Merciful?
There are lots of interpretations (opinions) on how to get through the gates. Does one have to attend church / tithe / preach the word OR can one can get in by using the Bible as guidance to praising the Lord while living a life which respects the (his) body which is on loan to you?
I sure hope he is merciful.
"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."
- Albert Camus -
I really do not know, all I know is that I died, and was sent back here, why I do not know, there must be a special purpose in GOD's mind ?Originally Posted by Gobeyond
That's true. In both this life and an eternal later
Correct again. There is only ONE unforgivable exception to God's forgiveness; blasphemy of the Holy Spirit as a liar when he testifies to our hearts about Lord Jesus.He is merciful when we sin and there doesn’t seem to be any limit. God is faithful when we are not.
Absolutely. We MUST be born again in faith in order to be saved and while none of us lives as well as we should we cannot be born again if we remain as we were without evidences that we are indeed new in heart. Claiming to be believers is hollow if there is no evidence of spiritual change in our lives.And we shouldn’t continue in sin when HE presents the gospel to our heart.
No. We will only be beheld accountable for failing to do what we know about and can do.But the mentally ill have the same standard as the rest of us?
Some preachers (usually those of the loud and self righteous gasp and shout school) judge people for their poor church attendance. I suspect harsh pulpit judges would have much better church attendance if they would (1) strive to give better sermons, plus (2) spend more time softly telling folks about God's gentle love and less time shouting at them about how vengenful He might be.And if a person is so sick that they don’t go to the local church very often, but go to church online instead.
Going to "church" for the right reasons is good for us but no one has yet been sent to hell due to a spotty record of church attendance.
1. God can do whatever he chooses to do but he won't do anything contrary to his nature. Remember that our ticket to heaven is by the LOVE of God, heaven is NOT something we can earn.Can God deny them heaven or the rapture? And how much weight does your pastors opinion count for. God is merciful but God expects obedience.
2. You can bet that God isn't going to consult with a pastor or anyone else about your acceptance in heaven.
3. God desires perfection but in his mercy, like our own earthly children, he knows we won't achieve that. That's why Jesus chose to die on a bloody cross to pay the full penalty for our sins. Never forget for a moment that salvation is a freely given gift from God, it's not a due payment for some unknowable level of human service. In fact, if any part of our salvation had to be fairly earned no one would ever be saved! (Eph 2:8-11)
Peter: How many times must I forgive this brother who’s doing me wrong? Seven times?
Jesus: Let’s go with seventy times seven or as much as it takes.
Matthew 18
"My main ambition in life is to be on the devil's most wanted list."
Leonard Ravenhill
Good morning snowwolfe.
What I've gotten so far from studying is that we get to come here to decide whether to go with our father or go with the rebellion. If somebody gets straightened out then there's a place for him and there's the mercy, the love, the compassion.
We're attending daily classes on what the rebellion is good for.
If somebody wants rebellion, just wants it their way, then there's the road.
So yeah, my understanding of the matter is that it's His way or the highway.
How merciful? Great.
Micah 6:8
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
"I don't have hobbies - I'm developing a robust post-apocalyptic skill set"
I may be discharged and retired but I'm sure I did not renounce the oath that I solemnly swore!
I've heard it called tough love.
Look at how He deals with His children that come to Earth without passing through the water.
Pretty tough.
It seems there are a few lines that God tells us that should not be crossed.
Four Examples would be.
A) Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost
Matthew 12:31
31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
B) Homosexuality will get you given over to be a Reprobate
Romans 1:26-28
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
C) Taking the mark of the Beast
Revelation 14:9-10
9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
D) Adding to or taking away, tampering with or perverting scripture with false doctrine
Revelation 22: 18-19
18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
To those of you who doubt God and his compassion, you can do it. You have only to humble yourselves to him and He will lift you up. Believe Him, He is trustworthy. He will do all He has said He will do. He sent Jesus and he proved he was God. You can believe him- the good with the bad. He will have a relationship with you. He has armed you to fight the enemy and find freedom in him. Freedom from the guilt of sin and freedom to live your life in him. Don’t be addicted to your sin, God can free you. Repentance is for getting forgiveness and trying again. You at least have to be trying.
God is merciful, He wants holiness not perfection. He is a comfort in our struggles. God of all comfort. He has given us all we need to be godly. He has taken away our animosity with God. We can pray to him he is not our enemy. Make the best of it.
He has given us a hard row to hoe. But we can do it with his strength. We can be victorious in living. He loves us. If we are working toward him, he will meet all our needs according to His riches in glory.
God is good and his timing is perfect. Reach out to him and he will touch you. There is plenty to be glad about in the Lord.
His yoke is light his burden is easy. How many of us came to him for Gods promise of rest. Life is hard then you come to Christ hopefully. It is foolishness not to.
i dont believe you need a bible either. for most of history since the birth of Jesus normar people didnt have bibles or access to them. did none of them go to heaven. the jewish people worship the same God we do but dont use the new testament. does that mean none of them can go to heaven? i think you said something very correct though the bible is a guide or instruction book. I dont believe it was meant to be used like some do. their whole religion consists of studying the bible. obsessed with finding hidden meanings in it, twisting scripture to fit there agenda. worse of all using it as a tool to impress others by memorizing it.
because of people like that the bible has caused more fights and arguments and even wars the any other book in history. its an instruction manual and ill catch flack for this. i dont believe it was wrote by God. if so why didnt the son of God, Jesus, didnt tell us all it wouldbe given to us by his father. He is one with God and would have surely known. it was wrote by catholic munks and thats why it can be confusing. i would think if God wrote it he wouldnt have left room for man to debate HIS words. i think its a useful tool. kind of like a repair manual. if i want to know what oil to use in my ram i can look it up. but i dont waist my time finding out what the chemical composition of it is or where it was refined or where the crude came from. my time is much better spent changing the oil. God wont test you on bible knowledge at the pearly gates but he might just ask you why you wasted so much time that could have been used to help others memorizing a book.
think about the FACT that disagreeing on scipture meaning is responsible for splitting christians into over a hundred different churches with more every year even today and how that has weakened christianity. i know people that detest other faiths more then they detest atheists. all do to egotistical beliefs that they understand the real meanings in the bible and the rest of us are wrong
Last edited by Lloyd Smale; 06-25-2023 at 05:00 AM.
John 14:6
New King James Version
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
"through him" are the key words. not through a book that some get so carried away with that it becomes an idol that they worship as much as God. your time is much better spent in prayer to God then memorizing scripture or worse yet trying to find some secret message in it so you can be the star at friday bible study. Remember one HUGE TRUTH. Jesus never even once mentioned the bible. He had no clue some catholic monks would write it. Only bible he verified as the word of God was the old testament and i never heard him tell his apostles they had to memorize it to be a good Christian or a good preacher. I doubt all the apostles could even read. the only one theres proof of literacy that i ever saw is Jesus and Paul. Id bet that as late as the 1800s not one person in a hundred even saw a bible. If they did chances are it was written in Latin and even them most people couldnt have even read it if it was in english. i dont think it was even translated into english till around 1500. even i can remember as a young kid going to the catholic mass and the mass was in Latin then. I believe Christians before 1500 believed they could get into heaven without holding a bible they memorized over there heads.
Last edited by Lloyd Smale; 06-25-2023 at 08:21 AM.
Lloyd, you are right - it is 'through Christ', not through any Church or any other organized religion. All too many people believe in the Church, but no Church has saving power. Only Christ has that.
Wayne the Shrink
There is no 'right' that requires me to work for you or you to work for me!
How merciful is God?
We have His Word.
We have His witnesses, people who have had their lives changed by faith.
We have prayer, to ask Him to change our lives.
We have a sanctuary, a holy place to step over the stumblingstones.
We have men called, equipped, chosen to lead us in our walk.
We have our own relationship with the Almighty, our faith, individual.
And we have the world that rejects salvation and worships itself, American Idol.
"Faith comes from hearing
and hearing comes from the Word of God"
(is that from Hebrews?)
I have faith a monk did not write the Bible
they only dared to make copies, and we can find their typos.
So who wrote the first Bible?
G1:1 "In the beginning, God..."
Amen
on which day did he create the first paper mill and why didnt he tell his son he wrote it? youd had better have faith because the facts dont back up your believe. its pretty much common knowledge that the first bible was wrote by monks. just as factual as all Lutheran faiths have there roots in a disgruntled catholic priest. even his beliefs were closer to the catholic church then they are some of the modern liberal Protestant faiths that came from his beliefs. in my opinion for what its worth to go to heaven i have to have faith and belief in GOD AND HIS SON. I dont have to have faith in a church or book or any mans opinion on either of those.
Last edited by Lloyd Smale; 06-25-2023 at 12:55 PM.
It would seem that from the Bible quote above that only Christians get to the Father (Heaven).
God loving people (Jews, etc.) who died before or after the coming of Jesus apparently did not make it to heaven.
I do not agree with that belief despite how that Bible passage has been interpreted.
We are all God's children....not just the Christians.
1A - 2A = -1A
i totaly agree with you.
since no one can speak from the grave I dont think any of us mortal souls will ever know for sure how merciful god is. the only reference we have is from words written by other men. I guess we will each find out on our judgement day.
in the mean time, go without sin and do your best to live your life each and every day in the best way you possibly can. and hopefully we will lead productive meaningful lives that can be a good example to your children and others who you involve in your life.
how many days has it been since I was born? how many days until I die? they go by very quickly so use your time wisely.
Where exactly did those 2 key words "through him" come from? My guess would be the Bible
Obliviously you were embarrassed during a Friday bible study that you were ill prepared to defend your position, so now you have taken to criticizing the entire New Testament as being fraudulent to make yourself feel better
Not sure how anyone could make that statement with a serious face.
Who exactly wrote all that Old Testament Scripture that Jesus had "memorized" and quoted constantly? That would be "men" by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit... the same as the New Testament.
This explains a lot regarding your disdain for the bible.
If I am not mistaking, it was the Catholic church that burned folks at the stake for owning, reading or memorizing the bible back in the day.
Just to be clear... What part of the New Testament Bible do you think is legitimate scripture?
Jesus is the word or Bible, the Word is Jesus. You can all think of excuses not to do stuff including believing the Bible. It was written after Jesus ascended to heaven. By the very men whose name is on it, under the influence of the Holy Spirit. They agree and they all have a different message to teach. Four views of Jesus, five really with Paul. The same but different. How else could we remember for so long. They haven’t changed only the language. (: all Jews, but the Jews largely didn’t believe Him. So they wrote it down- eyewitnesses!
The Jews who had died were preached by Jesus in Sheol. If they believed in the messiah then, they went to heaven. Roman historians wrote of Jesus, clues have been found of the times. Mostly it’s a leap of faith by trusting in God. Don’t be unbelieving but believing…. The Bible is all about Jesus, we need it. Otherwise what have you? It is the inspired words of God. You can’t get yourself saved any other way, but by following Jesus, believing him and getting your sins forgiven by God. Only God can forgive sins. God is merciful, but it takes some obedience too. You can make a decision for Him and continue in it. You can stop the major sins, you can lead a holy life and you must! It takes devotion to the truth of Jesus Christ, the father and the Holy Spirit and there perfect will for you.
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