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Gehenna
The Evangelization Station ^ | Victor R. Claveau, MJ

Posted on 04/22/2011 5:41:17 AM PDT by GonzoII

Gehenna

Victor R. Claveau, MJ

There are certain individuals and religious groups such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Seventh-Day Adventists that deny the existence of Hell or Gehenna.

Hell is the state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed, reserved for those who refuse by their own free choice to believe and be concerted from sin, even to the end of their lives (See Catechism of the Catholic Church §1033).

Jesus sometimes used the word “Gehenna” rather than the word “Hell,” when describing the final abode of the hardened sinner. Regardless, of how it is called, it is a place of eternal damnation.

Rarely, do we hear preaching about hell. There is a tendency to turn away from something, which many might find disturbing. Hell or Gehenna does exist, of that we can be quite certain. The pressing question should not be, “Does hell exist”, but “how can I avoid going there when I die.

There is possibly no subject more distasteful and unpleasant than the subject of Gehenna. Yet, Jesus spoke of Gehenna frequently. Throughout his preaching, he maintained that there are two and only two final possibilities for human existence: the one being everlasting happiness in the presence of God, the other everlasting torment in the absence of God.

In the parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus indicates that some will be condemned (Matt 25.31).

Faith teaches that Gehenna exists and that it is a p1ace of suffering prepared for sinners; that the sou1s of those who die in morta1 sin are sent there immediate1y after death; that the pains of Gehenna are eternal. These, our Lord said, in speaking of the sinner, shall go into eternal punishment, and the just into eternal life. He describes the fate of the damned under a great variety of metaphors: everlasting fire, outer darkness, and tormenting thirst. He calls Gehenna the fire that is never extinguished, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, and “here the gnawing worm shall not die.” Jesus Christ repeats in the Gospel as often as fifteen times that there is a Gehenna.

The sinner will suffer a double kind of anguish, called the pain of loss and the pain of sense. The first consists in the privation of the sight of God, the Supreme Good, and the last end of man’s existence. This privation is accompanied by the most desperate anguish. The second pain consists in the suffering caused by the avenging flames, as well as all the other torments, which are part of Gehenna. Instead of the company of God and His angels and Saints, the damned will have for their eternal companions, Satan and his demons, murderers, adulterers, thieves and liars.

Though the nature of the fire of Gehenna is not defined by faith, nevertheless the language of Scripture and of the Fathers of the Church leaves no doubt that it is a material fire, but endowed, by the power of God, with especial properties, in order to be the instrument of His justice. It acts directly on the lost souls, and makes them experience, without the medium of their bodies, sensible sufferings which, naturally speaking; they could only suffer through the organs of the senses. Gehenna surpasses in horror all that can be said of it, as it is a place of pure hatred and evil. There, one minute of torment would far surpass the rigor of a hundred years spent on earth in the most rigorous penance.

The nature of the pains is the same for all sinners, but the intensity differs; for each one suffers in proportion to his sins. The nature even of the suffering corresponds to the nature of the sins, which have provoked them. Those things by which they have sinned torment them.

The sinner retains their natural faculties of memory, understanding, and will. After the resurrection they will possess their bodies with all their members and senses, but only that they may expiate the abuse of them of which they have been guilty.

Their memory will keep the remembrance of their sins, and they will have them unceasingly before their eyes as the cause of their misfortune. From them they will derive frightful remorse, and the gnawing worm of conscience spoken of by Jesus Christ. They will recollect also the miserable pleasures of this life, for which they have bartered their immortal souls. Their understanding will know the blessings and goods of paradise that they might so easily have obtained, like many others and they will ever think of them with inexpressible regret.

All the while two words will echo in his soul: “forever” and “never.” “How long will I stay here?” “Forever” is the answer. “When will I get out of here?” “Never” is the answer.

Their will, irrevocably given to evil, will have only perverse and criminal tendencies, though their malice cannot further aggravate their punishment, because they no longer possess the necessary liberty to do evil; but their evil will, will form part of their suffering, as the good will of the elect will be part of their happiness.

What adds to the torments of Gehenna all the horrors of despair is their eternity, their interminable eternity. No dogma is more forcibly affirmed in Scripture and Tradition than the eternity of suffering. At the last day Jesus Christ will pronounce this sentence against the sinner: “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt. 24: 41). “And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. For every one will be salted with fire” (Mark 9:43-49). “They,” says Saint Paul, “shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (2 Thess. 1:9). The eternity of the pains of Gehenna is not opposed to divine justice. For as an eternal recompense is in no way contrary to the remunerative justice of God, so an eternal chastisement is not contrary to His avenging justice. For God only inflicts this punishment on those who die in mortal sin, which they have committed of their own free will. By committing mortal sin the sinner renounces God, and makes pride and selfishness his last end, consenting, for their sake, to become the enemy of God, and to be separated from Him forever. If he dies in this disposition of will, at enmity with God, he must remain so eternally, because the time for conversion and grace is past. He will therefore remain the enemy of God for all eternity, and will be forever treated as such; in other words, he will himself be the cause of his eternal punishment.

Of course, sinners may convert at their last moments of life. Wouldn’t it be much safer and more sensible to take Christ at His word? For those of us who fear Gehenna, it is best that we call out in the words of the disciples in the storm tossed boat: “Lord save us! We are perishing.” No person goes to Gehenna unless he wants to. Put your love and trust in God, serve Him and you have nothing to fear.

The Evangelization Station
P.O. Box 267
Angels Camp, California, 95222, USA
Telephone: 209-728-5598
E-mail: evangelization@earthlink.net
www.evangelizationstation.com
Pamphlet 131


TOPICS: Catholic; Theology
KEYWORDS: hell
A good post for today seeing Christ died this day to keep us out if we choose.
1 posted on 04/22/2011 5:41:21 AM PDT by GonzoII
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To: GonzoII
Rarely, do we hear preaching about hell.

"We" must not be a southern evangelical "fundie," lol. Preaching upon hellfire and damnation is not a rarity.

2 posted on 04/22/2011 5:55:53 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: RegulatorCountry

All I know is death and hell go into the Lake of Fire and it does not sound like a nice place. I have never understood my father’s position on this. Of course he is SDA which might be the problem.


3 posted on 04/22/2011 6:04:21 AM PDT by vicar7
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To: vicar7
Death and hell going into the lake of fire is victory over sin. It's Creation set aright from the fall. I can't pretend to speak for Seventh Day Adventists, but that is a very significant passage. It doesn't occur until after the Judgment, though, so applying it across the board might lead to confusion.

“Hell” can be confusing to people because many do not teach or preach it, as the article suggests. Those that do, sometimes latch onto particulars from either the Old or the New Testament without acknowledging the whole.

That there is punishment for unrepentant sin is the one thing that is not doubted by Christians. The Catholic purgatory, to me, appears to be a survival of the Hebrew Sheol. Sheol had levels of punishment, from the depths of Sheol where the rebellious angels and demons are bound in torment, on up through to Paradise or Abraham's Bosom, wherein one was gathered unto ones people, an apparently pleasant place.

The three days between the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ should be very informative to people who find their understanding of this matter to be lacking. This would be a very appropriate topic for Easter. Where was He during this time? What did He do and why? What are the implications for we, the living, in this day and time?

4 posted on 04/22/2011 6:20:27 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: vicar7
I think the main item of contention is that some folks believe that Hell is currently burning and will burn in eternity- forever. I think what SDAs believe the Bible/Jesus, when he says that death is like sleep, and the dead KNOW NOT ANYTHING!

The effect of Hell is that SIN is burned out of existence FOREVER- The RESULTS are FOREVER...- the ONLY hook that those who believe in the everlasting torment/ physical fire of hell have is the parable that Jesus told about the Rich man and Lazarus, that Jesus uses as a gentle jab at the Sadducees, who don't believe in an afterlife/resurrection

5 posted on 04/22/2011 6:21:29 AM PDT by beaware
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To: GonzoII

Those yielding and wanting others to yield to the bulliness of sin hate those who have something to retain in resisting against it. Thus hell is a fact, and it is a fact of Christ’s persecution, and denying that is denying any sense or concept of justice in the world.


6 posted on 04/22/2011 6:23:02 AM PDT by JudgemAll (Democrates Fed. job-security Whorocracy & hate:hypocrites must be gay like us or be tested/crucified)
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To: beaware

Hell is not the final destination it is the Lake of Fire that burns forever.


7 posted on 04/22/2011 6:28:08 AM PDT by vicar7
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To: beaware

I’ve had people who are exceedingly well read Biblically tell me that all the confusion over so-called “soul sleep” apparently conflicting with “to be absent the body is to be present with the Lord” is readily explained by understanding, from Leviticus and elsewhere, that the soul is in the blood. It’s the record of our existence, our memories and experiences, the cumulative total of a life. It does cease to exist or “sleep” until Resurrection.

The spirit, on the other hand, returns to Him. So, both are correct. Taking the one to the exclusion of the other leads to confusion. We were created in His image, triune. Body, soul and spirit. That’s the answer that is there for anyone who reads the Bible and accepts it whole, in its entirety.


8 posted on 04/22/2011 6:42:07 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: GonzoII

Proverbs One:

“The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate
knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.” (Proverbs 1:1-33)

God calls us to know Himself. He offers us “instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgement, and equity.” “I will make known my words unto you.” God isn’t keeping Himself aloof, distant, and hidden.

Paul told Timothy something similar: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

And then Paul’s chain of reasoning in Romans chapter ten, culminating in verse 17, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)

Thus we have the call of God to Himself through His Word. And not only in word but in deed. Consider this: “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)

And again, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” (Romans 5:8-9)

God has called us to Himself through word and deed. He has revealed Himself, speaking to us through His Son, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;” (Hebrews 1:1-2)

And He has revealed His image, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;” (Hebrews 1:3)

He is pleading with the world. “Wisdom crieth without, she uttereth her voice in the streets.”

Paul says of the Gospel, “But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.” (Romans 10:18)

There is revelation in word and deed through His Son, the prophets, and the apostles and evangelists, any of which should suffice. But there is also the testimony of creation itself, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.” (Romans 1:18-23)

“For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.” (Romans 3:3-4)

“Let God be true, but every man a liar”. “So that they are without excuse”. Therefore the conclusion is that we are all without excuse if we do not receive His words, His revelation of Himself in creation, and His revelation of Himself in His Son, and through His grace find faith for salvation. What is the upshot of that, failing to accept His callings?

Is there a condemnation? Yes there is; Jesus told us, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:16-19)

The world is already condemned, “he that believeth not is condemned already”.

“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world,” and men rejected it. Jesus is the Light, to reject Him is to reject God’s salvation and remain under condemnation.

What is it to God if we reject His Son? “He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:28-31)

Read Proverbs one again, “I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.”

God will “laugh at the unsaved”; God will “mock” the unsaved; God will not “answer” the unsaved; God will not be “found” by the unsaved. When when the unsaved “fall into the hands of the living God” they will know fear, desolation, destruction, distress, anguish. God will take vengeance upon His enemies, “Vengeance belongeth unto me”, He will have what is His own.

Jesus spoke of the condemnation, “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” (Mark 9:43-48)

“Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” Three times He said it. Eternal torment in hell fire. God will laugh at the calamity of those who reject Him, and mock at their fear, Never will He answer their pleas for salvation or even a little relief.

The unsaved will be, “cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:12)

The torment of the unsaved will be unbearable, without let up, never ending, and they will know that truth. But they will not merely suffer thus, they will suffer God’s vengeance in the mockery and laughter at them. They will be in His hands, terrified and tormented and mocked at.

“Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.” (Isaiah 63:2-4)

“I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury”. Who can bear to face God in His anger?

At the end of the age, “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Revelation 19:11-16)

At the end of the age, “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9)

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” (Hebrews 9:27) And after this judgement, then what?

This: “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:11-15)

No relief, no rest, no second chance, no peace, only torment.

“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.” (Isaiah 66:22-24)

Escape from the lake of fire, once cast in, is not possible, but today it is still possible to find salvation from such a condemnation, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:12-19)

The condemnation is for unbelief, for rejecting God’s only begotten Son, Jesus. Salvation is believing and receiving God’s only begotten Son: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:14-17)

Wisom cries out in the streets.

“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” (Psalms 2:1-12)

“Kiss the Son”. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Anything else is to be among those who have, “trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace”. That is what the thing called hell is all about.

Wisdom cries out in the streets.

And the cry is, “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” (Romans 3:22-26)

And the cry continues, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

And the cry is, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

And the cry is again and again, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

This is the good news that Wisdom cries out, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

“That He rose again the third day according to the scriptures” That is what we celebrate at Easter. This is our salvation.


9 posted on 04/22/2011 7:22:25 AM PDT by hfr (Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.)
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To: JudgemAll
"have something to retain in resisting against it[sin]."

I like the way you put that.

10 posted on 04/22/2011 8:45:28 AM PDT by GonzoII (Quia tu es, Deus, fortitudo mea...Quare tristis es anima mea?)
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To: GonzoII

It is an apt way to put it, isn’t it? I can attest, in my youthful ignorance I tried, really tried, to dive head first into much of the depravity of the world, it was an easy thing to do and seemingly expected. I never could quite let go like some of the people I encountered, something always held me back ... or looked after me, I lack the words for an explanation. It felt internal but maybe there was more than just an element of external. They knew it, too, never really accepted me, some of them hated me for reasons unknown at the time. I understand now.


11 posted on 04/22/2011 9:17:49 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: RegulatorCountry

What then is this “spirit”? Are we conscious of being with God?

If not, what use is it to us, or God?


12 posted on 04/22/2011 12:21:04 PM PDT by chesley (Eat what you want, and die like a man.)
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To: chesley
The spirit is experienced as your moral center, your conscience, the highest part of you that is capable of receiving the Holy Spirit. Your soul is your will, your loves and hates, likes and dislikes, your vices and preferences, the "you" of this world. The soul is intermediate between the spiritual and the physical, which would be the body acting in the world.

There is an ample amount of literature on this. If you're genuinely curious you can begin where the matter is addressed at the inspiration of God, the Bible. Here is but one example, from Hebrews 4:12:

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The Apostle Paul wrote more than just a bit upon the soul and the spirit as well. I've previously mentioned that the soul is clearly in the blood, according to the Old Testament Leviticus. It's a misconception that the two, soul and spirit, are synonymous. A thorough reading of the Bible will bear this out. A look at the books of the Bible in the original language(s) will even further bear this out as well.

Soul and spirit are not the same. There is a natural body and a spiritual body, according again to Paul in I Corinthians. The soul is the life you live, your personality and your memories within that natural body.

13 posted on 04/22/2011 1:51:14 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: RegulatorCountry
Your soul is your will, your loves and hates, likes and dislikes, your vices and preferences, the "you" of this world.

So then, your consciousness, which is basically you, either does not exist or is asleep.

It's not like I am unaware of these distinctions. My grandmother was a JW, and we had interesting discussions while she was alive Thanks for your info.

14 posted on 04/22/2011 7:01:39 PM PDT by chesley (Eat what you want, and die like a man.)
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To: chesley

It’s Biblically sound and an understanding that is not just limited to Jehovah’s Witnesses. The problem of perceiving an apparent conflict arises in latching onto one, for example “soul sleep,” to the exclusion of the other, for example “to be absent the body is to be in the presence of the Lord.”

That soul and spirit are not synonymous is readily demonstrated via numerous passages, both in translation and particularly in the original language(s). And so, the apparent conflict does not exist when all the related Biblical passages across Old and New Testament are taken as a whole.

The conclusion reached via the Bible is that man is a triune being, having been created by the triune God in His image.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=man+is+a+triune+being&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=


15 posted on 04/23/2011 5:27:14 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: GonzoII
Gehenna
Hell Has to Be
The eternity of hell
Hell Is Not Empty and "Pedophile Priests Will Go There" (Why Preaching on Hell is Salutary)
The Eternity of Hell
The Four Last Things: Hell

Catholic Caucus: HELL EXISTS AND WE MIGHT GO THERE!
John Calvin’s Worst Heresy: That Christ Suffered in Hell
Natural Calamities Divine Threats & Four Gates of Hell The four Principal Gates of Hell : I Hatred
Pope speaks with priests from his diocese about Heaven and Hell
Whatever Became of Hell? (HAS THE UNQUENCHABLE FIRE BEEN QUENCHED )
One Man's Visit to Hell
A Brief Catechism for Adults - Lesson 11: Hell
A Question Of Hell (One Minister Questions Its Existence)
Pope says hell and damnation are real and eternal
The fires of Hell are real and eternal, Pope warns

The Early Church Fathers on Hell - Catholic/Orthodox Caucus
IS THE NEW MASS ‘SOFT ON HELL’?
Heaven and hell seem to be forgotten
Which circle of Hell do You belong in?
"To Hell with Hell!": The Spiritual Dumbing Down of the Generations
Reflecting on Hell: Sermon for the First Sunday in Advent
The Reality of Satan and the Victory of Jesus and Mary (an Exorcist speaks out)
Beware the Serpent’s Promises
Americans Describe Their Views About Life After Death(Only One 1/2 of 1% Think They Are Hell-Bound)
Sister Faustina's Vision of Hell

16 posted on 04/24/2011 4:23:43 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: Salvation

Thanks for the addition..Happy Easter!


17 posted on 04/25/2011 2:19:18 AM PDT by GonzoII (Quia tu es, Deus, fortitudo mea...Quare tristis es anima mea?)
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