Whoever loves his brother... (hell, testimony, myth, punishment)

[.sparrow.]

2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. 4 Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, 5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
The New Commandment

7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because[1] the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him[2] there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.



There are many who are in darkness... but do you see, the darkness is passing away. Hallelujah. This is good news. The true light is already shining. Those who revel in the myth of a horrible god who would torture his children for all eternity or just wipe them out of existence... don't you see, all you people out there who are lurking possibly, or who are on the fence not sure WHAT to believe.. don't you see it? It's as plain as day. There are many, MANY who today WALK IN DARKNESS, not knowing where they are going because the darkness has BLINDED their eyes.

WIDE ROAD TO DESTRUCTION. It is wide. It must accomodate a lot of people. There are a lot of people walking that road. Their DARKNESS is passing away. Pass away = destruction. Their DARKNESS is what is being destroyed. What happens when you turn on a light in a DARK room, the darkness is destroyed. The darkness passes away. Don't believe the lie.
God IS LOVE.
He loves you more than you could possibly know.
He loves ALL of us.
ALL WILL BE RECONCILED.
ALL of our darkness...will finally, ultimately, thankfully be DESTROYED.
And we will be full of love.
For Him, for each other, for all...

The narrow road leads to life... because the narrow road is the road of love. LOVE remains. Love is not destroyed. That is why the narrow road of love (God IS LOVE) leads to life.



Peace.

[Pleroo]

Lovely, Sparrow! Thank you so much!

You know, I used to have real trouble reading 1st John. I'd keep coming to that part about, "God is love... There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love." I could never shake the feeling that there was something fundamentally wrong with me because, even as a Christian, I couldn't help but be horribly, horribly afraid of this god who was going to abandon the majority of people to an eternity in hell. Try as I did (and believe me I tried with all my might for decades) I could never bring myself to truly trust that god.

Once the scales of "hell" that blinded me fell away (actually, they were ripped away because I was holding onto them for dear life, afraid that the hell-god would abandon me for all of eternity if I somehow became "deceived"), then I finally understood that the judgment and discipline that comes from the God who is love always has a purpose: to cleanse us from sin (1 Jn 1:9), to save us from sin. Yes, Sparrow, our darkness is passing away because of the love of God in Jesus Christ! But if I had continued to see God as one who punishes for the sake of punishment, I would still be living in unholy fear of Him, still too terrified to truly come into the Light and let my darkness be exposed.

I love reading 1st John now. It makes such beautiful sense. Perfect Love does indeed cast out fear!

[.sparrow.]

Pleroo, Thank YOU for sharing that wonderful testimony! I too went through that fear. That's not the type of fear we're supposed to have. There is none of THAT kind of fear in love. That part finally started to make sense. I know just what you mean about the "scales" of hell falling away. The type of fear we are to have is "verb: to have reverential awe of". It's definitely a trembling. But not in a bad way. In a reverent, respectful, just trembling AWE! His majesty, His POWER!

Perfect Love does indeed cast out fear!

Amen!

[Ironmaw1776]

Originally Posted by Pleroo

Lovely, Sparrow! Thank you so much!

You know, I used to have real trouble reading 1st John. I'd keep coming to that part about, "God is love... There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love." I could never shake the feeling that there was something fundamentally wrong with me because, even as a Christian, I couldn't help but be horribly, horribly afraid of this god who was going to abandon the majority of people to an eternity in hell. Try as I did (and believe me I tried with all my might for decades) I could never bring myself to truly trust that god.

Once the scales of "hell" that blinded me fell away (actually, they were ripped away because I was holding onto them for dear life, afraid that the hell-god would abandon me for all of eternity if I somehow became "deceived"), then I finally understood that the judgment and discipline that comes from the God who is love always has a purpose: to cleanse us from sin (1 Jn 1:9), to save us from sin. Yes, Sparrow, our darkness is passing away because of the love of God in Jesus Christ! But if I had continued to see God as one who punishes for the sake of punishment, I would still be living in unholy fear of Him, still too terrified to truly come into the Light and let my darkness be exposed.

I love reading 1st John now. It makes such beautiful sense. Perfect Love does indeed cast out fear!

.Sparrow.
Pleroo, Thank YOU for sharing that wonderful testimony! I too went through that fear. That's not the type of fear we're supposed to have. There is none of THAT kind of fear in love. That part finally started to make sense. I know just what you mean about the "scales" of hell falling away. The type of fear we are to have is "verb: to have reverential awe of". It's definitely a trembling. But not in a bad way. In a reverent, respectful, just trembling AWE! His majesty, His POWER!

Amen !!! and amen, and amen, and amen !!!