Quote:
Originally Posted by usgrant7
Good question?
It is a topic few appreciate, yet the rules haven't changed since the "garden".
Hell is a real place. People go there if they aren't reconciled with God. The story was written to bring that closer to people's conscience. Why I brought this story, here, was because I wanted to remind people of why we evangelicals are so serious about the ultimate destination of people's souls. As Christians, if we don't take the Bible for what it says about sin and death, seriously, then how can we tell a morally bankrupt nation, that there is something to fear at all?
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Part of faith is the knowledge of God's perfect judgment. You can't go through life thinking that someone may go to hell because of something YOU did or didn't do. You don't need to know whether someone went to heaven or hell, you just need to trust Him.
1 John 3:18-21
18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
21Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.
Doubt, fear and guilt. Feeling of unworthiness. They can't be part of faith. They are the antithesis of trust. They are incompatible with faith and hope (elpis). Faith, hope and love are great things. They lead to trust and trust is what gives us both power and peace.
Psalms 46:2
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
Psalms 46:10
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Be still, and know that I am God;
I may not be the best at expressing things in the written word, but I tried. I don't like to be preachy. Then again, I will write what I think as clearly as I can and if it seems preachy, oh well.
I'm sorry I can't be here for the next few days. I know I would enjoy this discussion and I'll get back to it as soon as I can. Trust is probably my favorite topic. I have very personal experience with the power of trust as well as the evil of fear.