Posted on 02/23/2015 5:15:08 AM PST by Gamecock
Full Title: Do We Deserve Heaven? Thinking that I deserve heaven is a sure sign I have no understanding of the gospel.
Religious people are always profoundly disturbed when they discover that they are not, and never have been, true Christians. Does all of their religion count for nothing? Those hours in church, hours spent doing good things, hours involved in religious activity—do they not count for something in the presence of God? Do they not enable me to say: “Look at what I have done. Don’t I deserve heaven?”
Sadly, thinking that I deserve heaven is a sure sign I have no understanding of the gospel.
Jesus unmasked the terrible truth about His contemporaries. They resisted His teaching and refused to receive His Word because they were sinners—and slaves to sin.
Some years ago, the British media reported that a Presbyterian denomination had pulled fifty thousand printed copies of an edition of its monthly magazine. The report indicated that the author of an article had referred to a prominent member of the British royal family as a “miserable sinner.”
Intriguingly, the member of the royal family, as a member of the Church of England, must have regularly used the words of the Anglican prayer book’s “Prayer of General Confession,” which includes a request for the forgiveness of the sins of “miserable offenders.” Why, then, were the magazines pulled? The official comment: “We don’t want to give the impression that the doctrines of the Christian faith cause people emotional trauma.”
But sometimes the doctrines of the Christian faith do exactly that—and necessarily so.
Or should we say instead: “How cruel Jesus was to these poor Jews! Fancy Jesus speaking to them in this way!”?
Jesus did say, “You are miserable sinners.” He unmasked sinners and drove His point home: “You have no room for my word” (John 8:37, NIV). They had heard, but resisted it. Later, He described the result: “Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say” (John 8:43, NIV).
Jesus had already patiently explained this to Nicodemus: “Unless God’s Spirit opens your eyes, you cannot see the kingdom of God. Unless God sets you free from the bondage of sin, you will never enter the kingdom of God” (see John 3:3,5). “The truth is,” Jesus said later, “you do not hear what I am saying because you are not really the children of God” (see John 8:41, 44). They were, to use Paul’s language, spiritually “dead” (Eph. 2:1).
Some time ago, while relaxing on vacation on a wonderful summer day in the Scottish Highlands, I sat outside enjoying a morning coffee. A few feet away I saw a beautiful little red robin. I admired its feathers, its lovely red breast, its sharp and clean beak, its simple beauty. I found myself instinctively talking to it. But there was no response, no movement. Everything was intact, but little robin red-breast was dead. The most skilled veterinarian in the world could do absolutely nothing for him.
So are we, spiritually. Despite appearances, in my natural state I am dead toward God. There is no spiritual life in me.
Only when I see this will I begin to see why God’s grace is surprising and amazing. For it is to spiritually dead people that the grace of God comes to give life and release.
It doesn't.
I don't answer questions yes or no based on the demands of others. I gave you the full answer.
So you are saying those departed Asians will receive Justice in the lake of fire.
I am saying that God will judge all righteously at a level that no of us can comprehend. Scripture teaches, as I posted you above, that there are no excuses. People how sin will be punished.
As stated above if you are so worried about those who have not heard the good news maybe you should go share that with them.
One Jewish answer is ‘tzimtzum’.
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2047206/jewish/Tsimtsum.htm
And I don't because I will not shove a round peg into a square hole.
Still no answer.
Yes there was. You weren't satisfied with that. Let's not confuse the two. Rephrase your question based on my answer and I will reply.
Here is the question again; How does perfection give rise to imperfection?
See the above.
It is your premise that the hearts and souls of a vast majority are doomed. Quite frankly, Christ never commanded His followers to judge the eternal fate of others. He commanded the Gospel be preached with Him as Lord and Savior. What we do know from Acts 17 is that those who hear have no excuse:
Acts 17:
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:
TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.
Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24 “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ 29 Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising. 30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” 33 So Paul departed from among them. 34 However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
We've been speaking of the dearly departed. I can't yell that loud:)
There's no need. You're not looking for and aren't interested in an answer. You're looking for a question that fits neatly into one of your preformed, canned responses. But at least you're honest about it.
Isn't that what the Bible says, that few will find the Gate?
**You’re looking for a question that fits neatly into one of your preformed, canned responses.**
Funny. I was thinking the same thing about you.
Matthew 7:13-14King James Version (KJV)
13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Not limited to 'vast' amounts of Asians.
Our life is God's gift to us; what we do with that life is our gift to God.
“If God had made everyone and everything perfect, wouldn’t we all be little robots?”
Is God perfect?
Is God a robot?
yes.
no.
Negate the question, no, but it does answer it.
Church is not a rest home for saints; church is a hospital for sinners.
nice way of looking at it
When I pray for forgiveness, I always end up crying. When I pray for the healing of myself and others, I usually end up crying. My heart is so soft in love it breaks when I pray. So when I connect to God, my heart is turned to mush and I weep for no particular rational reason that I understand.
None of us know who is going to heaven or anything much about that. It’s up to God. Jesus came to reconcile us with God. I trust Jesus’ saving grace. What will be, will be, beyond that. As a sinner, that’s all I have. Not much use in fretting about it or arguing about it.
Yes.
Is God a robot?
No.
(Let me know if you have any more puerile questions; I'll be happy to answer them.)
So being perfect does not make a thing a robot.
Of course not, don’t be ridiculous!
It does make Him Holy though, and that is our common issue. He is Holy and we aren’t.
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