What Does God Want?

I can hear the voices all in unison right now- *He has shown thee o man what is good and what the Lord requires of thee. But to do justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with Thy God* Sweet sounds indeed. Micah 6:8 in song!!! Can't go wrong with that eh?? Micah tells us plain and simple what God wants. Hmmmm guess trouble is our imperfect humanness then, because we as a people sure can get off on the wrong track.....over and over and over again.

Why do we tend to swing to rxtremes?? God wants us to live by faith and be obedient, evangelize to save souls. No, God wants us to seek justice, righteousness, carry out in our actions the message of the Gospel. One side is viewed as conservative, the other as liberal and heaven help us if the 2 should intersect!!!! But isn't that exactly what should happen??? Are they not expressing both sides of a coin??? A good cliche is - *people will not care how much you know, till they know how much you care* I think both sides care and don't care in different ways, depending upon the person and their circumstances.

I am a *hopeful universalist* I hope in the end God will actually redeem everyone. Rob Bells book * Love Wins* has sparked a debate once again on the whole notion of salvation and all it entails. Who's in, who's out. Kind of makes me think of the selection of schools for the NCAA tournament than eternity with God. Yikes. I am not and never will be a calvinist, but they have had a long time of finetuning the TULIP acronym and its meaning. Romans 9 has been a huge bugaboo for me for awhile now. Calvinist teaching regarding election, which goes along with limited atonement, holds to a view that God created some people who would not make it in the end. For reasons known only to God because He is sovereign and all powerful, He chooses to sentence some to eternal torment in hell. What does that verse from Micah say??? *and to love mercy???* * Mercy triumphs over judgment* Didn't God say that through a prophet somewhere???

The entire message of the Gospel and Jesus Himself just diametrically oppose this scenario to my thinking. Why then did God cause the flood??? Why did God destroy sodom and gomorrah??? Why did ananias and sapphira die instantly?? What does Revelation mean when it speaks of *the devil and his angels going into the pit and experiencing the second death???* What about the parable of lazarus and the rich man???

I have certain thoughts on these questions, to be shared later on. I hope to hear from any of you who stop by and read this. Does Romans 9 trouble you?? Does calvinist theology bother you?? These issues are discussed thoroughly many other blogs, but just have to put my own thoughts out there in my lil corner and hope some will comment.