If God is Love, Why Do I Get Punished?

A lot of people have problems with this concept because of a variety of reasons.

The first reason is: God is God and we are not! God gets to define the parameters of what is right, what is wrong and what is sin!

The second reason is: We want God to do things our way according to the way we see the world!

The third reason is: We want God to be like a genie with the power to make the changes we want and then go back into his bottle unto we want him again.

God created man/woman and puts every man/woman and every government on the same playing field. They are all subject to His rule.

There are over 6 billion people on this planet which makes 6 billion ways of doing something. Who is right? Who is wrong? What is real? What is false? For man to find out, it's impossible. Man can not reach God! So, God had to reach down to man to tell him what He is, what He is like and what He expects man to do with that knowledge.

God created two people: Adam and Eve! He made them perfect. The rest of us were created via the law of reproduction (that everything produces its own kind). We were to be perfect just as our original parents were. But, that is the problem. They didn't stay perfect for very long. What they did was that they had more faith in the words of Satan than they did in God. They committed high treason and left the truth of God for the lie of Satan. In legal terms, our parents deserted God and allied themselves with Satan. They changed allegiances, and in so doing, they changed families. Adam, the Son (heir) of God became the legally-adopted son (heir) of Satan. As the children of Adam and Eve, we share in their inheritance.

Being an heir brings about a entitlement. We are entitled to everything Satan gets and that is Hell. Scripture tells us that Hell was made for the devil and his angels. Hell was not created for man. But, it is now our legal entitlement as his legally-adopted offspring.

But, that's not fair, you say! I had no choice in the matter! I don't want to go to hell! I want God as my Father, not Satan!

That is what the good news about Jesus Christ is all about. Jesus makes it possible for sinful man to become the child of a sinless God! How? Through Jesus' sinless obedience, He takes your place! As a sinless man, Jesus could never die! Sin causes death. Everything affected by sin dies, including this planet and everything in creation! But, Jesus could not die since He was sinless. So, He makes a covenant with God! He will die for those who believe in Him if God will adopt us as His children and not look on our sins but on Jesus' righteousness instead. God accepts the covenant and Jesus makes the covenant operational by dying in our place. The man who could not die allowed others to put Him to death in the most painful and gruesome way possible. According to the tradition at the time, a man was not legally dead until after three days had passed. Jesus was dead for three days and after the time was up, rose again to claim His position as not only the First-Born of the Dead, but also as the Legal Representative for all those who refuse the lies and family of Satan for the truth and family of God. We have been given the Spirit of Adoption whereby we can cry,"Abba!"(Father!)

Now the truth of the matter is, whose family do YOU choose? You were born into the family of Satan and had no choice in the matter but to accept the punishment that comes as your inheritance. Do you want to stay there or do you want to be adopted into the family of God and acknowledge that Jesus took your punishment already so you could come back to the God that loves you?

You can't blame this choice on Adam and Eve! This choice is all YOURS!