Human beings have severed their connection with God, and their souls have become palsied and strengthless by the deadly poison of sin.(CT 32)

The world must have an antidote for sin. As the medical missionary works intelligently to relieve suffering and save life, hearts are softened. Those who are helped are filled with gratitude. As the medical missionary works upon the body, God works upon the heart. The comforting words that are spoken are a soothing balm, bringing assurance and trust. Often the skilful operator will have an opportunity to tell of the work Christ did while He was upon this earth. Tell the suffering one the story of God's love.--Manuscript 58, 1901.

It is Satan's constant effort to misrepresent the character of God, the nature of sin, and the real issues at stake in the great controversy....At the same time he causes them to cherish false conceptions of God so that they regard Him with fear and hate rather than with love. The cruelty inherent in his own character is attributed to the Creator; it is embodied in systems of religion and expressed in modes of worship. Thus the minds of men are blinded, and Satan secures them as his agents to war against God. By perverted conceptions of the divine attributes, heathen nations were led to believe human sacrifices necessary to secure the favor of Deity; and horrible cruelties have been perpetrated under the various forms of idolatry.(GC 569)

M: I'm glad you believe we cannot know everything about God and heaven. Yes, the Bible often uses poetic and figurative speech to describe God. In some cases it would be absurd to take it literally. But as it applies to God glowing it seems entirely logical to take it literally. A&E were robed in light and glowed like God. Moses glowed when he returned from the mount. Divinity occasionally flashed through Jesus' garb of humanity. You're unwillingness to believe God literally glows baffles me. Why don't you believe God literally glows?

T: I've never said anything about God's glowing. To the best of my recollection, neither have you. Why do you have an opinion as to what I think in regards to this? I've never even thought of this, yet you're asking me why I don't believe it. What I have said is that important issues are spiritual ones, involving the character, as opposed to physical ones involving the flesh. Your posts strike me as being preoccupied with the latter.

Literal fire. The flood was involved literal water.

Why you think this has any connection to God's literally being fire seems odd to me. Should we conclude that God is literally water since the flood was comprised of literal water?

In the time of Abraham, mercy ceased to plead with the guilty inhabitants of Sodom, and all but Lot with his wife and two daughters were consumed by the fire sent down from heaven. {GC 431.1}

The world will have forgotten the admonition and warnings of God as did the inhabitants of the Noatic world, as did also the dwellers in Sodom. They awoke with all their plans and inventions of iniquity, but suddenly the shower of fire came from heaven and consumed the godless inhabitants. "Thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed" [Luke 17:30].--14MR 96, 97 (1896).

The inhabitants of Sodom passed the limits of divine forbearance, and there was kindled against them the fire of God's vengeance. {PK 297.2}

The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was on account of their great wickedness. They gave loose rein to their intemperate appetites, then to their corrupt passions, until they were so debased, and their sins were so abominable, that their cup of iniquity was full, and they were consumed with fire from heaven. {4aSG 121.3}

In the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, we see that the Lord will interfere; fire came down from heaven and destroyed these wicked cities. {TSA 52.3}

The inhabitants of Sodom, also, perished by fire, which was rained upon them from heaven, because they turned from God, and corrupting themselves, filled the earth with their polluted wisdom. {BEcho, February 1, 1897 par. 7}

God saw the corruptions of licentious Sodom, and, after hurrying Lot and his family from its borders, he rained fire upon the city, and it was turned to ashes, making it "an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly." When the world's Redeemer walked among men, bearing insult, reproach, and scorn, the Father beheld each indignity. Every word of mockery, every sneer, every act of contumely and hate, was marked in the books of remembrance. The Jewish nation suffered terrible judgments, because they rejected the Lord from heaven; but their deeds were not fully requited. Those who mocked and crucified the Son of God will come forth from their graves, and the deeds done in secrecy and darkness, as well as those done in the light of day, will be presented before them as they appear before the infinite Father. Every transgression will receive its just recompense of reward in the day of final retribution. {RH, March 27, 1888 par. 11}

When the first beams of the morning dawn, the inhabitants of Sodom are not aware of the departure of Lot and the angels. They were determined to abuse the strangers, but as they come to the house of Lot, it is found vacant, and the hour of doom comes upon them. And the Lord rains fire and brimstone upon the city, and the beautiful plain that looked like Paradise when the angels passed over it, now looks like a parched and blackened desert. The smoke of the burning goes up like the smoke of a great furnace, and the whole heaven is illuminated with the flames of the great conflagration. Sodom has become a place of desolation and ruin. {ST, October 16, 1893 par. 5}
The sin of the people rose up to heaven, and because of the iniquity of the people, the Lord poured out the vials of his wrath. The fearful doom of Sodom stands forth as a warning for all time, and especially for those who live in the last days. The destruction of Sodom was a symbol of the destruction that will come upon the finally impenitent, when tempests of fire come from above, and fountains of flame break forth from the crust of the earth. The fate of this ancient city should be a warning to all who live for self, and who corrupt their ways before God. The sin of Sodom is the sin of many cities now in existence, that have not been destroyed as was Sodom. Ezekiel says, "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me; therefore I took them away as I saw good." {ST, October 16, 1893 par. 6}

Sodom was destroyed by bolts of fire from heaven. {ST, May 26, 1898 par. 7}
But as Sodom perished in the flames of God's vengeance, so will these proud structures become ashes. {ST, October 9, 1901 par. 3}

And Jude says, "Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" [Jude 7]. {19MR 105.1}

kland, It's not clear whom you were asking, but I spoke to this issue in post #122584.

The Bible presents two possible outcomes with the Fire of God's Presence: 1) combustion, and 2) no combustion. In the latter case, it is always on account of righteousness and/or sinlessness, and in the former, there is always sin. The bush had not sinned.

Likewise, there is none which says "God is bread."

I'm glad you recognize that it was literal fire which burned Sodom and Gomorrah. That fire represented God's vengeance, and indeed, His own Presence.

Tom, Are you being serious when you say that God will not burn the wicked in hell, with fire, as this would be "torture" and against the principle of love upon which His government is based?

Or were you just trying to goad the discussion?

I truly am surprised you think the fire in Sodom was real fire.

Certainly, it was a very sad event; not so much for the manner of destruction, as for the fact that the people had so dramatically rejected God.