Quote:
Originally Posted by Melwirth
It hurts to know that people actually believe that God would send people to Hell because they did not have the opportunity to accept the Gospel and learn about Christ.
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Again, the reason He's sending them to hell is
because they have sin. If He was going to do what was fair, it would have just stopped there and every single one of us would have gone to hell full of sin. He could have just done that and He still would have been perfect and good and amazing, because that's what we all deserved. But, since He loves us and wanted us to live forever with Him, He chose to send Jesus to take our punishment and give a second chance to all who will believe.
Also, again, everybody has the oppertunity to accept Him. The bible says that no man has an excuse to not believe in His existance, because there is proof all around them (if you don't believe that much, you're going to have to argue with God, not me- because that's written in Romans 1:18-20). So, every human did have a chance to believe in His existance. And, the bible says that all who seek will find (Matthew 7:7)- so if they took the fact that He existed and chose to seek Him, He would have showed them the truth and they would have had the chance to be saved. Everyone had the chance to accept Jesus, even if someone hasn't directly preached to them yet. If you disagree with that, you'll have to talk to God about that part, because I didn't write the bible...and I think that's all I know on the subject anyways, so I don't really have anything else to add. I can try though if you have any other questions.
My pastor actually told a really cool story once that reminds me of that. I can't remember where he heard it or who the story was about, but it's a true story. There was this guy who lived in a country in the middle of nowhere where nobody had even heard of the possible existance of a God. This man looked around him and realized that there HAD to be a creator of the world, because it was too amazing for there not to be. He wanted to know what or who this higher power was. He basically shouted/prayed (though he didn't know it was called praying) to God (though he didn't know He was called God) and said that he wanted to know who/what this higher power was. He was truly seeking and willing to know whatever the truth was. That night, he had a dream saying a man with a black book would tell him the truth. Not long later, a missionary came to his village (which had never happened before). He saw the missionary carrying a black book (a bible)! He ran up to him and begged him saying "Tell me the truth!!!". The missionary told him about God and Jesus, and the man got saved!!! This is proof that anyone can accept Jesus. He came to the conclusion about God on his own without any human's help, and then asked to know the truth with a willing heart, and God told him- just like the bible says!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Melwirth
if they dont accept Christ that will send them to Hell, it's sinning that does which im guessing you meant to say not repenting for our sins will send us to hell, because after all we all sin so we all must repent. But if we need to repent of our sins to "save our soul" as you say, wouldnt accepting Christ need to be apart of the repentance process? He did atone for our sins correct? So yes it is about accepting Christ isn't it?
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Oh, I didn't mean to say that we don't have to accept Christ! We absolutely do! Sorry, that was probably bad wording on my part. I just meant that it's not "You didn't accept Jesus so He's sending you to hell!", it's "You sinned, so He's sending you to hell because that's fair. If you would have found Jesus, you would have gotten more than fair." Does that make more sense?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Melwirth
Did you know that there is time spent in a place between death and the Resurrection and judgment? Time in a place called the Spirit World but it is divided into paradise and spirit prison....spirit prison isnt as bad as it sounds.....its a place for those who didn't have the opportunity to learn to learn and to repent if they so choose there are scriptures that talk about it 1Peter 3:19 which says "By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison:" I suggest reading the rest of those verses too. and 1Peter 4:6 "For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they may be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." I suggest you read all of Chapter 4 it explains it all. But there it is, there is the answer....they will have the opportunity to learn. so bottom line....we try and reach those we can and because we are imperfect we cannot reach everyone so God has made a way to save them too.....doesnt that sound more like God?  |
In the Old Testament, there was a place called Sheol (which is the original word for the paradise/spirit prison that you mentioned), because since Jesus hadn't died to save people yet, nobody could get to Heaven. Everyone went to Sheol. When Jesus died, He went to Sheol and gave them all the chance to accept Him because He had just died for them. That has nothing to do with today. Sheol was a holding place until Jesus made the way for them to get to Heaven. When He died, He went there and told them what had happened, and many of them were saved. The rest went to hell.