Last week, our commuity group had some interesting discussion.  A question had been asked to one of the parents, “If God loves everyone, does he love Satan?”  Not knowing a good response, I decided to contact Matt, the lead minister at Crossroads.  He is well versed in matters such as these, especially considering he has a Master’s degree in Theology.

Come to find out, the Bible never states that God loves everyone.  It is a myth.  In fact, we can read that God does not love everyone in verses such as Psalm 47:5.  The wicked are his enemies, and He will deal with them justly.

God is love.  1 John 4:16states that very clearly.  This, however, is only one of His many characteristics.  Ignoring other characteristics could be considered idol worship.  By purposefully being ignorant, one can be in danger of creating a god you want to serve and not serving the one, true God.

God is wrathful.  God is just.  God is infinite.  God is merciful.  God is gracious.  The list can go on, but I am not 100% sure on all of the details.  You would think having a degree from a Bible college would help, but not always.

Because of my lack of knowledge concerning the character of God, I am prompted to do research on the subject.  I plan to start by reading a couple books that address the issue.  Jack Cottrell’s The Faith Once For All will be a well thought out, scholarly reading.  The other is Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll.  This is more of a light reading, but good material none-the-less (though I do not necessarily agree with his reformed theology).

I am excited to see where God takes me on this new study.  Hopefully, in the end (if there ever is an end) I will be able to better articulate the attributes of God the Creator.