"a BORING question?"

ok.. Direct to the point..

"How can so many love GOD without Him affecting freewill?"

[ROM]

I'm not really sure what you're asking, but why do you want God to limit our will?

what I mean is "how did he make all those people love him without affecting their free will...

I'm still quite unsure what you are asking. Why do you think God 'made' those people love him?

Was it not their own free-will that they are loving God?

So, what did god do to make all those people love him? hmm??!!!!

[psychoslice]

He caused fear, or should I say the scribes who wrote the so called bible caused fear, with fear you can control the masses.

So that settles it... God is only scaring us...

[psychoslice]

Originally Posted by jamesart7

So that settles it... God is only scaring us...

Yes the god of religion, as I also said, the god of the scribes, the god of the imagination.

A number of things lead to this love of God.

Fear that they won’t get into heaven, so their salvation depends on being the devoted subject. For those who believe in hell, immense love is not hard to justify for a deity who will insure that them eternal salvation from hellfire & brimstone. The belief that they are an empty vessel only able to hold God’s love leads to gratitude for this love for those as unworthy as they are. When a sense of self worth is stripped from us (as far as our spirituality goes) it is fairly easy to be vulnerable to this dynamic.

Never underestimate the power of being told thousands of times as a kid that one just does this. This is underscored by hymns that are sung 100s of times in church services such as ‘Jesus Loves Me’. These are designed to have a seemingly positive theme, but the underlying message is insidious.

“Jesus loves me! This I know, For the Bible tells me so; Little ones to Him belong, They are weak but He is strong.
(Chorus) Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so.

Jesus loves me! He who died, Heaven's gate to open wide; He will wash away my sin, Let His little child come in. Chorus

Jesus loves me! loves me still, When I'm very weak and ill; From His shining throne on high, Comes to watch me where I lie. Chorus

Jesus loves me! He will stay, Close beside me all the way; He's prepared a home for me, And some day His face I'll see. Chorus

16 times in just this one hymn one would sing that Jesus loves them. This is very strong reinforcement.

Note the constant theme of our being inherently flawed in ‘wash away my sin’ & weak in ‘Little ones to Him belong, They are weak but He is strong.’ The constant theme that permeates EVERYTHING is we are horribly flawed, utter unable & powerless to take care of our own spiritual needs ('He's prepared a home for me') being such weak humans & soooooo loved by Jesus/God despite our being such sinners. The message of our not being OK is really clear & omnipresent. The huge difference between us & God/Jesus/Heaven is always emphasized. We are continually told that Jesus/God loves us, so how could we not love them in return????

It is always useful to consider the context in which the Bible & Christianity was birthed. The Roman empire commissioned Bibles to co-opt the new Christian religion & dissolve the older Pagan ones that were more problematic in some ways as they were more decentralized than Christianity. By centralizing Christianity via the Vatican it was very easy for the merged religious-political organization of the Roman government to control the populace. The Romans regularly co-opted the religion of those they conquered making it the official state religion in order to take control of the conquered people’s religion.

While the emperor was savvy enough to make the claim that the Vatican was autonomous this was laughable. The Roman emperor took the position that he was just the ENFORCER of God’s word which was set separately (supposedly) by the Vatican. For many 100s of years this merged religion-government allowed the authorities to capriciously & regularly change the definition of heresy to justify rounding up potential political dissidents.

[Miss Hepburn]

Fear of God is ridiculous, in my opinion and experience.
Those fear-based religions have it wrong.
Those fear-based pastors have it wrong.
Any fear of God in the Bible, sorry -all wrong.

God is Pure Love.

I do not know how my brothers and sisters can love God when they have not experienced Him or have the Old Testament to rely on telling stories of my Father being a murderer and such.

BUT, I do know how you can do nothing BUT love Him when you get a taste of Him.
You are struck with such a Magnificent All Emcompassing Love that surpasses all understanding;
The breadth and height and depth and length of which I have only gotten the smallest glimpse
and I am changed forever wanting more.
Unless one experiences It for themselves - they can not imagine what many are talking about.

And we are not utterly flawed - nor are we these horrible sinners!! That's nonsense.
Those that believe this about themselves are incorrect.
Or are terribly flawed.