Poly,
Because they were repentant.
That's right---Christ called them foul names from a distance while emphasizing how they made him want to puke and repeatedly told them they were damned until they repented, and once they repented
then He dined with them. (Heavy Sarcasm)
C'mon now, that's bunk. You have any evidence to substantiate your claim that He only ever associated with sinners
after they repented?
You saying that I'm picking favorite verses and jumping to conclusions with them doesn't make it true. If you feel this way is it not more beneficial to explain how this is being done rather than just expecting people to believe this is the case simply because servent101 says so? Let's start here.
18"He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
I take this verse to mean that those who do not believe in God are condemned. Please show how I am picking this verse and jumping to the conclusion I just gave.
You are misunderstanding me. Probably I didn't make myself clear. I'm not a universalist.
The point I was trying to make was that you can't find a couple of isolated verses that describe God hating sinners and instantly conclude that thus we should be hateful and derogatory towards sinners.
For every such verse you can find, I can find a verse where Christ is loving towards sinners, while still letting them know the truth of their sin.
Luke 6
34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. 35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
So, is the Bible contradicting itself then about how we are to deal with sinners? No. I think the overall idea that should be understood is that there is a time and a place for loving sinners and a time and place for dealing with them harshly.
This is my problem with Enyarts' "Nicer Than God" stuff. He takes one aspect of Christ, the fact that He could be harsh in some circumstances, and extrapolates too much from that. He could also be kind to sinners. As a result you end up having people on this board feeling godly and righteous because they call a somebody else a disgusting queer who makes them want to puke. That's just wrong. And the worst thing is, they think that is being loving.
Christ reserved harsh judgement for all those who were unrepentant.
Matthew 10:34-36 "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be of his own household."
True. Unrepentant sinners go to hell. They are judged for their acts. I agree. We are judged and we as Christians can judge in a non-hypocritical fashion.
But judging should not be done in a purposefully abrasive, self-righteous fashion except perhaps in the very rarest of cirumstances. Nor should it be done cruelly. Cases in point:
What I was doing is called "mocking" beanster. I realize with all the perverted disgusting acts you engage in, it causes your braincells to become dull but do try to keep up.
And those that continue to spit in the face of God until the day of judgment, we get to rejoice over when they get what's coming to them.
The sad thing is, you seem to have twisted your definition of love so that you feel the above kinds of statements are loving and righteous.
I'm not saying we can't judge. I'm not saying we should excuse sin. We should tell people of their sin. But that's different than calling them names and trading insults with them.
I leave you with this:
1 Thessalonians 5
14And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else
By the way, Poly, do you tell overweight people who aren't repentant that you are disgusted by their vile and disgusting sinful acts of gluttony and that you can't wait until they are condemned to hell? Perhaps calling them "fatties" and "tubs of lard" will make them repent of their sins and come to Christ. Or do you reserve this sort of behavior only for the sins you pick and choose?