Here is the first part of the prodigal son parable (Luke 15:11-19):
A certain man had two sons: 12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. 13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. 14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. 15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, 19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
Only AFTER the son has suffered the consequences of his sinful ways does he go back to his father and repent--this is not my opinion, it is what's written. The son does not have the foresight to understand the error of his ways until AFTER he pays the consequences for them. So if an atheist finally pays the consequences for his lack of faith by torment in hell, and asks forgiveness, would the father not accept his child back?
Tom Davidson-- you, of course, are not all-powerful, as God is. It would be impossible for you, a mere mortal, to prevent your daughters from making harmful decisions without infringing on their freedom and only making the situation worse than it already may be. However, nothing is impossible for God, according to the Christian view....so a loving God could keep us from making bad decisions without infringing on our freedom. Then everyone would be happy. Or is God not all-powerful?
You referred to your daughters going out, and you not following them. I think a more relevant analogy would be one of your daughters took LSD and is attempting to jump off a bridge....all good parents, no matter how much they respect their child's freedoms, would do everything in their power to prevent this, including physical force. Sometimes it is more loving to restrict freedoms than to be respectful of them.
quick--but what if, after spending time in jail, you changed your mind? Could you still get the bail? Would the father of the prodigal son have accepted his son back at any time, no matter how long it took? Or was the father's love 'for a limited time only'?
martha--why would God create Satan the way He did if He knew what Satan would become? Did God will evil into the world? Also--what if an atheist does want an afterlife in heaven, but simply doesn't feel a strong conviction that it is real? Can there be a difference between what we would like to be true, and what we think is true?
Caleb--I did not ask that question, someone else did.
Everyone: the name's S p i n k l e s . Not Sparkles or SpRinkles. And that's MISTER Spinkles to you! (haha, just kidding)
