You read my post didn't you? About the part where it all comes down to faith. I have no way of knowing whether Jesus even exists! All i have is a book filled with some nice and scary things. Even assuming everything written is true, I still have to accept that not everyone will go to heaven, and will suffer miserably forever.
Personally, this is extremely troubling. I find it hard to accept such a notion as good. It's as if there is an ultimatum "My way or the highway". How can i freely choose salvation and God, given the circumstances? Fear will always have a hold of my life and i simply cannot bear the thought of nodding to such horror to occur to others. It's not all good, theres some disturbing beliefs mixed in.
This God won't even make Himself clear, yet He demands such obedience and respect with dire consequences should you disobey. I struggle to see how a healthy relationship can be built upon the entire premise. If i'm missing some vital knowledge then enlighten me!
Hi Iakobos, you have to chill a little bit because getting angry isn't going to help in any way. Situation is that someone opened a can of worms and let evil enter the world. Now humans can choose to be good or evil, but God doesn't want people who like to do evil, He only wants people who love to do good (righteousness).
What is good and evil is defined by God in various ways to various people. Ultimately it is your conscience that you need to obey
Romans 2:14.
We are told according to Jesus that heaven is God's throne. We are told that those of us who can't stand in God's magnificent glory will be flung into outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing teeth (obviously regretful about having wasted their life in sin).
The book of Revelation tells us what will happen when Jesus returns to rule the world as king, which may happen any day, or may not happen for thousands more years. When that time comes, Jesus will sort those who love Him from those who hate Him, and will throw those who don't love Him into the lake of fire. The way John the baptist said was "burn the chaff". Now if you know how chaff burns, you'll notice it doesn't last long. The lake of fire is called the "second death" and it follows the judgment of the great white throne.
So it is my belief that the second death is a permanent death, there is no mention of a third death and the only place that says "they will be tormented forever and ever" is
Revelation 20:10 which says that the devil, the beast and the false prophet will be tormented for "eons of the eons". So my understanding is that if you die without belonging to Jesus, you cannot enter heaven and you will be punished and eventually burnt into nothing along with death and hades. So death and hades will be totally abolished. Read
Revelation 21 to see the promised everlasting reign.
This present age on earth is kind of like Noah building the ark. We are being warned of an impending doom, if you choose not to believe God's warning and fail to enter the ark, then you will be swept away by the flood. Jesus even used this analogy once when He taught:
Build on the Rock
24 Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.
28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Jesus is referring to the coming judgment of the great white throne. If we are wise and build on His teachings, He is telling us that we will survive the flood.
