Saturday, August 5, 2017

Let me rephrase that ...instead, ask yourself what is the worst thing that you can think of that ever happened to a person??

I am not going to tally all those horrifically wicked and evil things.  It is for you to just put in perspective, how truly terrible things can be ...and have been for some people. 

And ask yourself whether you'd like to be in their position or circumstances. How could anyone say they would??
Or are you grateful for the much good in life, and that you have thus far not had to go through some of those intolerable things??

If you look at those who are experiencing the absolute worse life at this moment ...of course, you could confidently say they would like to be saved somehow from that torment.

On the other hand, there may be those who feel they are adequately comfortable enough ...and are not in immediate need of any change, as life seems well & good to them.

So, yes, who are those who feel they would want to be saved??

Yes, this conversation of being saved, or as some would call it ...salvation.

What is it that we feel we want to be saved from??

Those who fear each day, and see no end in sight from the constant torment ...they have no problem answering this question.

And they often receive the Good News ...of Jesus being their salvation.

Not everyone believes this, I know ...but, for those who do believe Jesus is our salvation, some people still believe you don't have to know that Jesus died for our sins. Yes, some believe His death alone covers us all, and that we don't have to know Him at all.

Yet, if that was the case ...then Jesus could have died before any of the apostles were drawn to follow Him, and He wouldn't have had to have any followers.  And furthermore, all of the apostles lived and died in vain, if this is your view on things.  And with that view alone, Jesus could have died at the beginning of time, not wait several thousand years.

Also, I did mention that the question of what Jesus died for ...does seem to be a question some people ask.  And the usual answer is, that Jesus died for our sins.

But, yes, we do even have difficulty at times defining what sin is ...and we believe we have the discretion to decide what it is, so it can change over time.

We often list sins ...at least we feel safe to mention the ones that we feel we all agree upon.  But, sin is not a fearful condition where we feel the urgent necessity to distance ourselves from others whom we feel our ideologies are incompatible with.  We are all sinners ...and we should all feel the urgency to somehow move in a direction that at least aims to curb the addictive nature of sin.

Sin is not how distant or separated we feel we are from others (though it can include this divisive approach) ...but rather, sin is merely our separation from God.  Sin is going against what God clearly has stated.

  

So, going back to the worst situation you've heard of, or can imagine ...and that situation is not as bad as hell.

Why is that??

There is the message that Jesus has brought us ...filled with hope, and the promise of a future with Him.  Yet, with hell, there is no salvation from there ...the only salvation from there, is the salvation of not having to go there.

Right now, we can choose our future ...but, the choice is made by how we choose to separate ourselves before we die.  Once we die, it is either new life ...or eternal death.

That's why we are told that sin, or separation from God, is death. Our eternity is either going to be with Him, or without Him.

Who is with Him now??

Those who are with Him, are with His truth.  And the fact is, we need Him for our salvation ...being saved from & separated from, all the evil we can imagine.  And of course, it goes beyond what we can imagine ...the bad does, yet the good does also.

For those of you who believe there is no hell, do you picture in your mind that heaven will be much like earth is now??  That image is certainly not a pleasant thought to me, but how would it be any different if not having a separation??

Yes, Jesus spend time telling us who He is ...and Jesus also said our Heavenly Father and He are One, also with the Holy Spirit. Jesus made this clear, and He also had the apostles well commissioned to make it clear who He is.  We have this all so conveniently and amply available to us ...in the Bible.

How many people don't believe the Bible is true?? 

How many people try to separate the truth of the Bible, and create their own feel-good version to satisfy their inner comfort zones??

Yes, the 6th Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, says that the wages of sin is death.  Because the sin, or separation from God ...if not turned around, is a continuing separation, which may lead to eternal separation.