For calvinists: Has God loved every man who ever existed?

Yes, but not all in the same way.

 

16 ¶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Clear enough?

 

The topic was hate and in neither passage was hate implied the way you stated.

 

I already answered the Jn 3:16 post...
http://www.baptistboard.com/showpost.php?p=1085902&postcount=15

 

Well verse (17) answers your own question (might) not that He does not want to save everyone, but Might implies a condition. Of course God, being Omniscient knows already:M't:26:28: For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for MANY for the remission of sins.(notice it does not say ALL)

 

MB, as I have said before, you border on open theism. God knows the beginning to the end. He is all knowing.

What is Jesus saying MB? In these scriptures is He simply asking them to go away into the eternal fire or is He commanding them? Is He sending them or simply saying "would you please go on your own authority to hell"?

41. "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;
42. for I was hungry, and you gave Me {nothing} to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;
43. I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.'
44. "Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?'
45. "Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'
46. "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

 

I voted yes, but I'm sure you and I would disagree on the nature of God's love for the elect vs. non-elect. Bottom line is that I believe in common grace from God to everyone. I suspect you would get different answers if the poll was worded differently and if it provided more detail. The vast majority of Calvinists that I have encountered believe in common grace. That was my point in the other thread.

 

So God wants to save everyone, but men's wills are superior to God's will? I don't think so.

 

And I agree with you Andy. God's common grace is not salvic grace. Web has not answered how God can love a sinner all the way to hell fire for an eternity.

 

Ah, but the sovereign God has sovereignly chosen to make sinful men sovereign over their salvation (smart decision, eh?). And if God abdicates His sovereignty, how is it possible that God remains sovereign? He remains sovereign because it was a sovereign decision not to be sovereign. And how can God be sovereign and not sovereign at the same time? Because I said so.

Do I get into the free-willer club now?

 

You got it, God gives us the clear Final answer to His rejection. You got an issue with His Hell He created for the rebellious, unbelieving talk to Him about it. I guess Jesus was just trying to scare the" Hell" out of 'em when He said:M'r:9:43: And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
M'r:9:44: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
M'r:9:45: And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
M'r:9:46: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
M'r:9:47: And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:
M'r:9:48: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. Re:20:10: And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Re:20:11: And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Re:20:12: And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Re:20:13: And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Re:20:14: And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Re:20:15: And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Sounds like eternity to me.

 

This, my friend, is at the heart of the whole matter. If we could all understand it alike, but it must not be a sovereign decree on YHWH's part.

 

1. It seems like no one is willing to deal with these verses from the Word of God.

2. And even if we say "hate" doesn't really mean "hate" but "love less" we still haven't resolved the issue, for there still remains a degree of difference in God's love.

 

Well, Webdog, you have called us out. Your bark has been heard. But can your bark overcome the taming effect of Scripture?

 

Focusing on the word "might" to make your point is paying too much attention to the English translation and not enough to the Greek underlying the translation. The word "hina" is also in the condemn section of the verse, and is not translated as "might." It would be better to tranlate it as ...

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world be saved through him.

Do you look at the "might" in Mat 2:23 in the same way?...
And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled: “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

 

That the world through him might be saved; even the world of the elect in general, whom God determined to save, and has chosen, to obtain salvation by Jesus Christ, and has appointed Christ to be the salvation of; and who being sent, came into the world to seek and save them; and his chosen people among the Gentiles in particular: wherefore he is said to be God's salvation to the ends of the earth: and all the ends of the earth are called upon to look unto him, and be saved by him:Isa:49:6: And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. jellico

 

What about Israel as a whole?

 

I"m not sure what your question is Bro. Bob.

 

I don't have an issue with the hell God created. He is the creator and has a right to dispose of His creation as He sees fit. What I have an issue with is those who seem to think that God sends people He loves to hell for an eternity in hell fire.