Do You Think You Would Regret..... (Jesus, punishment, mystic, choices)

[Scuba Pete]

Originally Posted by roli

I can see how many will run with that verse and think if they just love each other as we know love.

Stop for a moment. Get out of the "Spiritual Combat" mentality for a second. Take a deep breath and re-read my last post. You missed the entire point.

You can NOT badger someone into the Kingdom of Heaven. They have to be loved into the Kingdom.

Jesus looked at the sinner and instead of BADGERING them, he loved them. He even forgave them. Then he went and died for them.

Badgering is not a successful strategy for winning the lost. Really, really.

[roli]

Originally Posted by `PaWz

I refuse? Absolutely not. God has been silent to me this whole time. I was a Christian for 14 years, and I asked God to help me. I got nothing from Him. He is the only one to blame.

Your reasoning will only drive people away from your religion. Keep it up.

I'm sorry to hear that's how you feel PaWz,but my reasoning has nothing to do with driving people away.
We all do a very good job of that ourselves,silence is often an experience we as christians encounter,but that is not to say God has abandoned us ,or left us hanging.
It only feels that way, he knows we are longing for him,.calling out to him in our own way,in our particular circumstance,but sometimes that silence or so it appears is really when God speaks to us the loudest,it's usually our souls are so over active with,anger ,worry,impatience,discourse and the like that we drown out that small still voice.
We expect him to respond when and where we desire and when those conditions or expectations are not met ,we then place God outside the box and there he remains.
But the beauty of this whole thing is he still remains knocking on the door of our heart,if we can only get over the offense and anger,we might just open the door and find him waiting and wanting to fill us with himself

[Booko]

Originally Posted by roli

If you did stand before God the moment you leave this life ,"Do You think you would regret the fact that you spent your life pursuing logic,reason,emperical evidence,refuting the christian theological doctrines ,evidence,historical/geographical studies,the bible,Jesus ,God Heaven,Judgement,hell punishment.

IMO there's a world of difference between refuting Christian theological doctrines and refusing Christ.

Theologians do their best with difficult subjects, obviously, but unlike Christ, they are all just normal fallible humans.

I can accept the idea that if I were a Christian, in the interest of unity of the Church it would be better not to put myself in opposition to it, but as I'm not a member of the Church, my hands are not tied in that regard.

I pursue logic and reason as tools that God has given to us that were intended to be used. I don't take it to the extreme and think they are the only tools we have. I'm not in the habit of refuting historical evidence, so nothing to excuse myself for their either.

Would you blame God for not following after him because of the hypocracy,all the denominations,the conflict between the christian community,the atrocities of historical religion and so on.......

I don't blame God for that now, so I've no idea why I would bother to after death.

Or would you be regretful,humble and ashamed that you made the wrong choices.

I seriously doubt I have everything 100% right, and I seriously doubt God does not realize that He created us finite and that we are not omniscient.

Would you at that point beg for mercy,or do you think you would submit to his decision of eternal punishment.
What would you do????

What is the point in begging for mercy? If God's justice is going to exceed his mercy, I don't know there's anything I could say that would change His mind about it. Such decisions are way above my pay grade.

[roli]

[quote]

Interesting, do you realize this whole life is a spiritual battle and Jesus in actuality commands us to place the spritual armour on Eph 6:12,not take it off,just a side note for your knowledge.
He says our struggles are not flesh and blood like many may think ,but it is spiritual in nature
He did love them into the kingdom by his death in hopes that they would love him back ,key word here scuba man, love him back ,serve him ,obey him etc.
Jhn 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Jhn 3:16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

[

He loved them yes ,that is the point of his death, but do you forget the strong words he preached and in a sense he badgered them to the extreme and by that they tried to kill him numerous times and eventuallly succeeded.
This love that you speak of sounds to me like your referring to some sugar coated,politcally correct type of love that just oozed with stroking words that made everybody fuzzy inside and never offended anyone,you must indulge yourself in the reading of scripture to know the scoop.

Jhn 3:18He 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.
Mat 23:33 [Ye] serpents, [ye] generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
I did'nt allude to such strong and seemingly offensive words with you as he did to the religious leaders.
It sounds to me you always go back to the love thing and many do, but it sounds like a very valid point to get hung up on but He came to demonstrate love by means of his death on the cross,not by his conservative,well groomed, semantics and awe inspiring linguistics Along with his gentle messages to those who would receive it,he preached strong to those who continued to justify,refute and disobey him,he preached judgement,punishment,sin, hell and along with love.
You must mention the whole gospel,not just portions that give you goose bumps

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by RUone2

At my age I can honestly say that every day I give thought to my own death and how I will be judged. I think that like the sage in the old testament said, I will think or say Lord if you will count our sins, who will stand it? I hope that I am correct in believing that Christ died so that my sins be forgiven, knowing that I still have to avoid sin and the near occasions of it. I think I do my best, and thats all that can be wxpected of anyone. To me the command to love my neighbors is about the toughest of the commandments, but I truely try, and have grown away from judging people as I once did, believing that as I judge, so then will I be judged. I judge very lightly if at all. I'm a gay man and for me it's not an easy thing to think of the bigots, Oh well, they just don't know any better.

It sounds to me like as if you've got the really important parts down pat.

[MaddLlama]

Originally Posted by roli

This love that you speak of sounds to me like your referring to some sugar coated,politcally correct type of love that just oozed with stroking words that made everybody fuzzy inside and never offended anyone,you must indulge yourself in the reading of scripture to know the scoop.

Sounds to me that the love he's talking about is the kind that Jesus preached - you know, the kind of love that doesn't lead you to condemn people who don't see things your way, and not beat them with a constant stream of obvious, hard-nosed and obnoxious evangelism? The kind of love that lets you evangelize with your life and actions and not just regurgitated words?
But, hey, I'm not a Christian so what do I know about Jesus?

[UnTheist]

Originally Posted by roli

I'm sorry to hear that's how you feel PaWz,but my reasoning has nothing to do with driving people away.
We all do a very good job of that ourselves,silence is often an experience we as christians encounter,but that is not to say God has abandoned us ,or left us hanging.
It only feels that way, he knows we are longing for him,.calling out to him in our own way,in our particular circumstance,but sometimes that silence or so it appears is really when God speaks to us the loudest,it's usually our souls are so over active with,anger ,worry,impatience,discourse and the like that we drown out that small still voice.
We expect him to respond when and where we desire and when those conditions or expectations are not met ,we then place God outside the box and there he remains.
But the beauty of this whole thing is he still remains knocking on the door of our heart,if we can only get over the offense and anger,we might just open the door and find him waiting and wanting to fill us with himself

Your reason has everything to do with driving people away from what you believe in.
I wanted God to help me simply because I was depressed. I didn't ask for money, or a new car. It is ironic that when I gave up God, my depression diminished almost completely. I'll accept that It may have been a coincidence, but it seems God didn't want me to believe. Because I am happier now than I ever was as a Christian

[Scuba Pete]

Originally Posted by roli

Interesting, do you realize this whole life is a spiritual battle

II Corinthians 10:3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. NIV

Our battle is for the HEARTS and SOULS of the people. If you have lost sight of that, you are fighting a legalistic battle just because you can.

Ephesians 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. NIV

There you have it: our command to be GENTLE!