Hi b's and s's. The little heretic is back with good news.
“Behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy to all men who have the wisdom to make the right choices - everyone else will go to hell.” That’s bad news to me. The Church has failed to preach the real gospel – the good news of glad tidings of great joy to all men.
It is NOT YOUR faith that saves. It is HIS (Jesus’) faith and HIS work that came about on the mount at Golgotha as a result of that faith which “pays the price” for the salvation of “the world.” (any faith you may CHOOSE to have is a work by any other name. You may argue that it is NOT a work, but if you earn merit for YOUR faith, then it is no different than any other meritorious work. And that is a fact.) Note:
Rom 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is NO DIFFERENCE.
Gal 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Gal 3:22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ…….
Phil 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: By grace (a free gift) you are saved, through HIS faith. And by the same token any faith you may have (some have more, some less, some none… and we can’t make it happen by any effort of will) is purely a gift of God. Salvation by Christ is NOT from endless punishment. The doctrines of hell and eternal damnation are of pagan origin. And men who wanted to control the masses have mistranslated the Holy Scriptures to fit these evil doctrines.
If endless punishment really is the penalty of God under the Gospel and Christ came to save us from this, couldn’t we expect to have this fact announced from the beginning? Wouldn’t God be clear on this punishment of eternal damnation?
Luke 4:16-22. Christ Himself says at the opening of His ministry, of what He was sent into the world for, and if the great purpose of His coming were to save men from endless misery, wouldn’t He say so. "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the Gospel (good tidings) to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty them that are bruised, and to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister (of the synagogue), and sat down." No mention of His being sent to save from a future endless damnation in hell; If the doctrine of eternal damnation is true, Jesus is pretty silent about it - just when He should have clearly declared it. And isn’t it interesting that Jesus leaves out a most important expression: "the day of vengeance of our God." He reads down to these words, and then stops short in the middle of the sentence, closes the book, and sits down. Isn’t it significant that He should leave this portion out of His declaration of His mission?
"God, having raised up his son Jesus, sent him to bless you," - Peter tells the murderers of Jesus (and if the purpose for which God raised up Jesus and sent Him into the world is to save us from endless punishment maybe now we would hear it). No Peter says "He sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities. Wouldn’t this be a great time for revealing the doctrine of endless torment? "He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us" - from all iniquity." Titus 2:11-14. "Our Lord Jesus who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from" - a future evil world? No He delivers us "FROM THIS PRESENT EVIL WORLD!" Gal. I 4.
"Thou shall call his name JESUS, for he shall save his people from their sins." Matt. 1. 21 He shall save them from sin, not from the vengeance of God, or the penalty of the divine law, or the horrors of endless punishment.
Now for a very interesting word study. As you look into the word "wrath", especially when Jesus used the word, do a search (yes, even in a Strong's Concordance) and find Strong's # 3709.
3709 orge or-gay' from 3713; properly, desire (as a reaching forth or excitement of the mind), i.e. (by analogy), violent passion (ire, or (justifiable) abhorrence); by implication punishment:--anger, indignation, vengeance, wrath. see GREEK for 3713
What I find so very interesting is that "properly" this word means, "desire" (and perhaps a very strong desire). Now look to its root word:
3713 oregomai or-eg'-om-ahee middle voice of apparently a prolonged form of an obsolete primary (compare 3735); to stretch oneself, i.e. reach out after (long for):--covet after, desire. see GREEK for 3735
The root word means to "reach out after" or to "long for". What we have here is something that really has nothing to do with anger and retribution, much less any eternal punishment. This "wrath" is an immensely strong desire or "strongly longing for". I wonder what God really, strongly desires or "longs for"?
He who has faith in the Son has eternal life; but he who has not faith in the Son will not see life; God's wrath is resting on him. (John 3:36)
Those that have faith in Him will "know the Father and the Son, whom the Father sent", but those that don't will not know them and God's very strong desire is upon them.
Isn't strange to you that a word description contains things like "properly (means) thus and so", but then tries to tell us what is "implied". Well, whose implication is it, God's or the translator's?
Yes, I see God's "wrath" in Scripture, but is it forever and ever; or is it even the "anger" that preachers want to control the masses with?
God isn’t angry. He is standing over you with JOY. His love covers a multitude of sins. His mercy triumphs over judgment. He is compassionate, slow to anger and loves with an enduring love. This is the Good News: God is reconciling the world to Himself and not counting men’s sins against them through Jesus Christ His Son, our Lord and Savior. \o/
Diane
