For one moment I would like you to imagine a scenario with me.....Imagine a society where the police always caught the criminals. But after always catching the criminals, the justice system let them go every single time with absolutely no punishment for their crimes.
What kind of society would that be?
Would that be a just society?
Would that be a fair society?
What would it be like for criminals and murderers and rapists and child molesters to be running around knowing that even if they get caught there will never, ever be any penalty for any of the crimes they are committing.
Would that be a society that you would want to live in?
What would you call a justice system that had results like that?
Even though justice in our current society is far from perfect, at least there is an attempt to catch criminals and bring them to justice.
But you know what?
A large percentage of Christians in America today believe that God is just like that first justice system that never, ever punished the criminals.
Today many Christians believe that God would never punish anyone for anything.
After all, "judgment" was an "Old Testament" thing, right?
Wrong.
The truth is that God is a God of perfect love AND of perfect justice.
The judgment of God is very real.
In 2 Timothy 4:1, the apostle Paul tells us that God will judge the inhabitants of this world:
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead
In 1 Peter 4:5, the apostle Peter echoes the same sentiments:
But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
In Hebrews 13:4 it tells us that God will judge those who are sexually immoral:
Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
In Revelation 11:18 we are told that God will destroy those who destroy the earth:
The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great— and for destroying those who destroy the earth.
In Hebrews 9:27 we are reminded that we only get one life (no reincarnation) and after that we face judgment:
Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment
Well, what about Jesus?
Wasn't his message all about peace and love?
Well, yes it was.
But also there was NOBODY in the Bible who talked about hell more than Jesus did. Just consider a few examples.....
Matthew 5:29
If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
Matthew 23:33
"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?
Luke 12:5
But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
The reality is that the Scriptures consistently tell us that a judgment is coming. In John 3:36 it says this:
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him.
The Bible consistently teaches that without Jesus to pay for our sins that we remain under the wrath of God. The love of God is very powerfully portrayed in Scripture, but also the perfect justice of God is also very powerfully portrayed. Just consider the picture of God's justice that is painted in the following passage of Scripture.....
2 Thessalonians 1:6-10
God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
But people don't like to hear about God's justice. They don't WANT to hear that judgment is coming. In fact, the people of today sound very much like the people that the apostle Paul was describing in Romans 2:5.....
But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
That's right.
Most people today are terribly stubborn.
They don't think they need God.
They think they can do whatever they want.
Even many people who "believe" that God exists think that He would NEVER judge them.
However, if we turn to the end of the book we read about the final judgment of humanity, and it should be sobering for all of us when we read what is to happen.....
Revelation 20:11-15
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
So is there any good news? Yes, there most definitely is.
Remember, God is a God of perfect love AND of perfect justice.
We stand guilty before God because of our sins, but God loved us so much that He sent His only Son to die on the cross to pay the penalty for OUR sins.
In John 5:24 it describes the destiny of those who are willing to accept Jesus into their lives and receive that forgiveness.....
I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
If you are interested in learning more about how you can receive Jesus Christ into your life, then we would encourage you to read the following information.....
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1049/1049_01.asp
I think a lot of people confuse forgiveness with consequenceless. If you believe and if you ask and repent God will forgive you, however He will never remove the consequences of your actions.
ReplyDeleteHow would a child learn if their parents never punished them for misbehaving? Sure the parents forgive the child, but they do not suddenly decide not to punish the child.
Some Christians just thik believeing is enough with God, that they don't have to sacrifice anything for God. But I think it's a silly way of rationale that God would sacrifice so much as His "only begotten Son" and yet we just want a free cruise into heaven. Heaven is for people who shall suffer persecutions, suffer the world's hatred, take up their crosses and follow God. So any Christian who is having an easy road on this earth, is surely not on the right road to heaven. (John 15:18-25, Revelations 12:17,Ephesians 6:12) And this is because as Christains we do not want to study our own religion, we hand it over to the pastors to do the work for us and we forget that God has already warned us that in the last days there will be false prophets (pastors) Isaiah 9:15,16 and Ezekiel 22:26, 28, 31. Rather we need to allow the bible and the bible only to guide us and be our road map to heaven (Psalms 119:105)! So the fact remains "For God shall brind every deed into judgement, with every secret thing, whether good or bad" Ecclesiastes 12:14.
ReplyDeleteI think you people are insane.
ReplyDeleteRight you are Brandon.
ReplyDeleteif you are good good follows
ReplyDeleteif you are evil evil follows
why get into the metaphysical semantics of whether god is the judge?
he speaks for himself, through us
What I see in a healthy interpetation of the Bible is just reality. Our bodies, and all other physical expressions, are doomed to fail. The inherent judgment that comes on them is about the same thing as one would have for any thing that doesn't (any longer~) fit the needs present. Our minds and its unifying sensitivities (hearts if you wish), relate much closer to the nature of the ~One-ing~ Spirit of what causes all existence; and is much more flexible and quick in refining a more precise expression, and to more properly relate to any given situation.
ReplyDeleteYou may wonder why so many things is this creation are slow to be refined and yet it is said that God is its creator and is glorified (ultimately by all its expressions). Of course, any creation is limited in its potentials. So God's fuller nature will always be greater. Yet despite that. Its expressions all depend on balance. A balance that may take eternity to be fully noted. (Yet note that science's equations are considered a valid way to note natures ways.)
From God's purist perspective, time is only an artifact of power's (or energy's) interacting with itself in space. The energy itself is moving so fast that Einstein notes that time is stopped or non-existent. God's ways don't change. Though our understanding and perspective of a proper way to relate to the Full Nature of Reality may.
One might also note a characteristic of the (hope I spell this OK) Boisen-Einstein condensate. All molecules in it have tha same energy state. Try to change one and they all change. Split it in two and the change one groups state and the other changes also without a time delay between the occurance. To me this says the a 'synaptic' potential can exist across and infinite space. So who says a mind of God (or other partial entities) cannot exist, even though we as a creature cannot see it.
Whatever, don't waste your resources. Use what allowance you are given as wise as possible. Your 'posterity' will reward you.
Again TIME is a conquered factor "in" God's "presence", if you will. The expression of the New Jerusalem in the Revelations is an expression of what that "relationship" is. An eternal river of life flowing from the Lamb, and Throne of God; gives rise to a tree of life (with multiple trunks) whose leaves are for the healing of the nations, bearing 12 types of fruit, one for each season. One's changeless principles are like the crystal walls and jewel foundations shine forth in different ways from different perspectives. In our walk in this life, we may note these principles with flashes of enlightenment that change the way we behave. Or we can be focused on the wolves roaming without, expressing short sighted unprincipled power, devouring and being devoured, even by the bugs getting in their systems. The full nature of reality rules, and we will be in harmony with it willingly or not. Yet if we're given to be wisened by God's graciously complete nature coming into our lives, we will be able to bear the fruit of that nature for God's glory. Even though wolves may have their day in this world sight, TIME is conquered and One's balance ever reigns over all in God's full perspective. We all hunger for God's bounty, yet do we seek to respect how that flows, and flows best.
ReplyDeletePS: The scientific light for the synaptic potential for the boundless mind of God (and other partial 'spiritual' entities), as I mentioned above for the condensate [actually spelled Bose-Einstein) can be read at this web-page. http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/44314/title/Mechanical_systems_all_tangled_up
THE LAW OF GRACE
ReplyDeleteIf it is law, it’s not grace; if it is grace, it’s not law. How, then, can there be such a thing called “The Law of Grace”?
Well, all that is, is. Therefore, that which is-in-itself (such as grace), by its very existence, is law. Whatever is-in-itself is law.
God is grace, for God is love! The grace of God and the God of grace are not separable.
In fact, a God Who were not grace would not be God, and would never have created anything either, since the act of calling into existence that which did not exist is an act of grace.
If the universe was created, then everything in it is grace, because there was nothing in it from which one could create.
If there were, then this preexisting thing would be its own essential reason, thus being something existing outside of grace.
The universe, however, is a cosmic outpouring of grace, because there is nothing in it which has not been called into existence out of nothing.
If nothing existed, then everything that exists is grace, for if, by an act of will of the One Who Is, that which is not comes to be, then all that flows from it is grace, since only grace can provide the substance that inexistence needs to exist, namely, love.
Love is an essential willingness to be and to create.
Love is the mover of any existence.
Love is the sustainer of life.
Love is grace, and grace is love! The Law of Grace, thus, is love.
Love is at the beginning of all things, because the God Who is love is also the One Who became the Lamb Who was slain before the foundation of the world.
No energy ever vibrated in the cosmos before love did. It is love that emulates life in its destination towards Life. Therefore, here is the Law of Grace for all humankind:
1st. Love God with the wholeness of your being.
2nd. Love your neighbor as yourself.
3rd. Love your neighbor by doing for him or her that which you want others to do for yourself.
4th. Never do to your neighbor that which you do not want to be done to you.
5th. Be righteous with the righteousness that does good, and is capable of forgiving mistakes.
6th. Be merciful according to the mercy that you want to be given by God and men.
7th. Be grateful in all things, according to your conscience that nothing is owed to you.
8th. Be filled with the faith that works out of love and brings the fruit of justice, which is peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
9th. Forgive always, and you will always be forgiven; for this is how you affirm by acts the faith you do have that everything Is Finished, for the one who forgives is also confessing that he believes in the Cross.
10th. Follow after true love, and do not be concerned about sin.
This is the Law of Grace according to the teachings of the Gospel.
Now, this law does not come from outside; instead, it is born within, and it is not something that can be attained through some overwhelming effort, but through the supreme effort-of-letting-go, which is translated into Total Trustfulness in the Grace of God.
In the Law of Grace, obedience is produced by restfulness, not restfulness by obedience.
In the Law of Grace, works come after faith, although the faith that does not generate works of love is dead.
In the Law of Grace, the ultimate work is to trust and rest in that which Is Finished, for this is the source where our beings get energy from in order to efficiently fulfill that which is the Law of Love.
Such is the Path-Law-of-Grace. Blessed is the one who follows it confidently.
http://gospelofjesuschrist.blogspot.com/