Praise His (IHVH) Holy Name, I get the clear picture of 'God could bestow the grace of salvation
on the unworthy Ninevites because grace cannot be merited' . . .




http://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/Pictu...es/scan0015.jpg


http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=702

excerpt:
This explains all that God has done, as well as why Jonah disliked it. God could bestow the grace of salvation on the unworthy Ninevites because grace cannot be merited. Likewise, because grace is sovereignly bestowed, God can provide a plant for Jonah, and then take it away.



http://multipleworlds.net/sitebuilder/imag...ry2-675x415.jpg


contingency

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/contingency
1: the quality or state of being contingent2: a contingent event or condition: as a: an event (as an emergency) that may but is not certain to occur <trying to provide for every contingency> b: something liable to happen as an adjunct to or result of something else


In the matter of law of the spirit of salvation rules/codes of ethics,
salvation does not hold a contingency clause, due to our belief in a
rapture or not a rapture.

LET US REMEMBER, salvation is not earned, it is gift !

The debate is about the topic : rapture


SALVATION DOES NOT HOLD A CONTINGENCY CLAUSE !

Jonah 3:5

King James Bible
So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.



What happened to Jonah, before the Nineveh people believed God ?



Jonah 1:17

King James Bible
Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.



http://www.illustrators.co.za/blaauw/jonah1.jpg



http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=702

Think about Jonah, for example. God did answer Jonah’s prayer that He would save him from drowning, but not with the most plush and pleasurable means possible. God saved Jonah by means of a great fish, and Jonah got to soak for three days in the stomach juices of that creature. Being vomited onto dry land was not exactly flattering to Jonah’s ego, either, but it was what was best for him. So, too, the shade of the plant was not furthering Jonah’s walk with God, and thus the destruction of the plant and the sweltering sun was given to him instead. God is not committed to our pleasure, but to our piety. Thus, He often uses painful means to bring us to holiness. These painful experiences, just as much as the pleasurable ones, are a gift of God’s grace. Grace is often experienced in the midst of the most unpleasant of experiences.

This is a good thread, because it says to me that there are many Jonah's out here and on this board.

Thank you, Humble Bob :


And I read your input, found the following excerpt to parallel your commentary !

Lots of love, my brother ! The Lord, is helping me to see diversity more within our brethren,
I want to unite not divide.


http://www.parentcompany.com/little_talker...es/image028.jpg



http://anacostia.si.edu/Online_Academy/Aca...ect_8_frame.htm


Jonah's Gourd Vine (novel, 1934)
Zora Neale Hurston



Read the biblical scripture of Jonah 4:6-10. Zora Neale Hurston used this passage as the origin of the novel's title. She saw the life and position of the lead character John Pearson as the gourd vine and his weaknesses and destructive tendencies as the worm that destroyed the vine.

John 8:36

King James Bible
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.





http://www.eaglevisiononline.com/images/so...g_eagle_150.jpg

"He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening [of the prison] to them that are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Isa.61:1,2)

http://www.rbc.org/bible-study/been-thinki.../01/column.aspx
5) The most undeserving people can receive it.

The Bible gives us the names of people whose only qualification for heaven was that they believed in God’s provision for their rescue. These examples include a prostitute named Rahab, a despised tax collector named Matthew, and a demon-possessed woman named Mary of Magdala. Then there was the criminal who was executed at the side of Christ. Only because salvation is a gift could Jesus say to him, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Lk. 23:39-43).



Dedicated To Whirlwind: Escape From Rahab's House, `the 0704 / Rahab, code`:
Time of Joshua, (Balaam)
http://www.christian-forum.net/index.php?s...c=23597&hl=

http://www.cwof.com/saved.html

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;



http://healmenow.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/grace3.jpg

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

WATCHER, this tells what the Lord has done for me !

Thank you, Watcher, for helping the forum have movement toward love !

THE GIFT OF SALVATION, OBEDIANCE IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE !




Scriptures That Teach Obedience Better Than Sacrifice ?, Seeking scriptures that mirror this message . . .
http://www.christian-forum.net/index.php?s...c=14515&hl=

John 15:18-21

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you... If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you... because they do not know Him who sent Me."