киιפнтѕ4Cняιѕ†

again, reply to question

Vernie, the Bible does say that we are saved by faith and faith alone. Then again, God says in Revelation that he will spit our of his mouth all those who are lukewarm. I'll leave it to you to decide what lukewarm means. I know these ideas are kinda semi-contradictory. But they have to be taken into context of the modern day. Life isn't objective. Certain passages apply in different ways to different situations. We must remember however that God will never compromise on his standards. Some things are subject to situation, yet some cannot be argued with.
About the thing about us being blamed for other people's condemnation to hell. God told one of the prophets, I can't remember which, that it will only be the fault of the prophet that Israel is not saved because the prophet does not tell them to stop doing evil and turn back to God. But if the prophet preaches God's message to the Israelites, God would not hold the prophet accountable. The prophet did his job. It was the people who rejected God.
We are not the cause of the damnation of those who go to hell if we tell them the message of salvation. We are only the cause of their eternal suffering if we do not preach the gospel to them. It's not our fault that the people reject God and God knows this.
About the thing about people having no excuse for not knowing God, it must be read with reality in mind. It would be unrealistic to say that all the blame for their damnation rests on the shoulders of those who do go to hell. They have parents who believe in other religions which are false and so on. What Romans is referring to is people who have never heard of any religion at all, or that's what I think. You can't blame someone for believing in another religion and not in Jesus Christ if he has been indoctrinated since the time he was born that only his religion true and all other religions are false. God understands that. However, I don't think that God will allow a person who has never heard the gospel (yet is completely given over to his religion) into heaven.
The philosopher Descartes who was a good Christian says that the reason why people believe in such things as gods and make up things to be their gods is because we were created with a God shaped whole in our lives. Another philosopher, I think this was Descartes as well, gave this example: We can only imagine an extremely complicated machine for two reasons....either we have seen something like it or someone else has put into our minds the idea of such a machine. Since we are all humans, none of us could have conceived the thought of any god by ourselves. Therefore our beliefs and searches for any gods must be because the one God left a mark in our lives. Our reason for believing in a God is God's imprint in our lives.
Sorry. I know the last paragraph is not really so related. But it's interesting food for thought. Go and read philosophy if you want something to make you think.
That's my two cents.

Anyways, if anybody has any questions, post them on the board for discussion. I don't really know what Bible studies you guys would wanna do. Anybody told the counsellors about this yet?

posted by Anonymous @ 4:23 PM