Random Thoughts on the Really Good News

I once heard an evangelist ask this question at a revival meeting. Is your name written in the Lamb’s book of life? At the time I did not know or have an opinion.   And it turned out, he did not know either, but he did have an opinion.  He said that we are entered in the book when we make a decision for Christ, and those who do not make that decision are left out, or blotted out, to be eternally condemned to hell.  Then he appealed to the crowd to repent and accept Jesus so that your name could be written in the book of life. So up to the alter I went, an act in which I would repeat almost every time revival services came to town...until I started studying the Bible for myself. Here is what I think about the book of life after reading all Scriptures, including those which reference that book. Anyone who is born and is alive is in the book of life (they’re alive). And anyone who dies is blotted out (they’re dead). Well that is a bummer isn't it?...

Edward Beecher determined that the doctrine of eternal conscious torment was only taught in one of the 6 main theological schools of early Christianity. He says that in the second century Universal Reconciliation was taught in 4 of those schools. See following link… ( https://books.google.com/books?id=1eCBAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA129&lpg=PA129&dq=Edward+Beecher+six+theological+schools&source=bl&ots=wCunNL2FNE&sig=bDrBxELT5l9c-8meyL7nRySPGd8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj8-YHB8dnSAhWrjFQKHcj2BFYQ6AEIPzAG#v=onepage&q=Edward%20Beecher%20six%20theological%20schools&f=false ) Nevertheless, the doctrine of eternal conscious torment promoted by the school in Carthage, influenced by Tertullian and later championed by Augustine has become the principal dogma of both Catholic and Protestant evangelicals.  It’s popularity of course does not make it true. Remember that the Law of Moses was defined and refined by the various rabbis in their schools over a period ...

"I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark.   I will not judge those who hear me but don’t obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it.   But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken." (John 12:46-48 NLT) There are some, like my wife and I, who quit going to church without quitting God, and most of humanity have never gone to a church.  Nevertheless if they trust in Jesus "to save the world" , they are not "in the dark" .  It is rejecting the "message"  that  Jesus came  "to save the world"  and will succeed in what He came to do that  " will be judged" . "For God did not dispatch His Son into the world that he should be judging the world,  but that the world may be saved through him..." ... "For even as, in Adam, all are dying, thus also, in Christ, ...

"...faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God..." (Romans 10:17) Faith does not come from hearing the word of men, but "the word of God" . So how do we distinguish between the two? If you hear it from another man, or read it in a commentary, it is the word of man. Not necessarily wrong, but just a man's opinion. It may be received with joy, then tested by the "word of God"  in a properly translated copy of the Scriptures. "...they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (Acts 17:11) When I hear someone say "God told me", or "God lead me", or "God impressed on me", I just remind myself that it is his opinion of what he was told, how he was lead or what he was impressed to do. Equating the word of men to the word of God has lead to countless divisions among Christianity over the last 2000 years. Jesus said to the relig...

"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with the shout of the chief messenger, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Comfort one another with these words."  (1 Thessalonians  4:16-18) So, how does one get “in Christ” ? “…He chose us in him before the creation of the world...In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace...having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will…" (Ephesians 1:4-11) OK, predestined, we are all in.  So what does hearing about it and believing do for me?  It makes me aware of my inclusion in Christ, the good news of my salvation. And the Holy Spirit (the power of God) within me guarantees my inclusion and ...

Many Christians continue to insist that God intends to torture ungodly folks for all eternity --- so here is another attempt to remind you of what His Bible teaches on the subject of punishing sin. “The wages of sin is DEATH…” (Romans 6:23a) That is not difficult to understand. The Godless hell of Greek Mythology was invented to control the masses, and is accepted without proof by those who deem it unjust for godly people to have the same fate as the ungodly. Again, this is what God says... "...but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23b) Ungodly people should be punished by social justice as well as by God. And a just society should put the most wicked among us to an early death for the protection of the rest of us. God has given governments of men that responsibility.  The fact that they often do not is a problem with our liberal do-gooders, not the justice of God. Our prisons are full of repeat offenders who cost the not so wic...