Doer
Regular Member
'I don't think this is so. God is just and merciful."
Let's take a look at that statement shall we? What does God being just mean to you? To me it means that God must punish those who break His laws, the Ten Commandments.
Let's take a look at a hypothetical witness encounter. Let's say I'm witnessing to an unsaved person, using the law in my presentation of the Gospel message. Here's how it has typically played out in the past.
Me: Have you ever stolen anything, irregardless of value?
Unsaved person: Yes.
Me: What does that make you?
Unsaved person: A thief.
Me: Have you ever told a lie?
Unsaved person: Yep.
Me: What does that make you?
Unsaved person: A liar.
Me: Have you ever used God's name as a cuss word, or to express frustration or anger?
Unsaved person: Yes.
Me: This is a very serious offense called blasphemy. You have taken the name of the creator of everything in the universe, of you and me, and used it as a way to express anger and frustration.
Me: Have you ever looked at a woman and had a sexual thought about her?
Unsaved person: Oh yeah.
Me: Jesus said that any man who looks upon a woman with lust has comitted adultery with her alreadyin his heart.
Okay, so by your own admission, you are a thieving, lying, blasphemous, adulterer at heart and you have to stand before a holy and just God on Judgment Day. If God is just and must punish those who break His laws, where do you think you will end up, in Heaven or in Hell?
*Now anybody who is being honest will know that they are going to Hell, if God is just, because they have broken His laws.
Me: But God made a way for us to avoid going to Hell. He showed mercy by sending His son to die on a cross in our place, to take the punishment that we all have earned through our sin. So in order to receive the gift of salvation, you must repent of your sin, that means acknowlege that you are a sinner, confess it to God, tell him that you are sorry for the sin you have comitted, tell him you want to turn from that sin, and put your faith and trust in His son Jesus Christ, and you will be saved from God's wrath.
"We only have a temporal lifespan; eternal damnation, condemnation or judgement is not a just punishment/reward for such."
Yes it is. When you are shown that you have broken the laws of God, Hell is the punishment for breaking those Laws. That is God's standard, 'break my laws, go to Hell'. You earned it, all by yourself. Let's look at it another way. If you were standing before a judge and had been found guilty of breaking some laws in this country and told him in your defense, that you only broke a few laws, and that you were really a good person and your good deeds outweighed your bad deeds, would you really expect a just judge to let you go free? Just because you said you were a good person and you were sorry for what you had done? No! Of course not! Justice would not be served at all, if he just let you go. So why should we expect God to let us off the hook, just because we say we're sorry?
Following your line of thinking, Jesus didn't have to die on the cross to take our punishment. I mean, if God is just going to let us in to Heaven because He's so merciful, we don't need a savior. Because what are we being saved from? Without the law to convict you of your sin and show that you are guilty, the cross doesn't make any sense. If you have plaecd your trust in Jesus, why have you done so, if God is just mercy and love and is going to let you into Heaven regardless of what you've done in opposition to Him?
"Just my opinion. A lot of pastors, evangelists will use the 'Hell rap' to scare people into their religion. Be careful who you listen to."
Based upon your statements, I am going to beg you to reconsider your position on this whole doctrine of Hell. Jesus spoke more about Hell than He did about Heaven. Why do you think that is? Was He just trying to scare people into doing what is right? I don't think so.
God does not lie, he said we will perish in Hell if we do not accept him as our lord and savior, and repent of our sins.
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