The finger of accusation, and that identifier as being a blasphemer, has been leveled at many such as myself; we who dare do more than to read the Bible like a novel, some of whom I have heard at times priding themselves on having read the Bible more times than their own age.
When one goes out to find gold, one fact becomes glaringly obvious...gold doesn't jump up out of the ground to land in your collection pouch. No. You have to dig for it, or pan it out from the sediment in a river.
The milk-toast, wet-noodle believers raised up in the "old time religion," many of whom are the types that never scour the depths of scripture to understand and delve into the deeper spiritual truths that are not floating along the surface to be easily scooped up in a net, they hear things that I'm about to discuss and react with vehement rejection. Thus the name of this thread...
Genesis 1:26 NASB20 Then God said, "Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth."
Zooming through the above at the speed of novel reading, generally, doesn't rattle the frame of the speeding car of intellect. For many, it remains a curiosity that they store away in the back of their mind, never digging deeper in order to let it sink into their frontal awareness. Read the boldened again and again, and let it take a strong hold on your understanding. Dig into the Brown-Driver's and Briggs Hebrew dictionary, and take it all in, and then move on to:
Genesis 3:22 NASB20 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out with his hand, and take [fruit] also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"--
The boldened statement is also one of so many that become lost in the noise of so much other information, never sticking out in the minds of those not interested in declarations about what man became at the point of his fall into sin.
Now, think we with me on this...man would never have become "like one of Us" had he not disobeyed the Lord, and thus sin, which brought upon man his death.
Many things could be said about this, but I will confine it to this:
1) The Lord knew the fall was going to happen
2) The Lord did not stop the fall from happening, which He could have accomplished through many means
3) Therefore, the perpetual state Adam was in did not fit in with God's plans
4) Sin is the necessary means by which each man is tested for who and what he is
5) The Lord did not want a people who were like the angels, but rather a people with whom He could have relationship with, who have been thoroughly tested
6) Man alone is solely responsible for his fall into sin, and his daily sins
7) At the same time, the Lord took full responsibility for allowing what He knew was going to happen, and its benefit in accomplishing His ultimate purposes, by sending His only begotten Son to atone for the sins of those who would reach out to Him for the salvation that only He can and will give
8) Man, therefore, was destined to become "like one of Us," shouldering his sin with which he was born, and making a decision in this life as to whether he would accept the imputation of sin upon the Son, or to keep his sin upon himself, spending eternity trying to atone for his sins in Hell
So, when we read about disbelief, lack of faith, etc., what really is at play in the lives of those who go to their graves in disbelief and lack of faith?
The cold, hard reality is this:
Romans 1:18-21 NASB20
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible [attributes, that is,] His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened.
The intentionality of disbelief is EXACTLY the reason as to why Hell is NOT immoral. Disbelief, lack of faith, it ALL is a matter of what each individual chooses intentionally. It's not accident. Those who go there CHOSE that path intentionally for themselves! They chose to keep their sins laid upon themselves, and for reasons far too numerous to name here, but in the end, the responsibility for them being in eternal fires is a course of their own choosing, because "...they are without excuse..."
Do you see how great a radical departure this is from much of that "old time religion" steeped in ignorance and lack of depth, which has a stranglehold upon so many today. Evil is ancient, which is why I am referring to it as that "old time religion." Anyone can be religious, with describes even the religious faith of atheists. They religiously hope in the their belief that God doesn't exist, and yet deep down, they know of Him, and are therefore without excuse.
Nobody cast into Hell will be there accidentally.
Thoughts?
MM
When one goes out to find gold, one fact becomes glaringly obvious...gold doesn't jump up out of the ground to land in your collection pouch. No. You have to dig for it, or pan it out from the sediment in a river.
The milk-toast, wet-noodle believers raised up in the "old time religion," many of whom are the types that never scour the depths of scripture to understand and delve into the deeper spiritual truths that are not floating along the surface to be easily scooped up in a net, they hear things that I'm about to discuss and react with vehement rejection. Thus the name of this thread...
Genesis 1:26 NASB20 Then God said, "Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth."
Zooming through the above at the speed of novel reading, generally, doesn't rattle the frame of the speeding car of intellect. For many, it remains a curiosity that they store away in the back of their mind, never digging deeper in order to let it sink into their frontal awareness. Read the boldened again and again, and let it take a strong hold on your understanding. Dig into the Brown-Driver's and Briggs Hebrew dictionary, and take it all in, and then move on to:
Genesis 3:22 NASB20 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out with his hand, and take [fruit] also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"--
The boldened statement is also one of so many that become lost in the noise of so much other information, never sticking out in the minds of those not interested in declarations about what man became at the point of his fall into sin.
Now, think we with me on this...man would never have become "like one of Us" had he not disobeyed the Lord, and thus sin, which brought upon man his death.
Many things could be said about this, but I will confine it to this:
1) The Lord knew the fall was going to happen
2) The Lord did not stop the fall from happening, which He could have accomplished through many means
3) Therefore, the perpetual state Adam was in did not fit in with God's plans
4) Sin is the necessary means by which each man is tested for who and what he is
5) The Lord did not want a people who were like the angels, but rather a people with whom He could have relationship with, who have been thoroughly tested
6) Man alone is solely responsible for his fall into sin, and his daily sins
7) At the same time, the Lord took full responsibility for allowing what He knew was going to happen, and its benefit in accomplishing His ultimate purposes, by sending His only begotten Son to atone for the sins of those who would reach out to Him for the salvation that only He can and will give
8) Man, therefore, was destined to become "like one of Us," shouldering his sin with which he was born, and making a decision in this life as to whether he would accept the imputation of sin upon the Son, or to keep his sin upon himself, spending eternity trying to atone for his sins in Hell
So, when we read about disbelief, lack of faith, etc., what really is at play in the lives of those who go to their graves in disbelief and lack of faith?
The cold, hard reality is this:
Romans 1:18-21 NASB20
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible [attributes, that is,] His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened.
The intentionality of disbelief is EXACTLY the reason as to why Hell is NOT immoral. Disbelief, lack of faith, it ALL is a matter of what each individual chooses intentionally. It's not accident. Those who go there CHOSE that path intentionally for themselves! They chose to keep their sins laid upon themselves, and for reasons far too numerous to name here, but in the end, the responsibility for them being in eternal fires is a course of their own choosing, because "...they are without excuse..."
Do you see how great a radical departure this is from much of that "old time religion" steeped in ignorance and lack of depth, which has a stranglehold upon so many today. Evil is ancient, which is why I am referring to it as that "old time religion." Anyone can be religious, with describes even the religious faith of atheists. They religiously hope in the their belief that God doesn't exist, and yet deep down, they know of Him, and are therefore without excuse.
Nobody cast into Hell will be there accidentally.
Thoughts?
MM
