From the heart

[BenTheBeliever]

In my heart i keep feeling like God wants people to know that you don't have to be held down by your mistakes. The world loves to keep people down and hurt people. But God is a lifter uper. He does not keep people down but instead he sets people free. Free from their mistakes. Free from their sickness and pain. He has come so that we can be one with God again. Please stop listien to the lie that your past mistakes matter. When you find grace i truly believe he comes to sit yo...u free. It is by grace we are saved. We are not saved by being good. In fact one way or another we all have sinned against God and against his laws. If we have sinned against that how can we say we are good? Only Christ is good. And through that blood we can be good and right again with the father. God loves each of us. He knows our hurts and pains. Please come back to the grace and love of God. Let that grace and love change you from the inside out. Let your past mistakes go and learn you can be free from the chains that are holding you down.

 

[notsoplainJane]

Hi, not trying to be rude so please don't take it that way.
I'm currently struggling with my religion due to my upbringing and it is because of Christianity that I even feel held back by my past. If it weren't for what I was taught in the church, I could have learned to move on and forgive myself even after asking God for forgiveness. All I was taught was hellfire and brimstone.

How do we reconcile the hellfires that God himself created with the same God that is supposed to show us love and grace?

 

[BenTheBeliever]

Hi, not trying to be rude so please don't take it that way.
I'm currently struggling with my religion due to my upbringing and it is because of Christianity that I even feel held back by my past. If it weren't for what I was taught in the church, I could have learned to move on and forgive myself even after asking God for forgiveness. All I was taught was hellfire and brimstone.

How do we reconcile the hellfires that God himself created with the same God that is supposed to show us love and grace?

When it comes to the hell fire we created it ourselves when Adam and Eve sinned IMO. I hear people always blame God but the truth is God gives us free will to make that choice on our own.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

Hi, not trying to be rude so please don't take it that way.
I'm currently struggling with my religion due to my upbringing and it is because of Christianity that I even feel held back by my past. If it weren't for what I was taught in the church, I could have learned to move on and forgive myself even after asking God for forgiveness. All I was taught was hellfire and brimstone.
How do we reconcile the hellfires that God himself created with the same God that is supposed to show us love and grace?

notsoplainJane- I am so sorry to hear of your past experience with your upbringing, and you are Not alone in your ^ above^ thinking. An inquiring mind wants to know.

First of all, most people know the Bible was Not originally written in English.
When KJV Bibles translated Hebrew and Greek words into English they chose the English words: hell and hellfire.

Especially when the Jews began mixing with the Greeks, then they adopted religious-myth theories and philosophies and began teaching false ideas as Scripture although Not really found in Scripture.

Can you think of anyone righteous who went to hell ?______
The day Jesus died Jesus went to the temporary Bible's hell - Acts of the Apostles 2:27
Jesus knew what he would be doing while dead in hell because Jesus taught only sleep in death - John 11:11-14
Jesus was well educated in the old Hebrew Scriptures which also teach sleep in death such as :
- Psalms 6:5; Psalms 13:3; Psalms 115:17; Psalms 146:4; Daniel 12:2; Daniel 12:13; Ecclesiastes 9:5

The word hellfire comes from the word Gehenna. Gehenna was a garbage pit outside of Jerusalem where things were destroyed and Not kept burning forever. So, Gehenna is a fitting word or symbol of eternal destruction. Such as the wicked will be destroyed forever according to Psalms 92:7 and Not burning forever.

Please notice the two choices given at 2 Peter 3:9. We either repent or we will perish ( be destroyed ) Not burn.

Again, I am so sorry to hear about your bad experience, and I do wish you the best in finding what the Bible really teaches.
Gospel writer Luke wrote forewarning us that false clergy would try to fleece the flock of God. - See Acts of the Apostles 20:29-30.
That does Not mean we should let false clergy keep us away from what Jesus really taught, but compare the first-century teachings of Christ as recorded in Scripture with church customs and church traditions to see if they are in harmony with Christ's teachings.
- Matthew 15:9

 

[Politesse]

Yes, God is gentle. Why condemn ourselves for that which our Creator has already forgiven us?

 

[URAVIP2ME]

When it comes to the hell fire we created it ourselves when Adam and Eve sinned IMO. I hear people always blame God but the truth is God gives us free will to make that choice on our own.

Ben, you have an interesting way of expressing that: we created it ourselves.
True, because of our own sins we pay the asking price of death. It is mentioned at Romans 6:23
Because of inherited imperfection from father Adam we all lean /toward wrongdoing even when our free-will choice is to be upright !
Because we can't stop sinning we die. If we could stop sinning we would Not die.
We can't resurrect oneself or another, so we need someone who can resurrect us. Jesus can and will.- Revelation 1:18

Adam and Eve went to No hellfire, but according to Genesis 3:19 they ' returned ' to the dust of the ground.
A person can Not ' return ' to a place he never was before. They went from non-life, to life, and ' returned ' back to non-life.
There is No ' double jeopardy ' for sinning. Once we pay the price tag of Romans 6:23 there is No postmortem penalty for Adam or us.
As Romans 6:7 says death frees or acquits us from our sins. That does Not make a person as now innocent, but as a governor can pardon a person so the crime charges do Not stick, Jesus can pardon a person so the sin charges do Not stick.
So, unless a person has committed the unforgivable sin - Matthew 12:32; Hebrews 6:4-6 - he will be resurrected by Jesus.
Resurrected out of death's deep sleep - Ecclesiastes 9:5; Psalms 115:17; Psalms 146:4; John 11:11-14; Acts of the Apostles 24:15

 

[notsoplainJane]

Thank you for such a thought out and thorough response URAVIP2ME!

 

[BenTheBeliever]

Ben, you have an interesting way of expressing that: we created it ourselves.
True, because of our own sins we pay the asking price of death. It is mentioned at Romans 6:23
Because of inherited imperfection from father Adam we all lean /toward wrongdoing even when our free-will choice is to be upright !
Because we can't stop sinning we die. If we could stop sinning we would Not die.
We can't resurrect oneself or another, so we need someone who can resurrect us. Jesus can and will.- Revelation 1:18

Adam and Eve went to No hellfire, but according to Genesis 3:19 they ' returned ' to the dust of the ground.
A person can Not ' return ' to a place he never was before. They went from non-life, to life, and ' returned ' back to non-life.
There is No ' double jeopardy ' for sinning. Once we pay the price tag of Romans 6:23 there is No postmortem penalty for Adam or us.
As Romans 6:7 says death frees or acquits us from our sins. That does Not make a person as now innocent, but as a governor can pardon a person so the crime charges do Not stick, Jesus can pardon a person so the sin charges do Not stick.
So, unless a person has committed the unforgivable sin - Matthew 12:32; Hebrews 6:4-6 - he will be resurrected by Jesus.
Resurrected out of death's deep sleep - Ecclesiastes 9:5; Psalms 115:17; Psalms 146:4; John 11:11-14; Acts of the Apostles 24:15

That is how I have always viewed it. We create it our self's when we turn away from God or feel like we don't need him. It is my own fault when I sin. No matter what the sin. I chose to do it. Dinner or later people have accept that they did it them selves.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

That is how I have always viewed it. We create it our self's when we turn away from God or feel like we don't need him. It is my own fault when I sin. No matter what the sin. I chose to do it. Dinner or later people have accept that they did it them selves.

' No matter what the sin ' can be sin on purpose or by mistake, sin intentionally or not, sin willfully or not, premeditated or not, etc.
So, there is No such thing as the ' little white lie ' because either the sin is done on purpose or by accident.

Paul kind of likened the Christian race to a Spiritual Olympics at 1 Corinthians 9:24-26, and at 1 Corinthians 9:27 Paul was concerned that if he did Not pummel his body, in a spiritual sense, that he too could end up as a castaway.

Jesus too forewarned us to keep on enduring because the one who endures to the end will be saved - Matthew 24:13-14 - saved ( rescued/ delivered ) from the wicked at the soon coming ' time of separation ' of Matthew 25:31-32 - to take place soon on earth.
When Jesus will take the action of Isaiah 11:3-4; Revelation 19:11; Revelation 19:15 to rid the earth of wickedness before Jesus, as Prince of Peace, will usher in global Peace on Earth among men of goodwill.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

Thank you for such a thought out and thorough response URAVIP2ME!

notsoplainJane - You are more than welcome.
May our Superlative Heavenly Father ( who loves us as individuals ) grant you comfort and kindness through His Holy Bible ( 2 Timothy 3:16-17), through prayer ( Luke 11:13 B ), and through those who truly love Him ( Acts of the Apostles 8:30-32; Acts of the Apostles 8:33-35 )