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Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels...Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
The only thing that is eternal is God. The original says age. We have to put on immortality. None of us are immortal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by tdinh
Sorry way, way to many contradictions, my friend.
So lets stop the word play, and lets go to the truth of the Bible. And as you can see, when you see me quote scripture, I will put it in its proper context, by backing it up by other verses, not leaving it alone, by itself and state that means truth.
Tradition is full of contradiction and obfuscation. It is split into so many factions which are so full of contradictions, but yet it can't see that each faction has a piece of the puzzle, not the whole. Things would become a whole lot clearer if people would stop fighting and start learning.
Two of the most ridiculous and obviously mistranslated words in the whole Bible are the words "eternal" and "hell." When you've got that figured out and you start understanding the history of the Bible and the history of it's people, when you start understanding the parables, symbolism, allegory, poetic license, culture differences, (absolutely tons of this stuff), it really does start to come together.
I think people should start with the most simple and obvious problems: Why would the rich man want a "drop of water" for his tongue? And how would the adversary and cohorts be harmed by literal fire? They are spirit. What does that drop of water have to do with Jesus being the true "fountain," Jesus calming the "sea," and a lake of fire and a sea of glass?
If you don’t want to spend the $10-15 for the book/DVD, I’m sure you can read it while at Wal-mart or a bookstore.
Annette
Is Annette encouraging the OP to steal? I mean if you go into Wal-mart or a bookstore and READ A BOOK without paying for it, isn't that stealing? Why didn't she suggest the OP grab a bag of chips from the chips aisle to snack on too? Assuming you don't want to spend the $2-3 for the chips. Good grief!
ditchlights
Please dont take this the wrong way but it looks like your problem might be selfishness. In your email to Weiss you seemed focused on yourself when you need to be focus on Christ. You seem to have the desire but your focus is flawed so dont expect some big happening for your salvation just focus on Christ and it will come. I will pray for you.
Wow. How could anyone take that the wrong way? Pray for me too, wouldja?
tdinh, if you believe the lake of fire in Revelation is a literal fire, you should also believe we'll be going to the wedding of a baby sheep, aka, the lamb. What about the lampstands, bride, sword, beast, horns, horses, whatever? Most people were taught the symbolism of all these things, but then - the lake of fire - where people actually burn forever. And Jesus and the saints look on with joy? I don't think so.
Chiming in with Bright Hope for Tomorrow - Revelation is a literary genre of dream vision. The symbolism used is consistent with that genre of writing in that time period. Kind of like the Harlequin romance novels I used to read by the boxful all featured a tall dark handsome hero who drove a foreign sports car, apocalyptic literature also has common elements. Some of these are revelations made to a human by an angel, numerology, extravagant imagery, and the expectation of the end of the world. Now, I do like me a tall dark handsome hero with a foreign sports car, but I don't get take them too literally. Similarly, I don't take winged beasts or weird numerology, or end times stuff to literally either. Read and study Revelations for its symbolism or just for the joy of reading such a crazy book, but don't take everything as, well, as Gospel. Because it ain't.
Is Annette encouraging the OP to steal? I mean if you go into Wal-mart or a bookstore and READ A BOOK without paying for it, isn't that stealing? Why didn't she suggest the OP grab a bag of chips from the chips aisle to snack on too? Assuming you don't want to spend the $2-3 for the chips. Good grief!
Quote:
Originally Posted by SmalltownKSgirl
I have a problem with that. It's called stealing.
That was my thought exactly when I read the OP.....the woman encouraged him to steal!! I don't like the overall tone of this woman's response, it's extremely condescending and just plain rude.
That was my thought exactly when I read the OP.....the woman encouraged him to steal!! I don't like the overall tone of this woman's response, it's extremely condescending and just plain rude.
I'm sure she did not look at it like that. I mean, after all, reading a book at a bookstore is fairly common these days at large Borders and Barnes/Nobles stores. I've done it several times on cold rainy days, and we have lots of those up here where I live. I just find it funny that she tossed out a generic sales pitch versus answering just a couple of my questions herself.
Condescending? Absolutely. After all, even though my e-mail was simply my own opinions and feelings, it nonetheless questioned the very foundation of their belief system. That is hard for some people. Remember, there are no straightforward answers to the questions I posed, much less common sense reasoning to be able to back those answers up. My e-mail could be cosidered by some to be of a mocking tone, so the reply did not bother me from that standpoint. She was simply doing what her instincts told her to do in responding to someone like me. My mother talks to me the same way even though I'm a grown man. I'm used to it.
The reason her response was "off" to me, was that I sensed very little love from it. It was quite cold and unfeeling, imho. No understanding or attempt to understanding at all. No warmth, no love being extended that I could see. But, her response is not surprising, to me at least, given what they apparently believe.
The reason her response was "off" to me, was that I sensed very little love from it. It was quite cold and unfeeling, imho. No understanding or attempt to understanding at all. No warmth, no love being extended that I could see. But, her response is not surprising, to me at least, given what they apparently believe.
And the bold part of your quote was all I was looking for in a response. And that is why trying to talk to fundamentalist ET Christians can be so frustrating. They're right, everyone else is wrong, they will spend eternity in paradise with Christ, everyone else will perish in eternal torment, yada....yada.....
Black and White. Simple. Quite an enlightened position they're in. In the meantime, souls are perishing.
I'm sorry. My mind doesn't work like that. I'd like to think there is more to it. This cannot be it. Call me open minded.
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And Jesus and the saints look on with joy? 
I don't think so.
I just find it funny that she tossed out a generic sales pitch versus answering just a couple of my questions herself.
