Why God has no mercy to unchristian?

[CHRISTINE77]

I asked whether God has mercy to non-believer rather than a non-believer expecting mercy.

I actually said God would show them mercy, if you read my last sentence. Did you even read my last sentence, or do you just see whatever you want to see?

I myself don’t understand how they could expect it, but I think God is much bigger and kinder than us humans are. If a person is really good and doing good for others, God will look past their unbelief. Anyway, that’s the God I believe in, and apparently the Pope does too - I just found this on another thread:

“You ask me if the God of the Christians forgives those who don’t believe and who don’t seek the faith. I start by saying – and this is the fundamental thing – that God’s mercy has no limits if you go to him with a sincere and contrite heart. The issue for those who do not believe in God is to obey their conscience." -Pope Francis

 

[Catholic_Lady]

I actually said God would show them mercy, if you read my last sentence. Did you even read my last sentence, or do you just see whatever you want to see?

I myself don’t understand how they could expect it, but I think God is much bigger and kinder than us humans are. If a person is really good and doing good for others, God will look past their unbelief. Anyway, that’s the God I believe in, and apparently the Pope does too - I just found this on another thread:

“You ask me if the God of the Christians forgives those who don’t believe and who don’t seek the faith. I start by saying – and this is the fundamental thing – that God’s mercy has no limits if you go to him with a sincere and contrite heart. The issue for those who do not believe in God is to obey their conscience." -Pope Francis

 

[Catholic_Lady]

Mercy is not a free gift. We have to be sincerely sorry for our sins to merit mercy. If one does not believe there is a God, one cannot be sorry and beg forgiveness.

In other words, atheists, like Christians, if they do not repent, go to the same place by their choice, not God’s. To reject God is to accept hell. This applies to all, Christians and atheists alike.

There is no free pass to heaven for anyone.

Just wanted to point out here that an atheist can feel remorse for a wrongdoing, and God will forgive him/her. We don’t necessarily have to say “dear God, I am sorry for this and that today”, in order to be forgiven. If a person is truly sorry for any wrongful deed, atheist or Christian, God will forgive and show mercy.

 

[CHRISTINE77]

Just wanted to point out here that an atheist can feel remorse for a wrongdoing, and God will forgive him/her. We don’t necessarily have to say “dear God, I am sorry for this and that today”, in order to be forgiven. If a person is truly sorry for any wrongful deed, atheist or Christian, God will forgive and show mercy.

 

[Bahman]

When do you think God exercises His mercy? Are there an conditions?

When you sincerely sorry. But God seems to have not any mercy toward unchristian.

 

[Bahman]

Mercy is not a free gift. We have to be sincerely sorry for our sins to merit mercy.

That has not anything with the subject of this thread. The idea is that why God has not any mercy toward unchristian.

If one does not believe there is a God, one cannot be sorry and beg forgiveness.

You still could feel sorry for your mistake even if you are not a Christian.

In other words, atheists, like Christians, if they do not repent, go to the same place by their choice, not God’s. To reject God is to accept hell. This applies to all, Christians and atheists alike.

A Christian by definition is a person who believe in God.

There is no free pass to heaven for anyone.

This is unrelated to this thread.

 

[Bahman]

I actually said God would show them mercy, if you read my last sentence. Did you even read my last sentence, or do you just see whatever you want to see?

I myself don’t understand how they could expect it, but I think God is much bigger and kinder than us humans are. If a person is really good and doing good for others, God will look past their unbelief. Anyway, that’s the God I believe in, and apparently the Pope does too - I just found this on another thread:

“You ask me if the God of the Christians forgives those who don’t believe and who don’t seek the faith. I start by saying – and this is the fundamental thing – that God’s mercy has no limits if you go to him with a sincere and contrite heart. The issue for those who do not believe in God is to obey their conscience." -Pope Francis

This is not consistent with the verse quoted in OP.

 

[Bahman]

Just wanted to point out here that an atheist can feel remorse for a wrongdoing, and God will forgive him/her. We don’t necessarily have to say “dear God, I am sorry for this and that today”, in order to be forgiven. If a person is truly sorry for any wrongful deed, atheist or Christian, God will forgive and show mercy.

This is not consistent with OP.

 

[CHRISTINE77]

This is not consistent with the verse quoted in OP.

Yes it is. There were no “Christians” when Jesus spoke those words. He was talking about the character of people, people who had the morality he was preaching about. You seem a little slow on the uptake, or else you forget what was already posted regarding this.

 

[fisherman_carl]

Is there any room for those who are not in light and dark side?

God’s mercy is to bring the wayward person back into the light. Scripture says that while we were sinners, while we were his enemies Jesus died for us. Thus Jesus is merciful to even his enemies. And, his mercy was unmerrited or undeserved by anyone since we all have sinned and deserve death rather than mercy. It’s not like God owes anyone mercy. So we needed God’s mercy. We had a debt that we ourselves could not pay. It was out of God’s love and compassion that he was merciful to us and sent His Son. But, we have the freedom to receive that mercy or not. God does not force it upon us. Remember what he said on the Cross? Forgive them for they know not what they do. God’s mercy is not in question. Rather it is whether we want His mercy that is the question. Can one receive mercy and forgiveness if they refuse to accept it and come to God for it?

God’s mercy starts before we even come back to him. It is there encouraging us to come back to him.

 

[clem456]

Mercy is not a free gift. We have to be sincerely sorry for our sins to merit mercy. If one does not believe there is a God, one cannot be sorry and beg forgiveness.

Mercy is a free gift AKA grace, God’s gratuitous initiative.
Grace and mercy are not merited.
By God’s grace we can repent and come face to face with him, and merit his full experience and presence. But the gift is just that, a gift.

…“while were still sinners…”

God takes the initiative of universal redeeming love

604 By giving up his own Son for our sins, God manifests that his plan for us is one of benevolent love, prior to any merit on our part: "In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins."408 God "shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us."409

Unmerited grace. Unmerited initiative on God’s part.
He who needs nothing, created us from nothing, for the sole puprose of a loving relationship with him. Rather than respond, we reject.
And he who can take us out of existence with a blink of his eye, does not vaporize us. He is unmerited patience, unmerited love, faithfulness, reckless sacrifice for an unfaithful people.
If our merits were a condition for grace, we would all be lost in despair.
His initiative, our response.

2008 The merit of man before God in the Christian life arises from the fact that God has freely chosen to associate man with the work of his grace. The fatherly action of God is first on his own initiative, and then follows man’s free acting through his collaboration, so that the merit of good works is to be attributed in the first place to the grace of God, then to the faithful. Man’s merit, moreover, itself is due to God, for his good actions proceed in Christ, from the predispositions and assistance given by the Holy Spirit.

In other words, atheists, like Christians, if they do not repent, go to the same place by their choice, not God’s. To reject God is to accept hell. This applies to all, Christians and atheists alike.

There is no free pass to heaven for anyone.

The ticket is absolutely, unambiguously, free.
True, that not all accept the gift as you say, and so they choose hell…

 

[Aloysium]

Mercy is a free gift AKA grace, God’s gratuitous initiative.
Grace and mercy are not merited.
By God’s grace we can repent and come face to face with him, and merit his full experience and presence. But the gift is just that, a gift.
Unmerited grace. Unmerited initiative on God’s part.
He who needs nothing, created us from nothing, for the sole puprose of a loving relationship with him. Rather than respond, we reject.
And he who can take us out of existence with a blink of his eye, does not vaporize us. He is unmerited patience, unmerited love, faithfulness, reckless sacrifice for an unfaithful people.
If our merits were a condition for grace, we would all be lost in despair.
His initiative, our response.
The ticket is absolutely, unambiguously, free.
True, that not all accept the gift as you say, and so they choose hell…

:twocents:

The consequences of God’s showing mercy on a wayward humanity, the outcome depends on our response. It is my opinion that many who have not heard of the name Jesus Christ, still know Him in their hearts and that some who oppose the church are rejecting a social institution on which they project mankind’s quest for power. They have not come to know it as the body of Chirst or as His bride. That said, many reject teachings which inform us of God’s will. Since it leads us to eternal happiness, not to follow implies a different end.

 

[clem456]

:twocents:

The consequences of God’s showing mercy on a wayward humanity, the outcome depends on our response. It is my opinion that many who have not heard of the name Jesus Christ, still know Him in their hearts and that some who oppose the church are rejecting a social institution on which they project mankind’s quest for power. They have not come to know it as the body of Chirst or as His bride. That said, many reject teachings which inform us of God’s will. Since it leads us to eternal happiness, not to follow implies a different end.

That different end is a reality, and it can be experienced to some degree in the here and now. A taste of hell is a grace itself, I believe. I’ve had a dose of it, and it can be a powerful motivator.

But in the end, the question seems to be about a hill that is too steep to climb. How do we get hold of this relationship with God and live it? How can we experience this mercy amid all the difficult contradictions and obstacles?
Sometimes the hill seems so steep that we believe we do not have the ability to respond or follow.
But it’s not about ability.

Abilities fulfill a contract. A contract is spelled out for me in writing, I fulfill it with my able actions. I “pay the debt” and I receive a benefit.

But we have a covenant relationship with God, not a contract. Our abilities are sourced in his grace. We cannot hope to repay him who is omnipotent and all good.
But he is ever faithful and gratuitous. His hand is out for all people and we can hope that all people reach back in response. Even if we don’t have the ability to know him explicitly his hand is out waiting for us to respond, in whatever way his grace is moving us.

 

[John_Martin]

Matthew 12:30: Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

You only have half of the picture.
God deals two ways with the non-Christian.

1. He condemns those who “scatter”, who do violence and injustice.
2. He shows mercy to those who have shown mercy to Jesus (“When I was hungry, you gave me to eat… come, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you… when you did it to the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”)

So, which will you find at the judgment?
are you scattering Jesus’ followers, trying to get them to not believe Jesus?
or are you offering assistance to his followers, even if you do not follow Jesus yourself?

 

[Bahman]

Yes it is. There were no “Christians” when Jesus spoke those words. He was talking about the character of people, people who had the morality he was preaching about. You seem a little slow on the uptake, or else you forget what was already posted regarding this.

That verse, quoted in OP, is pretty clear which means there is no mercy for disbeliever.

 

[inocente]

Why God has no mercy to unchristian?

Matthew 12:30: Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

You got confused by reading the verse out of context. Read the whole passage, Matthew 12:22-37, and you’ll see that Jesus isn’t speaking to atheists or Buddhists or whatever, the only people present are Jews, which include His own followers and the Pharisees.

Jesus says that everything can be forgiven except blasphemy against the Spirit, something which only a believer could do, and which cannot be forgiven because that “was to speak against God’s work recognized as such, against God manifesting himself to their consciences (cf. vers. 27, 28); it was to reject the counsel of God towards them, to set themselves up in opposition to God, and thus to exclude from themselves forgiveness” (Pulpit Commentary).

God cannot forgive it because it involves a wrong belief about who God is, and so anyone who does it has cut himself off from the real God, and so can never know forgiveness.

btw here are two more verses out of context:
Mark 9:40 - for whoever is not against us is for us
Luke 9:50 - “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”

 

[Bahman]

God’s mercy is to bring the wayward person back into the light. Scripture says that while we were sinners, while we were his enemies Jesus died for us. Thus Jesus is merciful to even his enemies. And, his mercy was unmerrited or undeserved by anyone since we all have sinned and deserve death rather than mercy. It’s not like God owes anyone mercy. So we needed God’s mercy. We had a debt that we ourselves could not pay. It was out of God’s love and compassion that he was merciful to us and sent His Son. But, we have the freedom to receive that mercy or not. God does not force it upon us. Remember what he said on the Cross? Forgive them for they know not what they do. God’s mercy is not in question. Rather it is whether we want His mercy that is the question. Can one receive mercy and forgiveness if they refuse to accept it and come to God for it?

God’s mercy starts before we even come back to him. It is there encouraging us to come back to him.

So why Jesus said those words, quoted in OP, if anyone is subjected to his mercy?

 

[inocente]

Why God has no mercy to unchristian?

Matthew 12:30: Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

You got confused by reading the verse out of context. Read the whole passage, Matthew 12:22-37, and you’ll see that Jesus isn’t speaking to atheists or Buddhists or whatever. The only people present are believers, which include His own followers and the Pharisees.

Jesus says that everything can be forgiven except blasphemy against the Spirit, something which only a believer could do, and which cannot be forgiven because that “was to speak against God’s work recognized as such, against God manifesting himself to their consciences (cf. vers. 27, 28); it was to reject the counsel of God towards them, to set themselves up in opposition to God, and thus to exclude from themselves forgiveness” (Pulpit Commentary).

God cannot forgive it because it involves a wrong belief about who God is, and so anyone who does it has cut himself off from the real God, and can never know forgiveness.

btw here are two more verses out of context:
Mark 9:40 - for whoever is not against us is for us
Luke 9:50 - “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.”

 

[clem456]

So why Jesus said those words, quoted in OP, if anyone is subjected to his mercy?

Why?
What answer would satisfy you?

 

[Bahman]

You only have half of the picture.
God deals two ways with the non-Christian.

1. He condemns those who “scatter”, who do violence and injustice.
2. He shows mercy to those who have shown mercy to Jesus (“When I was hungry, you gave me to eat… come, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you… when you did it to the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”)

So, which will you find at the judgment?
are you scattering Jesus’ followers, trying to get them to not believe Jesus?
or are you offering assistance to his followers, even if you do not follow Jesus yourself?

I don’t know where did you get your understanding from (God deals two ways with non-Christian). This is pretty opposite to the verse I quoted in OP.