Dear Justine, Your friend said, God should punish the sinner first before forgiving his sins. Does your friend know what he is asking for? He is really asking for his own punishment. Even if your friend is leading a 100% sinless life, what about his family members? If his father or brother is a sinner, would he like them also punished or would he pray to God for forgiveness? Bible says we all are sinners. There is nobody in this world without sin. So if we ask God to punish the sinners in one way we are asking for our own punishment also. The parable of unkind servant reveals this very clearly. What your friend said is right. A sinner should be punished for his sins, in the view of true judgement. As per Christian view God is not only a judge, but also our Savior. In a more personal way He is our Father. Being a true Judge, He is supposed to punish all sinners. But being a loving Father, He is supposed to save us also. How can He do both these at the same time? He found a remedy, put all the punishments of all mankind, on the shoulder of His own Son, Jesus. Jesus who bore all our sins and became a true sacrifice on behalf of all our sins on the cross at Calvary. By accepting the sacrifice of Jesus, God the father excused all our punishments. This is the salvation Jesus provides for all mankind. How to obtain this Salvation is a different topic we just finished, you can take print outs from our disco about salvation. Now ask your friend, what is good? Let God punish all the sinners including us or forgive all sinners including us. Love Sebastian ********************************************************************** This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For automatic help, send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] To know more about Jesus Youth, visit http://www.jesusyouth.org **********************************************************************
