Well, that’s what I get for trying to recall a Bible verse without having the Bible at hand! In the Gospel according to John, chapter 3, verse 36, John the Baptist is actually the one speaking about the Jesus the Son, and about the wrath of God remaining on the one who does not obey the Son, including by believing in Him.

However (with Bible now at hand!), there is an even more clear statement, from Jesus, on the importance of believing in Him, also in chapter 3, verses 16-19: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Sounds almost like universal salvation, in a way, doesn’t it? However, there is one more, very hard statement from Jesus about Himself and the necessity of belief (faith, or trust) in Him: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

In my fallen humanness, I would love to believe that God will be eternally merciful to people of all faiths, or no faith– but if I believed so, I would be directly contradicting the words of Jesus.

To answer your straightforward question in a straightforward way, I get the idea that there is an end to God’s mercy from the Bible. These are the words of Jesus Himself from the Gospel according to John, chapter 3, verse 36: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon Him.”

In this verse, obeying the Son is explicitly tied to *believing* (trusting) in Him. For those who do not do so, the wrath of God abides upon them. Hard but true. We should say it with tears, and with prayers for people to come to Christ, and certainly with an urgency to share the truth of Christ with them– but we *should* say it, because it is *true.*

Apart from belief (faith, or trust) in Jesus Christ and His perfect life and substitutionary death in the place of sinners, one will not experience mercy from God. One will experience abiding and just wrath for personal sin against a personal God. Again, hard but true– and straight from the mouth of Jesus Himself.

Where ever did you get the idea that there is an end to God’s mercy? Any suggestion that God’s love and mercy is finite would appear, to me, to be incorrect. 1 Corinthians 13:8 suggests that love is eternal, it never ends, doesn’t it? All goodness comes from God, even when it is from, as you put it an un-believer. You really must read the account of King Cyrus in Isaiah 44 & 45.
As a follower of Jesus, I am not convinced at all that entering the Kingdom of God has anything to do with what we “believe”. Just by acting out of love aren’t we acting out of God? (See 1 John 4.) It’s through our actions that we show what we believe, isn’t it? Jesus said that he was the way to God, the way of love who is perfect in mercy and compassion. I think in our humaness we can’t comprehend fully how deep, how wide God’s love and mercy is. Jesus asked of me, love my enemies even when they don’t return that love to me, I expect the same of God, it’s only fair and just, isn’t it?

Peace and grace to you all.

“I just sense that what I’m saying has been widely unacceptable to most everyone here. Isn’t that in disagreement with the sentiment of the post and so many comments? The sense that, “we’re not to judge. Everyone just believe what they want to believe and it’s all ok.””

It absolutely isn’t in disagreement. This is the argument against universalism. But no one here(that I know of) is saying that last bit. There absolutely is a standard: Jesus Christ’s righteousness transferred to your account. To me, not accepting this simple fact is more reason to question one’s Christianity than a lack of the proper behavioral evidence. This only begets licentiousness when you exchange the Christ of the Bible for an invention of your own– A Christ that didn’t suffer and die and call the faithful to do the same.

“I think we need to have some standards that are core to what we believe. I’m not saying I know exactly what they are.”

I do know what they are. Christ alone.

I have cringed for a long time over believers’ inability to see the similarity of legalism and license. They are seen as two sides of a pendulum swing and the trick is to “strike a balance.” this is so unbiblical it hurts. There is no difference. Legalism is SIN. Licentiousness is SIN. The answer to sin is CHRIST.

As Christians, we do *not* have the right to *condemn* unrepentant unbelievers (non-Christians) for their rejection of Christ. In Matthew 5:43-43, Christians are told to love their enemies and to be merciful, because God Himself is merciful.

Because God is not only merciful though, but also holy, just, and the *Creator* and *Owner* of all life, there is an ending point to His mercy. He alone decides when that ending point will occur. He alone has the right to make that decision. Every sin that is committed against one of His creatures is committed, first and foremost, against *Him.*

Voting for, or against, Obama does not “make” or “break” a Christian, in terms of the Biblical definition of the word. No one becomes, or ceases to be, a Christian, based on his/her works. Works may be an *indication* of where one stands with God (I say that carefully), but in and of themselves, they do not save or damn a person.

As for whether one is or is not a Christian, it comes down to whether one is arrogantly trusting in one’s own “goodness” and “righteousness,” as a human being, to put oneself into a right state, and a right relationship, with God– *or* whether one realizes one’s absolute moral bankruptcy, one’s personal rebellion against God in a thousand different ways, and one’s need for both a Savior from God’s wrath *against* that rebellion, and a Substitute to lovingly bear that wrath in one’s place– and then, whether one turns and puts *faith in* that Savior and Substitute, Jesus Christ. That is the key. That is what defines a Christian, not the person for whom one votes.

WTF??????????????????

Yesterday, my writing partner delivered his “DON’T GO STUPID ON ME!” sermon for the third straight Sunday. He summarized it as:

“This Sunday, I’m preaching on it’s been 19 days since the election and hell still has not vomited up the damned and the dead do not walk the Earth. We have a bigger problem. Our Sunday School program sucks.”

Fr. Newman of St. Mary’s in Greenville, SC declared last Sunday that if any of his church members voted for Obama they need to repent before they partake of the Eucharist.

Needless to say it has created quite a stir in the church complete with picket lines and dogs dressed up in “Obama suits”

Interesting