Quote:
Originally Posted by Megan1
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!
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?
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.
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Yes, everyone will have the chance to be saved (people arent actually "saved" in this life tho, they have gained salvation, which is different, salvation is the process of being saved.....no one is saved yet, not you or I)....but for some it will not happen in this life, what about Children who have reached the age accountability but didnt have parents who teach them and die? They werent given the opportunity in this life but they will in the spirit world. And they will need baptism just like the rest of us....thats when baptisms for the dead comes in. It does talk about that in the bible as well. If we are to supposed to have baptisms for the dead then why would they not have the opportunity to learn and accept the gospel in the spirit world. No body is in Heaven or Hell yet (not that Hell actually exists but I dont wanna get into that right now
PM if you wanna know about that but read 1Corinthians ch15 first ps all of my scripture references are from the King James version of the Bible ) Everyone is in the spirit world until the second coming. And those scriptures that you are talking about, yes the wold we be preached to, missionary efforts will expand but there will be those who will slip through the cracks. I highly suggest you reading 1Corinthians ch15, I could also give you scripture references to The Book of Mormon as well but I doubt you would want anything to do with that.....so thats why I have just stuck to the Bible.