Originally posted by Pastor Larry:
So God's commands aren't really commands to obey? I don't quite get that Helen. When God gives a command, it is the law and failure to obey it is sin.
But you didn't answer the first question: What is so bad about the non-sin of unbelief that it requires eternal hell? Hell is punishment, not simply the destination for those who miss the exit.
And why is it deadly? The only reason for death, even eternal death which is what hell is, is because of sin. If unbelief isn't sin, then why is it deadly?
Let me ask you, Larry, is Hebrews 2:9 correct?
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Or Hebrews 7:27?
Unlike othe other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.
What about Hebrews 9:26b?
But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
or Hebrews 10:12?
but when this priest [Christ] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.
One time. for all. to do away with sin.
Which is WHY John 3:16-18 reads:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believed stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.
Sin is nowhere mentioned there, only a refusal to believe.
When various Apostles were asked what a person must do to be saved, you never read, "Stop sinning." You read, "Believe. Repent and believe."
Some of you may consider not believing to be a sin, but there is no command in the Law to believe. There is only the direction that, in order to gain heaven, one must follow that narrow road of faith in the true Jesus Christ.
I would ask you who are so antagonistic to me to stop for a moment and consider sin not from man's point of view, which you have been doing, but from God's point of view. Every sin is an insult to Him, as it entails direct and willful disobedience of a known law. If Jesus did not die for ALL sin, past, present, and future, then there are insults to God left standing for eternity.
Not so. It is finished. The debt is paid. Justice is fully satisfied.
Man does not go to hell for sins, but for refusing Christ.
Do not confuse what we think of, or even know, as wrong with a sin. Cigarette smoking, for instance, was considered quite fine and even healthy for a long time. Therefore it could not be considered a sin. Now we know it is deadly. Does it suddenly become a sin? No, it does not. It remains, however, a deadly choice.
God has graciously given each of us the choice of whether or not to believe. We are not commanded to believe as we are commanded to not bear false witness, or commit adultery, etc. We are told under no uncertain terms, however, that the only way to eternal life is through faith in Christ Jesus. Nevertheless, one can refuse a direction and that does not make one guilty of refusing a law and sinning.
