3 - Heaven, Hell, Consequences, and Eternity
There are many diverse views concerning Hell, punishment, and eternity today. So much so, that the existence of Hell is nearly all but forgotten, or simply glossed over, as one writer put it, “Hell has become air conditioned” in our modern world view.
Also, the surging tide of NDE (Near Death Experience) also interposes on the Christian doctrine of Hell. What are we to make of all this information?
Has the concept of Hell become marginalized, over emphasized, or basically forgotten? Hell – is it relevant today? Is it necessary? Is it a myth? Is it real?
The purpose of this post is to examine if the doctrine of Hell is relevant today. Some hold the universalistic view concerning hell and divine punishment, which states that no one will end up in hell being punished for eternity and all will end up in heaven.
Opposite of this is the annihilationist doctrine of hell and judgment. This doctrine basically believes that those found unworthy of God, and are evil, will not be punished for eternity but rather God's great mercy will annihilate these persons and they will cease to exist in some manner or another.
Then there is the traditional Christian doctrine of hell and divine eternal recompense. All these different views about hell and punishment create confusion. It is this confusion that creates controversy. Within this controversy the nature and purpose of hell is obscured from humanities sight.
If a murder wanted to poison a person, they would never let the victim know they were being poisoned. The mash would be disguised as something pleasant to the taste and pleasing to the sight so that the end result of death would remain hidden from the duped party’s vision. For this reason, one must make sure they are not being poisoned and lulled asleep by any artificial concept of hell that marginalize its significance to one’s eternal future.
With such an important topic concerning a person’s eternal destiny, would it be best to hope hell will just go away, or just have one cease to exist rather than be perpetually damned, or kinder to let all into the Glories of Heaven despite how they lived on earth?
I ask in my book regarding this, “What is Justice without consequence if consequences do not last?”
What is divine Justice? Is it real? A fable? Fact or fancy?
posted by B. W. Melvin | Monday, March 13, 2006
13 Comments:
The thought of eternal punishment and hell, for many, is repugnant. The question arises, how can a loving God sentence anyone there? The problem with this line of thinking is that it measures God’s love by our own standards and thus fails to grasp the deep nature of God’s love. However, how can we grasp God’s great love if not by our own personal concepts of love? The answer is simple - you cannot.
Instead, you can only gain a limited insight into the vastness of God’s love by comparing it to our own. From this, a person must go beyond his or her personal concept of love and explore the nature of God’s love along with God’s nature and character, form the Judaic/Christian tradition; this is discovered in the Holy Scriptures.
If you love your own children, do you place boundaries for their own protection and learning? How do you instruct them right from wrong? No one human can live inside their prodigy and make them ‘behave’ and do the ‘right thing’. Parents can only do so much because their children will be off doing their own things unseen from their parent’s eyes.
Children learn by doing and parents can only, love, nurture, correct, guide, and let go. True Godly love does likewise: allows the child to make their own decisions; weeping as they see them fail, rejoicing when they get it right. How do Children learn right and wrong? By seeing the standards for right and wrong that their own parents live by and also from the experience gained by rebellion, correction, and loving approval.
Love will correct the child. Neglect avoids correction. Love is kind and suffers long. Love does not demand its own way as it knows it has to let the child learn from experience what is truly right and really wrong. Love creates freedom so the recipient of love can learn what its responsibilities truly consist of. Love creates boundaries not unbridled tolerance. Unrestrained lenience creates slavery’s tyranny not freedom.
For example, a son grows and becomes an adult; then, the ideal loving parents watch their son go live out and live his life on his own. Now, if the parent’s son were too ‘commit’ a horrible crime as an adult, are the good parents to blame? The answer would be ‘no’ in the case I just stated.
The parents would still love their son but must understand that their grown son’s decisions was his own, not theirs. Love would not take into account the wrong but neither would love blindly accept him if he remains unchanged. If they could, they would do whatever it takes to change outcome of their son’s acts and fate.
Love is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love will do whatever it takes to create a new heart and change of ways when the one loved strays from the boundaries of real love. That is love in action.
What kind of act of love would it take to change the loving parent’s son? If possible, the parents would desire to exchange places with their own son and even die in his stead if he could be but only reformed by this loving act.
We are all God’s children. Truly, God so loved the world that he sent Jesus for this very purpose, to restore and redeem. Now, if the parent’s child rejected this last act of love – what then? What about you and God concerning this matter? Love allows you to decide to live in light or darkness. What will it be?
True love teaches responsibilities without any so called ‘stoppage’ strings attached. Bad actions do have consequences as well as good. Love permits a person to do whatever they like good, bad, right, wrong, indifferent. Why, so we learn about consequences and responsibilities. Love demands this freedom to learn or it’s not love at all.
True love has no strings. It will let the one loved live as they please. This type of love teaches us that responsibilities do have consequences. Love teaches us not to be envious or egotistical or arrogant or rude or sinning. God’s Love allows learning even if, in the process of learning, one rejects the One that loves them enough to attempt to restore them back into love’s fold. Love will let them go – Love is just.
What of justice if consequences do not exist? There comes a time when what we really love will be revealed. If we love God and accept the love He has for us, as the prodigal son did, we return to God and are restored to God’s home. For Christians, this means accepting Jesus Christ – coming to God on God’s terms – not our terms. Love will surrender fully to what one really loves.
God so loved the world, He surrendered Jesus Christ to humanity so that those that believe will likewise surrender to Him. A test of love you see. A test designed by God so you and I would know we can find the true God solely due to the uniqueness of the test.
Who do you love? By coming on God’s terms His deep love will keep no record of when His love has been wronged by our deeds, but if anyone fail to accept His terms – what then? Love examines the heart and gives what each truly deserves.
No other religion is based on biblical theology of salvation’s grace and faith alone. All depend on Human performance. Who do we love – our human efforts or God’s way? If one reject’s God’s act of love – His love will grant them what they love most – sin and its consequences. Love is not love if it does not punish justly.
Yes, God loves all but do all love God? If one loved God, they would surrender to Him. Consequences share the results of past acts. Who do you love? Why would God accept a person who spurns His great redeeming love? A person who demonstrated all their life to depend own their own effort, which demands God to bow to them, does not truly love God. What then of them? Love requires an accounting.
How can God forgive and take no account of a person’s wrong if the person continues to refuse and reject God’s instructing love? There comes a time for an accounting because corruption cannot remain to corrupt forever. There comes a time when we all must grow up. Once there, there is no turning back. There is a reason for a new heaven and earth to come when it will. To refine gold requires heat to remove dross. God’s love does the same.
God loves all humanity and permits all to do as they please because He loves all justly and fairly. Will you love God and really let Him do as He pleases with your life? Many like to quote I Corinthians Chapter 13 and site this as the measure of God’s love that does not account us our wrongs but how do we account God wrong for permitting us to harm each other and allowing us to learn the terrible truths about human nature? Love speaks the truth in order to restore. Are you listening?
Instead, I Corinthians Chapter 13 tells us that Love suffers long and is not easily provoked but how does our love measure up to this? God will reject those that reject Him and His ways. He does so at an appointed time that cannot be denied. If one rejects God’s love during this temporary and short life – what makes one think they will not do so eternally if they were not confined? Love removes dross to make pure remain pure.
If eternal punishment was not forever, would one learn to view eternity as license to continue sin? Would punishment not be viewed as a temporary spanking and thus justify making life ugly again and again because consequences do not last?
Or, if God annihilated the wicked would that be just to whom He gave the gift of life too? If so, God would no longer be just, or fair, or righteous, or merciful, to the one whom He gave life’s responsibilities too, even when they abuse God’s longsuffering love and grace. He called to them, they refused. What is love to do?
Love grants life in which responsibility is learned by experience. God grants life even to the undeserving. That is His brand of love. A love so profound and deep we fail to comprehend its vast fairness, righteousness, and justice. Now, who do you love? Your ways? The Devil’s promises? Or God? Whom have you surrendered too?
If eternal punishment does not last – corruption will become replete over and over again unless confined. Confined in a place called Hell where a Loving God permits people to live in a place without God as they desire. God’s Love is fair and kind enough to do this: giving people what they desire – a place without God – the author of life.
It is there, in Hell, recompense is granted. A horrifying place it is without God and His love. Where what was sown is reaped: a place where rejection is complete. Fear, loathing, and hate are the rule. Love abandoned resides. The darkness of ones life exposed. A place without God and his redeeming love.
Why? Reject God long enough, He will reject you. Love removes dross so pure remains pure in the new heavens and earth to come. Love examines the heart to see if any freely love God enough to return to Him with sweat surrender complete. Will You?
For more on the topic of Hell please see this site:
http://bibleprobe.com/hells-dominion.htm
Interesting,
"Love removes dross so pure remains pure in the new heavens and earth to come. Love examines the heart to see if any freely love God enough to return to Him with sweat surrender complete."
I can see what you are saying except that we maybe Childern of God or Childern of wrath - can you clarify?
Sure,
I should have stated it this as, "Are we all God's Children" instead of "We are all God's Children."
Yes, measuring God’s love by Human standards of love fails to convey the deep vastness and meaning of God’s Love. I'll try again to explain but it maybe long...
Using the Parent analogy, the parents would do everything possible to restore their criminal adult child if possible, but what happens if the adult child rejects their parent’s restoring acts? What can love do but let them go? They rejected all attempts at restoration – what would you do?
You cannot restore them by force. They have learned what evil is and can repeat it again and again if let go back into the world as there would be nothing to stop them because love and liberty has been converted into license since justice now has no consequences.
You cannot wash them clean them if they refuse a cleansing bath. If given by force resentments bloom. Realistically, all you could do is offer a manner of change and see if they accept your offer and live by its creed. If not, they are on there own.
A child becomes an adult, responsible for his or her own actions. Parents cannot control their deeds and motives. Love has to judge their actions and pass sentence because love is just. You cannot let the bad apples spoil the good because all apples are loved. The bad rots the good when left in the same basket to long.
God’s standards are not our own. He surrendered Jesus to humanity because He loved all but not all will surrender to God. John chapter Three records this plainly. People love darkness more than light. What can love justly do? Grant them darkness that love darkness and light to them that love light. That is Love’s fairness.
In fact, God does not send people to Hell, people send themselves there. God acts in the role of judge and passes the sentence. The judge did not make the bank robber rob, the child molester to molest, the liar to swindle, cause sin to be sin. People, perform these things own their own. God, for His own love’s sake, places these in restraints after all attempts to redeem had been rejected by them.
We are all by nature children of wrath. God sent Jesus to restore us to become God’s Children. The choice is up to you and I what we would like to be: a child of wrath or a child of God? A true child of God surrenders to God’s act of love that restores and redeems. A child of wrath will just blame God for not being fair so they can remain as they are.
God separates the bad from the good and grants both a place to live eternally. If you live with the bad, bad it will be. God’s love is just and this justice outshines our own ideas and concepts of justice. He gives to each according to his or her deeds because that is a part of the nature of God’s Love.
Now, why do so many do so - put of till tomorrow eternal matters? One reason is that there is a wrong concept of God's Love that teaches that His true Love will never punish a wrong forever as that is so unfair due to the nature of the offense and the state of our existence.
Regarding the many complaints about God sentencing a person to Hell forever because Godly love would not allow this, here are more points to ponder...
How would a person prove they love all? Would letting the murdering/molesting criminals back on the street because they love them so much that punishment is not an option? Why not just open all jails and prisons doors and let all the inmates out because of love sublime?
Would that be fair? It would not be fair for the rest of society to experience the woe the released would permeate. They need to be confined. If a person thinks that punishment leads to reform of one’s soul, the recidivism rate for released criminals will prove you wrong.
The only way one can justly release the inmate back into society is to provide a test that could prove the soul was truly reformed or just playing games to be released. Unfortunately, for our court/legal system, no such test exists. Inmates will play any game and do anything to be released and/or defer sentencing.
However, God provided such a test. That is why Jesus came. Truly accept Him on God’s terms and God will reform our soul. You and I may cry out, I am not like those criminal’s in jail and prisons everywhere so this reform cannot apply to me. Can we be so absolutely sure about this?
We all have been so corrupted by the world we live in. We will do anything so we can hide our guilt for breaking heavens laws and play any mind game to absolve us from all our wrongs.
We have all become corrupt. Where do you think strife, envy, jealousy, backbiting, brown nosing, wars, hate, greed, lust, perversions, manipulation, etc, acting voluntarily with malice aforethought to slay with words or deeds come from, and what do they produce all around us?
Crimes, poverty, wars, hate, self-seeking, and so much more is manufactured that these acts and attitudes corrupt all they touch.
All the good we can do cannot erase the bad and absolve us of all wrong. If left to ourselves, we would keep this corruption alive because we make it so.
Does this mean humanity can never do any good? No it does not. We can all do great good and noble things but how long will our deeds last before they are taken advantage of? Maybe we are all guilty of taking advantage of God’s good intentions in some form and manner?
A true test is needed to see who will be reformed and who will not so all goodness will last. Those that pass are granted reprieve and are renewed. Those that fail will be sentenced to the doom they love to embellish. Jesus is that test. He is the only way to God’s salvation as He Himself has said.
Yet, many make it sound cruel to grant a life sentence of confinement’s punishment to the guilty. But is it?
The Law of Heaven declares, ‘thou shall not murder’ but what does this mean? A wise Rabbi once said that this meant: voluntary and with malice aforethought to extinguish life either by slanderous words or wanton deeds.
God will not, voluntarily with malice aforethought extinguish life into a state of non-existence. This would violate His(own) decree. God’s nature is perfectly just, righteous, wise, merciful, gracious, kind, which define His nature of Love.
Instead, a place of eternal confinement God made for those that refuse to be redeemed by His test.
The test which He gives to all, day and night, till eternity sets its seal. God has too. If not – His justice, righteousness, wisdom, mercy, grace, kindness, would not be the kind of love that protects the good apples from the bad in the eternity to come.
The bad apples, if let out, would take advantage of God’s Nature not to extinguish them, and rot the whole batch again and again. How do you think that great evil one got away with rebellion?
There will come a day of reckoning. Evil will cease. A new Heaven and Earth will soon exist, where corruption will never take hold.
We are now living in the process of arriving at this, God’s great goal, perfection complete.
It takes heat to remove dross so pure stays pure. The heat is confined, turned up, and evil justly removed, all in good time. This process takes time but take heart, eternity last longer than evil can last.
Where do you want to be? With God or without God? We have living examples of living without God here and now. Many blame God for evil’s wrath.
With this in mind, you may glean why evil goes to great and horrible lengths to accuse God of wrongful neglect: to keep you and I from passing the test.
Let me add too and clarify more regarding God’s Love, Humanity’s fall in the Garden of Eden, the doctrines of an eternal Heaven and Hell.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve appear to be like children, lacking insight and wisdom. The Serpent lured this lack with enticements to be like God, calling ones own shots, and experiencing no consequences for giving into these. Hence, were Adam and Eve mere childlike victims or willing participants – knowing full well what they were both doing and seeking? I am not sure which was the case – maybe both hold certain amount of truth unseen.
How could God’s Love justly, fairly, correctly, righteously, teach Adam and Eve the wisdom they lacked concerning Good and Evil? If the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was not allowed to grow in the Garden – how could they learn true wisdom that relies on God verses wisdom that relies on human understanding and/or the Devils own enticing wisdom?
True God like Love would have to let His created beings, Adam and Eve, decide this issue on there own. God’s Love would ‘let go’ waiting to see if Adam and Eve, and any of their future prodigy, truly love God and return to Him. An arena of learning was wisely needed where we can learn on our own what true wisdom is through experiencing both good and evil.
How can we discover that we can return to God, if God did not first initiate this by calling out to us to come back to Him midst our learning what Good and Evil is about here and now? Children need to learn wisdom. Likewise, we must learn true wisdom which comes from God and that is this – the fear (awesome love and respect) of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The greatest commandment is to love God with all are being is it not?
How can we love God if He remains silent and never displays His great love towards us? He does so through Christ Jesus. God’s love would provide a way back to Him: He calls. Who will hearken and return to God and who will not? God’s love is truly fair and absolutely righteous.
Maybe humanity needs to learn, in the school of hard knocks, what God’s love means and is all about? How can this be displayed without an opposite to compare with? Is it any wonder why the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was left to grow in the garden? Experience can be the best teacher to instruct any person what type of life they want to live. Live with God or live another way without God. What is best?
God knows all our choices before we were ever born. He knows that without His call, His calling demonstration of Love through Christ, His love that calls forth the rain to fall on the just and unjust, none would return to Him unless He hearkens for our return. Therefore, He calls out to all with the voice of Love sublime that justly, fairly, correctly, righteously, teaches all Adam’s and Eve’s everywhere to freely return to Him.
He weeps when those refuse and holds them accountable because God’s Nature demands it. If one does not return to God during his/her mortal sojourn, they will not do so in the eternal. They have bought the lie – “yea shall not surly die?” What did this produce in the Garden long ago? If not stopped justly, this ideology of no consequences would continue forever. The new heavens and earth would remain corrupt. Heat removes the dross from gold so gold can become pure.
Love demands righteous justice and will grant one what they desire – a place without God and without hope. Likewise God’s great Love calls to those that hear to return: have you and I learned what true wisdom is?
Obey God, Trust Him, Fear Him, Love God because He is what He says He is: perfectly just, merciful, righteous, gracious, wise, all-knowing, all-powerful, seeing all, and desires all to come to the knowledge of the truth that they can be saved from a great tragedy: life without a God so fair as He. Truly, the beginning of wisdom is learning to awesomely love and respect God.
We need to learn who we will serve and why. This arena provides the avenue for this to be discovered. Let’s return to God’s great Love as He is calling us all back home.
Like the prodigal son, we needed to learn how Good God is by how bad life can be because without God, we corrupt life by our actions, thoughts, and deeds. Have not we learned how we do this yet in the here and now? Yes, God’s Love changes us – one day at a time with each returning step back to the Father of Life.
May we all desire to return to Our Father in Heaven’s great Love, be embraced by the Son’s loving arms, and be lead by the Holy Spirit back to God! Amen.
I am a TULIP Calvinist, I found your take on predestination and justice interesting. I'll look into your concept of justice a little more. However, I think God chose to damn some for hell and chose to save some for heaven for his own purposes. The test in Eden was for this reason IMHO.
What is your take on total depravity of humanity?
Total Depravity?
means to have a wraped mind bent on doing wrong no matter the right one can do, humanity twist back to wrong - IMHO
I'm definately getting your book!
Tracifish, good to hear from you! I hope what I wrote on the other forum helped you :-)
Caesar, Thank you for your support and kind words. By all means, spread the word! People do need to hear about this subject and measure NDE's by the Bible. Please do so with mine too!
Also, Joel Mccay, before I answer, let me be so kind to ask how do you define the Total Depravity of man? This way, we can have a starting point to discuss this.
John Dewitt, you have a point about Total DP. If you like, feel free to write more about it.
Continued discourse on Justice related to God's Love:
How can a God of Love permit eternal punishment for time without end?
Some people think, due to God’s great love, it is unjust to eternally punish, or that such punishment is instead temporary, and that everyone will make it to heaven.
The view that Annihilation is a merciful alternative to eternal perdition based on God’s love appears to neglect something altogether profound. In order to understand what I mean by this. I must digress for a minute and use the example of the Death Penalty as it is used in the United States so you can gain insight into the point I am trying to make.
The death penalty for murder was imposed in Old Testament Law on the grounds of justice: life for life. This was done for basically two reasons. One reason was to send the murderous criminal to God for final eternal judgment and next, to set an example to the rest of society about the consequence of murderous crime.
For this topic, I would like to use the controversy about the pros and cons of the Death Penalty as a vivid example of why both annihilationism and temporary punishment cannot reflect God’s mercy or love.
The pro and con argument about the death penalty goes something like this: One side argues for the justice of the death penalty as merciful and another argues that it is neither just nor merciful.
The main premise used against the death penalty claims that a life sentence, without parole, is a more preferable merciful approach than taking another life.
To further exemplify my point, I’ll use the side that is against the Death Penalty to illustrate God’s justice of commuting a life sentence verses an annihilationist view of God nullifying someone’s life it into some state of non-existence. (Note: This is an example only and not a slight against the death penalty, as I believe murderous criminals should be sent to God for final judgment, justly)
The annihilationist, in this example, would therefore be on the side of the death penalty.
In the annihilationist doctrine, it is deemed better to annihilate the murderous individual into a state of eternal non-existence as the more merciful and just alternative to a life sentence of damnation.
What really is God’s view on this matter? With these two positions just proposed, would it be just for God to annihilate into eternal non-existence or sentence to an eternal life sentence or a temporary one? How can you truly perceive what God’s perspective is? Simple, we learn by examining God’s character, nature, and attributes as the Holy Bible discloses within its pages.
For example, God cannot deny Himself. The bible proclaims this fact. What does this indicate? It means, God cannot deny His nature, character, and the essence of who He is. God gave a gift of life to created beings that can reason with intelligence. This is fair and absolves God of any guilt if these individuals decide to misuse the life God gave from Himself and abuse His gift granted for intelligent reason.
To nullify the gift of life, which as a matter of fact, is part of God Himself, as it is written, “In him we live, move and breathe, and have our very being (Acts 17:28).” This means, life comes from God and for God to nullify Life within one of His special created beings by annihilating them into eternal non-existence, is against His very nature: a nature that creates out of nothing - a nature that cannot help but ooze forth life. As God has life, so do we all – that is love.
God’s very nature emanates vivifying Love, Justice, Mercy, Righteousness, Fairness, etc, to all. To do so, produces living illustrations to illuminate God’s Nature, thus revealing who and what He is. As it is written, “All things were created for thy pleasure.” Revelation 4:11
It is Gods Nature to reveal His personal attributes. God cannot deny Himself. He is a God of the Living and not the dead. Since He lives – Love can. Since He lives – Justice can. Since He lives – righteousness can. Since He lives –Life perseveres reflecting God’s attributes by living means and with animate purpose proving God is perfect in all His ways.
God is a God of the living and not a God of the dead. God will not annihilate into a state of eternal non-existence because it is not His nature to do so. This does not mean God cannot do this. He can, but instead He uses self imposed self restraint because His nature and attributes reflect profoundly His noble character. There is nothing unrighteous about God.
Such life producing character will be fair and right in all that it does and in all that it creates. Even at the expense of granting autonomous reasoning and intelligence to special created beings designed for the purpose of God’s good and just pleasure to reveal Himself too. These beings have a fair option of rejecting God or excepting Him, freely. To be fair, a choice is laid before them as Ezekiel 18:23, 25, 32 reveals. God is fair.
Therefore, when a created being of note and intelligence sees this choice, they can chose to weasel around God’s Nature and His very throne, and even mock God with the fact that He will not annihilate into eternal non-existence anyone due to God’s Nature that God cannot deny. They can reject God and the paths of life God freely gives to use, or chose to remain true to God. It is God’s nature to grant a test. His ways are pure.
If this personage rejects God, God with wisdom profound will grant that individual enough rope to hang himself by gathering all evidence, plus all rationale, that such weaseling behavior will produce during their personal reign. With this evidence, God will grant a life sentence instead of non-existence because He is just seeing beginning to end. God has a plan (Revelation 21:1).
This is accord with love. God loves those that love him and hates those that hate Him. Love’s fairness is beyond our full comprehension. God’s love may not be easily provoked, but nevertheless, it can be provoked to anger after a long period of time. God is slow to wrath.
We are to grow in the knowledge of God, including His love that matures us. If we continue to mock God by our very life course, as revealed by how we behave, and treat others, we hang ourselves. No matter how much good we do, we continue to slip back into many forms of weaseling behavior that mocks God’s kindness and grace. We need a mirror to see ourselves. It takes courage to look at it and faith to change what we see.
We need a savior to stop what we cannot and thus help us reform. That is the test. Turn back towards God and be part of His plan or away from God towards what we create. The mirror of scripture reveals that human nature is always bent on running away from God making life ugly. God calls forth. Some hear and are changed by God’s divine aid: That is Love so true! Choose wisely whom you serve. Return and be part of God’s plan.
If one views that this eternal life sentence is unjust and that it would be fairer for the sentence to be reduced and that temporary punishment will redeem any individual, needs to think further on this matter.
If you are I, in this fallen state are permitted a spanking instead of a life sentence, then we would perpetuate sin in the new heaven’s and earth. How, by learning after a few thousand years it is okay to sow a few wild oats now and then thus weasel out of any lasting punishment.
After all, many reason that a God so loving will not let you surely die! This is not just nor is it love. If we fail this test, we have just become another snake in the grass.
Copyright 2006
As for the topic concerning the total depravity of humanity - I'll begin another post for this. If you wish to comment on topic of the total depravity of humanity, please post in the new archive.
Thank You!
Yes, God is righteous and wise. God is merciful and Just. God is perfect in all His ways.
I can see what you are saying. God bless!
Melvin,
I hope you don't mind me using your last name. Received your book today and read it in a day. It was captivating, incredible, wild, everything! I know how the Lord works; his wonders too be seen. Too pluck a human being and give them a journey through the bowls of hell itself.... So that person can come back and tell of it's awfulness. It's a journey I feel he would not give to anybody to undertake. Well done. But it does bring to mind the parable of Christ. The rich man and the begger at his gates. How the rich man, stuck in his cube called to the Lord. Let me go back and warn my brothers and all the people of this place, he cried. They would not believe you, they refused to believe my son. Said the Lord. When he told them... You have brought that parable to life...
How the Lord works. How many believe you?
A Question?
I have read many stories of near death experiences. How they meet there loved ones and are in paradise. Do you feel they are in a cube and relating what they see?
Your book certainly put it into perspective.
As for people saying that God should not condem people for all eternity. Why not! Who, but a fool would argue with the Lords Judgement. When you love the Lord your God, it's with everything that goes with him.
Nice talking to you.
B. W. Melvin answers….
I do not mind if you use my last name. As for knowing how the Lord works and why He does things the way He does is unknown to me. Why God allowed me to come back is a question I often ask myself. Sometimes, honestly, I feel puzzled about why. How do you say, extremely grateful not being left there while at the same time not sure why it all happened. Even after all these years, sometimes I still lose a night of sleep pondering this.
How many believe me? That is a question I also do not know. You do get skeptics but I have discovered more people are supportive, write, and email me that my testimony helped them find God’s Love, mercy, and draw closer to Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
As for NDE stories concerning how others report seeing loved ones in paradise, I think many are reporting what they see within their cube. Notice that many of these reports led a person away from Jesus Christ and the concept of Justice. The form of love that many report is too sugary and syrupy sweet. The old saying, “If it sounds to good to be true, than it is” should be listened too. Sadly, when it comes to matters of eternity, not many are willing to listen to it.
God Bless and if there is anything else, please do not hesitate to ask.
Post a Comment
<< Home