A  HAPPY  PONDERING
It wasn't for a very long period of time but it was a period of time not that long ago that I bought into the belief that God was a wrathful punishing God and was waiting to punish his precious child for failing to ever even have had the chance to know him. This is so utterly unlike the very nature and essence and fullness and God-likeness of our God!!! But the belief is very hypnotic, it sucks people into all kinds of misunderstanding based on mistaken identity and it simply isn't true!
God is love! That's who he is! That's what he is! Anyone who has missed the mark and failed to grasp what God is and what God wants has simply misunderstood!!! How - I ask you how - can a loving God want to punish his own creation for having misunderstood? The answer is that he isn't out there just waiting to punish people for having missed the mark.
The most repulsive part of that wrong-minded religiosity is that people are actually congratulating themselves for being among the special chosen few who are going to make it when the time comes and all the rest of the people that they look down upon are going to sizzle and burn and never have any relief throughout all eternity in hell!!  They are so busy being thankful that they're not among those less fortunate ones who misunderstood and they're so busy being glad that they are above and beyond this horrible misapprehension that they have already slated people that they are sure will be numbered among the misfortunate (their own special enemies).That is sick!! They think they can scare people into repenting, i.e., thinking in their own private way, glued steadfastly to everything that is wrong about God everything that could not possibly be part of his divine nature! Imagine taking pride in being above those un-special, un-called, un-chosen?   burning forever in hell and you rejoicing that you're not one of them??? How in the world is that love? How in the world does that measure up to the standard of God?    God is love!  God  IS  love!   God is  LOVE !  .  GOD  is love!  .  GOD  IS   LOVE !!!!!
Turn from your Old Covenant thinking, your Old Covenant reading, your Old Covenant blaming and hating. We have a New Covenant now. Read all about  JESUS  and His New Covenant. There has been enough suffering in the world. God's glorious kingdom is unfolding before our very eyes. It's advancing ...everywhere ... and is unstoppable!  Perfection here and now!  The New Covenant is loving everyone to life!
rjs