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Romans 5:9
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
This theme is consistent throughout all of Scripture. If we are not justified by Jesus Christ the Passover sacrifice, we are going to have to stand before the Great White Throne to be Judged according to our works and have to pay for the penalty of sin ourselves.
Jesus Christ suffered the torment of Eternal Punishment, but descended into Sheol with the promise of the Father that He would not leave His soul in Hell or let the Holy One see corruption.
If we are not forgiven, it is going to be very bad.. Those believing it's going to be a slap on the wrist I believe have a HUGE wakeup call coming.
I do not want to stand before JESUS Christ to be judged at the Great White Throne Judgment. That would be utterly terrifying... as it most certainly will be.
When I was a Christian I believed I was being saved from hell. However, I've come to realize after much study and thought that that particular idea is ludicrous as the hell most Christians believe in is not real. Not that I'm advocating either side of the ET/UR debate, but at least the Universalists aren't pushing that kind of hell I was always told I was going to no matter how hard I tried to be perfect.
If there's a god, he/she/it is not the "bible" god.
I am not a Universalist, as separation exists only in the mind.
However, I can see that they are much closer to the truth.
I have seen some good tribute bands in my time. Just seen an Abba tribute band at our annual 4th of July concerts! They were good, if you closed your eyes you'd think you were listening to the real thing. Knowing me knowing you.
In fact I wil go as far to say that salvation is an ever present thing,not something in the future, not all is going to be well, but all is well. We live in and by the salvation of God. He's an ever present help in times of trouble. Those who live by faith know and experience the reality of it.
So true, pcamps. I need to be saved from many things including despair, doubt, sadness, sickness, and my concupiscence (weakness for sin). Salvation IS a constant happening.
If God is truly bent on punishing as painfully as He can those who reject Jesus as their Lord and Savior, I can think of no greater exquisite eternal torture than for God to plant each unrepentant sinner in the center of their own individual star, where temperatures at the center burn at no less than a million degrees F. There are estimated to be 100 billion galaxies in the universe, each consisting of trillions of stars of varying sizes and heat intensities.
God could easily choose the hottest or varying degrees of heat of these stars to plant each sinner who rejected Jesus in the star that best suits the level of sinful life he led on earth. For example our own sun's core is estimated to be a million degrees F. That might be a fitting punishment for an unrepentant adulterer. Others, like Hitler might earn being placed in the center of a larger giant like Antares which is estimated to burn at over 2 million degrees F. thus creating a punishment twice as painful as that of the adulterer, and so on, and so on.
What makes this punishment so horrific and therefore more deserving for the sinners is that, in addition to being punished for all eternity, they are all alone--completely isolated--as they burn in the fiery cores of these stars. The next closest sinner to them is trillions of light years away so there is total isolation and mind-numbing pain and agony for all eternity--never ending.
Such are the just punishments God will by virtue of His honor inflict on sinners who reject Jesus. The punishment fits the crime: rejecting His most Holy Son who gave His life that we could be saved. To reject this most precious gift can be punished in no less a manner.
God saved me from my sins. A debt, that I could not pay, but Jesus paid for me. His sacrifice, His blood cleanses me, this does not happen to all mankind, but only to them that repent. Before anyone can repent, he must acknowledge that he is a sinner, not every human knows it and than he has to believe in Christ as his Saviour and has to make Him the Lord of his life. This will save from the kingdom of darkness, all humans belong to and need Salvation, only through faith in Christ we will be transfered to the kingdom of light and we will become light, all darkness will go, this is what the bible calls born again and than the believer has to walk in the light to overcome sin, which is the work of the Holy Spirit, no human can accomplish this in his own strength by following some laws or rules, it is the grace of God, that are for them that love and obey Him, to overcome this world, that is ruled now by the power of the evil one, but will be replaced by the kingdom of God.
Saved from judgment, saved from my old sins which will NEVER EVER be judged against me when I die. I am saved from the power of sin on my life, saved from death. Saved from having to follow evil... given a new life to want to serve God thru Jesus Christ and not be a slave to sin or even seeking to do sin. all the old stuff was put away never to have to serve it, nor follow it nor be desiring anything in my old life before Christ.
Not because I deserved it, not because I did a total of 3,295.5 good deeds, not because I worked for it, but it was grace, a gift from God, so that I cannot brag. (The Book of Ephesians says this).
I'm with WhiteWings......Christ's DEATH and RESURRECTION ensured that I will be resurrected from a state of unconscious death/non-existence. Saved by HIS LIFE gives me access to His grace NOW and the assurance that I will be LIKE HIM. Perhaps God sees me so now, but I am not now in my reality like Him. I am still in the flesh and am prone to disappointments, loneliness, depression, and lusts. I do believe he is working his patience and forgiveness in me through trials and failures of mercy that I succumb to. But it isn't permanent and I persevere knowing that I am a work in progress......in my reality, I can not understand how He sees me as a finished work at the same time he's working on me but it doesn't matter, I need to understand that I am not perfect and yet I will be, that's all I NEED to know.
I'm with WhiteWings......Christ's DEATH and RESURRECTION ensured that I will be resurrected from a state of unconscious death/non-existence. Saved by HIS LIFE gives me access to His grace NOW and the assurance that I will be LIKE HIM. Perhaps God sees me so now, but I am not now in my reality like Him. I am still in the flesh and am prone to disappointments, loneliness, depression, and lusts. I do believe he is working his patience and forgiveness in me through trials and failures of mercy that I succumb to. But it isn't permanent and I persevere knowing that I am a work in progress......in my reality, I can not understand how He sees me as a finished work at the same time he's working on me but it doesn't matter, I need to understand that I am not perfect and yet I will be, that's all I NEED to know.
Scarlet, i am sure you believe God created all things, do you believe he created the state of unconscious death the state of none existence.
I believe that God does see you as a finished work, he calls the things that are not as though they are, we just need to see it, just like Abraham had to see himself a Father of many nations who considered not his natural state of being, because if he had, he would have never had the faith for what God declared him to be. So he did not stagger or stumble at what God said he was(a father of many nations) but being fully convinced by faith in who God said he was he experienced the reality of it. We will never be that which we do not believe we are. Let the poor say i am rich, let the weak say i am strong.
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