Hello there GM777, thanks for taking the time to read my post and for your response to it.
Now GM777, I do agree with you that we need to be gentle and compassionate in our approach to the lost world. But that does not mean that we are not to tell them the truth in love. The Bible says:
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27 [/SUP]And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: - Hebrews 9:27 (King James Bible)
And the truth be told GM777, they are WITHOUT EXCUSE. They are not going to have any excuse at the Great White Throne Judgment, if they end up dying with Christ, and they end up in Hell. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)
We cannot sugar coat the truth, but we must tell them the whole truth.
Plus another thing to consider is that there are constant warnings given all throughout America. You have churches all over the Country as a Warning to the lost of the fact that there is a Hell just like there is a Heaven.
And I do understand that some of these people could truly just be ignorant and misled, but a lot of these professing atheists who hate God and who hate the Bible, let me tell you something, they are in willful rebellion against God.
[SUP]7 [/SUP]Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
[SUP]8 [/SUP]So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. - Romans 8:7 (King James Bible)
[SUP]18 [/SUP]For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
[SUP]19 [/SUP]Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
[SUP]20 [/SUP]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:
[SUP]21 [/SUP]Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
[SUP]22 [/SUP]Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
[SUP]23 [/SUP]And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. - Romans 1:18-23(King James Bible)
14 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
[SUP]2 [/SUP]The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
[SUP]3 [/SUP]They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. - Psalm 14:1-3 (King James Bible)
Atheists don't deny God with their minds or intellect. They have to deny the existence of God in their heart. Because true Science points to the fact that there is a Divine Creator. Every thing on this earth has a designer behind it. Someone designed and made your watch, someone built your house, someone designed and assembled your car and put it together.
You see, that watch did not come into being by random parts simultaneously running into each other, and than forming the watch you now are wearing on your wrist. How silly and ridiculous to believe would it be to believe such a thing! And yet that is exactly what Evolution teaches in regard to the formation of the earth and man.
When an atheist is shown the truth and he now has a knowledge of the truth, that man is in direct and willful rebellion against an holy God. And he can deny it in is mind all he wants to, but deep down he knows that there is indeed a God out there.
And the reason why the atheist tries to deny the existence of God so much in his mind, is because he cannot handle the fact or the thought of him standing before a Holy God someday, and having to give an account for his rotten life.
So, with those kind of people that you run into who have been shown the truth and yet they continue to mock God, and mock Christians and they continue to mock God's holy word. Let me tell you something, you better be warning them of the horrors of Hell and that if they die in their current condition, that they are going to end up in that horrible place of everlasting torment.
And again, yes there is a balance. We have to use meekness and kindness and be longsuffering. But then there are those people who are being willfully ignorant and they are being outright blasphemous. And those are the people that you are to rebuke sharply and openly. We are to rebuke them sharply and preach the word to them. You can't always win people over with love and kindness. A lot of times you are just going to have to tell them that they are clearly on the road to Hell. And before they can be saved, they must come to God as a sinner and know that their own self righteousness cannot save them.
And one other important thing to keep in mind GM777, is that God does not love Christ rejecting sinners. No where in the Bible, does it say that God loves (present tense) Christ Rejecting sinners.
God's love was manifested at Calvary. And if a lost sinner does not go to Calvary, and if he does not repent and accept the Lord Jesus Christ, then God's love is not on that sinner, but God's wrath is abiding on that sinner.
