you though. This is about bringing myself more glory."
Right this very minute I don't know how to respond, except that is not how I see the "Character of God". Perhaps I have misinterpreted?
Tulip is perfectly capable of speaking for himself, but I'll jump in anyway. I think he's right about #6. Nothing in this life is about us. We were created for God's glory and we live and breath for His glory. And I think we see that displayed over and over again in the Bible. One example is that of worship and sacrifice. We're called to worship God first and give to Him first before taking care of anything of our own. Like with Job: he realized that, despite losing everything, it was still all about bringing glory to God. He knew that was his purpose, and his response to tragedy was to fall to the ground in worship and praise the Lord's name. Another example is the sacrifices of Noah when he stepped off the Ark. He had a gazillion things to be doing; yet, glorifying God was foremost. It came first. David is another example; when his baby boy died, he worshiped. Bringing glory to God is to be our first response; always; no exceptions.
Those who are true believers realize that we are absolutely nothing in light of who He is. The only merit we have is in completely denying ourselves and submitting fully to Him. That, in essence, is what it is to glorify God: to empty out everything that you are and let Him penetrate every part of you.
I don't see anything in Scripture that is contrary to that. God certainly didn't create us to delight in our sinful nature and play around. We all glorify something. If you're not glorifying God, than you're glorifying yourself and Satan. God didn't create us for the latter!
I agreed with 100% of what you said. What I meant by my statement about the "Character of God" is that I do not see God as a "Glory Hound" I don't see that as character trait of God.
I see God as both~He is 100 per cent all about us and desires the glory because he is the Glory. But He does not demand it until the day every knee shall bow and confess.
To say that God is never about us is an oxymoron to me... if that is what Tulip and Pixy are saying?
When my parents gave me gifts, birthday parties, made me go to school, disciplined me, spanked me, made my favorite meals and loved and held me when I was sick (my mom did)...... I can't fathom them or her saying, "this is all about me, not you."
John 3:16-" For God so LOVED the world that he gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life."
Unconditional Election limits the Sovereignty of God by limiting Him to only one method of choice. God is Sovereign, He can choose the elect how ever He pleases.
What's so wrong with God being a "glory hound"? We were created to glorify God, so the only way we can be truly satisfied if he is most glorified in our lives. Our satisfaction and his glory are intricately woven together.
"Unconditional Election limits the Sovereignty of God by limiting Him to only one method of choice. God is Sovereign, He can choose the elect how ever He pleases."
You're gonna have to expand on that because as it stands, it really doesn't make sense. It kind of sounds like one of those, "If God was all powerful, he'd be able to microwave a burrito so hot that even he can't eat it," sayings.
Unconditional election is like saying God can only use the microwave to heat a burrito, he is not allowed to use a broiler, a oven, a pan on the stove top, or the dash of your truck on a sunny day to heat a burrito.
It limits God to one method of choosing the elect, (unconditional).
To answer the previous post:
"What's so wrong with God being a "glory hound"? We were created to glorify God, so the only way we can be truly satisfied if he is most glorified in our lives. Our satisfaction and his glory are intricately woven together."
As for "Glory Hound", it denotes a sense of selfishness. God is anything but selfish. If you don't mind I would like to tweak the last half of your post to further illuminate my meaning:
We were created to have relationship with God, so the only way we can be truly satisfied is if he is most glorified in our lives. Our satisfaction and his glory are intricately woven together in relationship.
OR
We were created to glorify God. The only way we can be truly satisfied is through intimate relationship with Him. Our satisfaction and his glory are intricately woven together.
