Amen! For the Lord God's sake, I pray Stephen's heart was open to Him.
Before he was even born God heard your prayer and has certainly answered it. It is God's will and desire that none shall perish.
Amen! For the Lord God's sake, I pray Stephen's heart was open to Him.
There are a lot of grey areas the Bible doesn't cover. There are instances each day where people die in parts of the world where they have no access to the Bible and never heard of Jesus or the concept of sin, Heaven, and hell. It's one thing to reject a concept after it's presented. To punish someone for not even knowing a concept exists, though, goes against the love, grace, and mercy of God. Again, grey areas. That is why there is speculation, and none of us know for sure what happens when a person takes his/her final breath. People are unable to talk/move any part of their body, but their minds are still sharp. The Bible does say to honor God with our minds. Grey areas. Grey areas. Grey areas. Did I mention there are grey areas?
Why don't you go and read Romans chapter 1...There are a lot of grey areas the Bible doesn't cover. There are instances each day where people die in parts of the world where they have no access to the Bible and never heard of Jesus or the concept of sin, Heaven, and hell. It's one thing to reject a concept after it's presented. To punish someone for not even knowing a concept exists, though, goes against the love, grace, and mercy of God. Again, grey areas. That is why there is speculation, and none of us know for sure what happens when a person takes his/her final breath. People are unable to talk/move any part of their body, but their minds are still sharp. The Bible does say to honor God with our minds. Grey areas. Grey areas. Grey areas. Did I mention there are grey areas?
I just love (loathe) the cop out lame excuse "That's just your interpretation!"
In reality this is used to justify lost persons as saved who have not believed in Christ, who deny God, reject the Gospel &c because they're "nice," "they do good" and "are good" while on the other hand judging and condemning others who believe the Gospel, have been genuinely converted, are leaning on the work of Christ to save them, and believe the exclusivity iof the Gospel being that salvation is only through Christ. The latter must be judged as being judgmental and wrong for wholly keaning on God's revelation. The funny thing is the persons who do this have made themselves judge and even an authority above God and his own word!
Please note 2 Thessalonians 2:10.
There is no salvation outside of Christ, and there is no special privilege for those who seem nice, seem good &c because the verdict is they cannot please God; Romans 8:8, are under wrath and condemnation, John 3:17ff, Ephesians 2:3; Romans 5:12; just as all who are outside of Christ. Sorry, you all don't get to make the rules and set the stipulations, God has already done so and has revealed it in his Word.
...
It's not a copout to point to facts. As one of my other personal hero says (Ben Shapiro), "facts don't care about your feelings". Then again, the same Christians who doom Hawking to Hell will doom Ben Shaprio (a Jew) to Hell for not accepting Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour... I could go on and on about how Christians don't agree on biblical interpretations.
You didn't have any knowledge of God until someone told you about Him. God is everywhere, yes. However, that doesn't mean everyone knows who God is. If the latter was the case, why does the Bible instruct to make all nations hear His name? That sounds redundant.The Bible says " [FONT="]For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse". God is knowable no matter where in the world you live,no matter what faith you were brought up in or none at all. [/FONT]
As I stated earlier, people with severe mental health issues aren't competent enough to stand trial. Not to mention the fact they can't understand the concept sin and the Gospel. If you're going to cherry pick, try to do a better job next time and read more than one partial post.So persons aren't lost in their sins unless they hear the Gospel. Gotcha. Hmmmm. Scriptures says all mankind is lost outside of Christ, and that he is the only way to the Father. That leaves zero grey areas.
I think Romans 11 is enough to say thats not true.
Romans 11 says what isn't true?
That ben will go to hell for being a Jew.
The Bible often is clear on issues, such as coming to Christ as the only way to be saved, but often times people will ignore these clear verses for their own sake. Just like I did in my lbgt life before Christ, or just like the anti semite who refuses to accept that the Jews are not the enemy of God.
Hrmm, I see what you're saying. I honestly haven't given the proper studying of this topic as I should. In spite of the countless debates of this topic, I never studied Romans 11 in depth to figure it out. Thanks for posting, I'll be studying this tonight. I'm quite curious.
Also, I agree some people deliberately ignore scripture. I've done it myself too, in my younger years. However, I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to people believing something differently. Maybe they have a secret bias motive, but I think more often than not, people believe what they say they believe... even if they are mistaken.
Try Constantine and the RCC circa: Council of Nicea 325 AD. The Papacy became so apostate they had an illegitimate (bastard) Pope. Corrupted the scriptures and sold forgiveness for sins. Along came the Protestant Reform: They carry on with most of the Catholic dogma. We are throwing off all that error and we let the HS interpret scripture.No idea which tradition you're referring to.
But, although the first and second century did add on some bad letters along the way, which ones were bad and which weren't was handled in a miraculous and timely way in the third century -- when the people could actually tell the real stuff from the phony. That's why we know the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus, and Mary Magdalene were con jobs.
It was considered a curse by the Jewish people of Christ's time to have your body burned in the city dump (Gehenna). Only derelicts, thieves and murderers had that to happen. Think of it as a disgrace to one's name or memory.Odd little thing I remember about Gehenna. It was the city dump, but since poor people couldn't afford burial sites for their dead relatives, humans bodies were included. The burning had a bit to do with that kind of decomposition.
Nope. And not sorry. I'll stand against both of you, and all others, and for the Gospel.
You're both in abject error and are denying the Gospel of Christ.
Where Stephen Hawkings is now ... we don't know. God will decide. When Billy Graham died, many said that he, too, was in Hell because towards the end of his life, he became more inclusive. He stated that people of others faiths, or no faith at all, might be saved IF they lived as if they knew Jesus (paraphrasing).
I cannot judge anyone's soul. I certainly dont believe that people of other religions (and possibly no religion at all) will go to Hell because they believed in the wrong "things". I wonder if there even is a Hell.
Ok...........?
When did this thread go from "Stephen Hawking has died" to "blah blah blah blah"?
seriously what does it accomplish?
Bible discussion forum is exit stage right you know»»»»»»»»» to discuss "another subject".