And when the Great Pumpkin comes Hes gunna bring toys and candy to all the good little trick or treators who believe in him ....and ,and,and
What exactly do you have against the mercy and grace of God toward sinners? Is there any other way under heaven that a sinner is forgiven and cleansed from sin? Where you saved any other way, except through the blood of Christ? In your eyes what makes a sinner a candidate for the grace of God and salvation by that grace? Is salvation anything more than Christ paying for our sins through death and making it available through grace when we believe upon Him who died for us?
What do you think about these scriptures?
Mt 21:31 'Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the
publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.'
Heb 8:12 'For
I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and
their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.' I see no place in chapters 7,8 or 9 where Israel or its people did any kind of repenting. But I do see God being
merciful to their unrighteousness and giving them a new covenant of grace and remembering their sins no more. Is is unjust for God to be merciful to our unrighteousness?
Rahab was a harlot. Jos 2:1,3,6, 6:17, 23,25. She is the only sinner in 32,000 verses that is recorded with the name and was identified as a harlot ~
habhak - one who commits fornication or adultery. The other Rahab was a sea monster of some kind, Ps 87:4, 89:10, Is 51:9.
In Heb 11:31 'By faith the
harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.' Also in James 2:25, 'Likewise also was not
Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?'
The record in scriptures records her as a harlot. There is no record of her giving it up. Hopefully she did give it up. Are we to assume that she was condemned to hell as a harlot, when the scriptures record her as one of the heroes of faith and has her being justified? The scriptures could have told us something that would have indicated a change of life but it is silent. Even the NT record has her down as a harlot. Can you explain that NoahsDad? The only possible fruit that is recorded was her faith in helping a couple of spies from the Israelites knowing that God was with them. Watchmen and MS have no option but to consider her condemned of God for her sin with no chance for the kingdom of God. Are you going to condemn her as well? Can you find anywhere in scripture that testifies she was converted and forsook her sin as a harlot?
Rahab was mentioned with these men and women who by faith obtained a good report, others not excepting deliverance to obtain a better resurrection and much more in Heb 12:33,34. Then what about Luke 18:13,14
'And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.'
...and Mt 19:13
'Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy [that is, readiness to help those in trouble] and not sacrifice and sacrificial victims. For I came not to call and invite [to repentance] the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God), but sinners (the erring ones and all those not free from sin).' Amplified
I believe that many will enter the kingdom of God because of God's mercy. They did not even realize that God had saved them when they asked God to be merciful to them as a sinner or as a wretched person. God looked upon their heart and responded to their cry with mercy. To me it is a terrible thing when someone tries to convince a believer who has sinned, that they will lose their salvation if they don't repent. Some have no idea what that means and have no power to do it.
God saved them by grace as a sinner but now they are being told that they have to repent of sin or lose it. God saved them according to His mercy but they have no teaching and no body to fellowship with and they are simple minded common folks. They may know when they do something that is wrong but the best they can do is ask God for mercy and God will not turn them away and they will enter the kingdom of heaven before those that have it all down pat through their own righteousness.