Do you worship (serve) a god of Punishment, or the God of Purpose?
If you had the power to save every human being who ever lived, would you do it? What about unrepentant evil people like mass murderers, dictators who killed millions in war, mafia bosses, abortionists, rapists. child abusers, people who don't belong to the "right" church, or never said the "sinner's prayer"? And what about all the people who lived and died before Christ, or never heard of Jesus Christ? Just their tough luck... hmm?
If you answered "NO" you would not save any of those people because they deserve to be punished in an "ever-burning hell", then you are no better, or maybe worse, than they are.
Matthew 7:2 - For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
In Jesus's day Churchanity was teaching that our Heavenly Father is a vengeful god. “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, (organized religion) hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, (get rich from tithes, offerings, and make merchandise of the gospel) and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.“Woe
to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea
to win one proselyte (a person who has converted from one opinion, religion, or party to another), and when he is won, you make him twice as much a
son of hell as yourselves. (with false doctrines and traditions of men) ~Matthew 23:13-15
Read the words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 5. Pay close attention.
Would Jesus ask His followers to do something that He was unwilling to do?
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect (complete in correct knowledge), just as your Father in heaven is perfect. ~ Matthew 5: 43-48
As
Christ-Followers, it is not our place to condemn or judge other people.
We are allowed to condemn sin but not the sinner... God is the
righteous judge. It's a 24/7 job minding our own business. As it is
written: Philippians 2:12 - Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
What about the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:22?...
"But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.''
Doesn't that prove hell is a fiery place? Let's examine the two Greek
words, gehenna and hades, that the translators chose to call "hell fire or simply "hell."
“Hellfire” and "Damnation" has been basic teachings in Chrurchanity for many centuries. It is understandable why The Encyclopedia Americana (1956,
Vol. XIV, p. 81) said: “Much confusion and misunderstanding has been
caused through the early translators of the Bible persistently rendering
the Hebrew Sheol and the Greek Hades and Gehenna by the word hell.
Gehenna. Twelve of the NT occurrences of the word “hell” in the KJV are a translation of the Greek word, Gehenna.
Those twelve places are Matt. 5:22, Matt. 5:29, Matt. 5:30, Matt.
10:28, Matt. 18:9, Matt. 23:15, Matt. 23:33, Mark 9:45, Mark 9:45, Mark
9:47, Luke 12:5, and James 3:6.
Gehenna is a physical place in this world—a valley just outside the city of Jerusalem. Here’s the Wikipedia page about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gehenna. With
a history of child sacrifice in that place, it was thought of as a
cursed and eventually became the trash pit for the city, which meant it
was constantly burning.
Hades. Ten of the NT occurrences of the word “hell” in the KJV are a translation of the Greek word Hades,
which is the name of the Greek god of the underworld. Those ten places
are: Matt. 11:23, Matt. 16:18, Luke 10:15, Luke 16:23, Acts 2:27, Acts
2:31, Rev. 1:18, Rev. 6:8, Rev. 20:13, Rev. 20:14. It also shows up
translated as simply “grave” in 1 Cor. 15:55.
The
word Hades is more like Sheol than it is like Gehenna. By New Testament
times, the ideas of the afterlife include different outcomes for the
righteous and the wicked so, unlike Sheol, the New Testament doesn’t
think everyone goes to Hades. But Hades doesn’t contain the idea of
either fire or torment. The different outcomes implied by the word Hades
are that the wicked die while the righteous have eternal life. No fire
involved—upon death of the body, the soul dies (read
Ezekiel 18:4)
The only passage above where fire comes in is Rev. 20:14 where both death (thanatos—the death of the physical body) and hell (hades—the
death of the spirit) are cast into a lake of fire—presumably to cleanse
the world of all forms of death so that only life remains.
So what happens to the "wicked" and/or "unsaved" people? What did Jesus reveal to the Apostle John?
Revelation 1:1-3 - The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. Blessed is
he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep
those things which are written in it; for the time is near.
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“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.” ’
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Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
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Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
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But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral,
sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake
which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Death... not alive in an ever burning fire. We only have two choices... eternal life or eternal death.
Many
people believe that a threat of "hell" induces sinners to repentance
and keeps the "saved" in line. However, let's read what the Bible says: 2 Peter 3:9 - The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count
slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should
perish but that all should come to repentance.
ALL does not leave anyone out of God's will. There are two resurrections. Those "in Christ" are raised first. ~1 Thessalonians 4:16. The second resurrection is for the "unsaved" to learn the truth and come to repentance.
Psalm 136:26 - Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven! For His mercy endures forever.
For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”
To teach and believe that God is either unwilling or unable to save every person is the doctrine of Satan and negates the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Either Christ died for the sins of the WHOLE world or He didn't. ~ Romans 5:6-8
Now all things are of God who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.
Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
The flesh demands Punishment. The Spirit loves and forgives with Purpose.
Does the Bible teach universal salvation? I don't think so, but the Bible does teach that every person will be given the opportunity for repentance and reconciliation. You might as well face the fact - God loves you and there's not a darn thing you can do about it.
Read a Letter From Your Father
The purpose of this post is to get people to think about what they believe and why they believe it, not debate who's right or wrong.
To
learn the revealed truth of God we must know and understand the true
meaning of the words God inspired to be written. Use Strong's
Concordance to check the original word before it was translated. Do your own research, make up your own mind, rely on the Holy Spirit to guide you.
