I would say that this could be argued both ways.  You are saying that love comes out of God's goodness, but just as accurately you could say that God's goodness comes out of His love.  Pure love (or pure goodness) is by default pure holiness - just my take on it.

Thx again for welcome, and happy 4th to all !!

Thanks for the welcome, Foadle!

We have many challenges.

Absolutely - and a summing up of something I posted in another thread.

Quote from: Foadle on July 03, 2020, 11:58:48 pmFunny you should ask that.  God has had me sitting in 1 John for quite some time now.  Started a few years ago.  And I will stop for a season, and I am brought back to it.  And in this book is states God's most defining characteristic (and by default what ours should be).

LOVE

God is love (1 John 4:8, 16).

Again and again this chapter talks of God's love and how that love is expressed.  It also shows how we cannot be in God unless we are in love.  Love is everything...There is no fear in love (1 John 4:17)

We love him, because he first loved us (1 John 4:19)

This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments (1 John 5:3)

And this is his commandment, that we should love one another (1 John 3:11)

And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave us commandment (1 John 3:20)

I could keep going but you get the point.  If we are not in love we are not in God, - that simple because God is love

And where you are not wrong...God is most definitely love...

But love is a portion of God's most defining characteristic...

Good

God is so good that He is holy...and not just holy but the holy of the holiest of the holy. A distillation of goodness that surpasses all understanding.

And John is trying to explain this without using such terms to a gentile audience that doesn't understand holiness.

God is good...God is so good that He is holy. Of course holiness demands that He loves us. Because when we know the God who is versus the God of our own making...that's the overriding truth that blows us away.
And the question we always come away with is how can God love a sinner such as myself? I am nothing like God...I have always wanted to be good but I'm nowhere near close. Like Job talks about despising himself with dust and ashes...

You are both welcome

Jesus did not avoid the sick... He healed it.  How much do we truly live out of the healing power of God.

He did not go out actively seeking it...that would be presumption, but neither did he avoid it - that would be living in fear.  He simply allowed God to be God in His life. 

Having said that, in so much as the laws of the land are not in conflict with the laws of God, if we are told to stay at home for a season, so we should, because God also told us to honour those in authority.

Quote from: Episcopius on July 03, 2020, 05:33:35 pmBoth cf.com and cf.net can be devil's playground at times, Hisforever

But greater is He that is in US than he that is in the world!

We just need to live out of Him who is in us, rather than the world that is in us...must admit I find it a bit of a challenge sometimes.

God is sovereign enough to give us free will.

Predestination is according to God's FOREKNOWLEDGE of what a person will choose and persist in believing.

Absolutely it is possible.  Paul wrote about it aplenty.

Romans 6:1 What shall we say then?  Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Romans 6:2 God forbid.  How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Right there Paul demonstrates how we "cheapen" grace thus stating that it is in deed possible.

We cheapen grace by living a life that in effect says, "I can do what I like, because the grace of God will sort it out."

We need to understand that the grace of God is there as a encouraging provision, not as an entitling license.  The law was there to show us that we cannot get to God on our own merits.  We have at some time broken every single one of the ten commandments (yes, even murder, for Jesus said that if we hate someone we have murdered...and even if it were but for a short time, we have hated someone.) 

Once the realisation came that we cannot live 100% righteous 100% of the time, He showed us His grace through Jesus Christ who became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him (2 Cor 5:21).  Yes, I stuff up.  We all do.  But, the grace of God is there because He knows that in and of ourselves we cannot live perfect.  Not to allow us to intentionally go out and sin.

Also we cheapen the grace of God by living below the standard of life Jesus died to give us: health, prosperity, wisdom etc...and that is something we are all doing and it is only by the Spirit that we move toward becoming more and more each day transformed into the image of God Himself, in all our thoughts, words, and deeds.