Originally posted by FMFI don't believe any of this this stuff you claim .about "holy God Who is eternally the Righteous Judge and final Governor of all being".
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I know what you mean, perhaps. Sometimes I can hardly believe that I believe in God myself.
I just don't believe it. I can't choose to believe it. I can't simply decide to believe it. And I can't even pretend to believe it. I've considered it, and I've concluded that its unbelievable and not credible.
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Sometimes I DO contemplate in amazement - "Lord, I actually believe these things. Incredible!"
I think you're somewhat right. You seem just unable to bring yourself to believe. I wish I knew how it happens.
I know where to get faith when I have little. I go to the Word of God. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."
But very often I consider that it is some kind of a miracle that I actually believe in the Son of God.
Originally posted by sonshipAnd yet you think a punishment of torture for eternity is "perfect justice" for me if I don't believe in this miracle you claim has happened to you?
But very often I consider that it is some kind of a miracle that I actually believe in the Son of God.
Originally posted by roigamI didn't ask you for "the day or the hour". What time span is "the season" you mentioned?
to FMF
As far as the end, Jesus said no man knows the day or the hour. We do know the season and it is the season according to the sign Jesus gave to help us.
As far as when, it will come like "a thief in the night".
Another pertinent question: have people from your organisation interpreted prophesies incorrectly and/or made prophesies that turned out to be false?
Jesus spoke of "nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom". It would seem that happened in 1914, WWI. That would be the beginning of the sign or season. So we are still in it but Jesus did say one generation would see all the sign including the "great tribulation". That has not yet occurred.
As far as prophecies are concerned, the Bible says "the light grows brighter".
We are not the only organization that is keeping on the watch.
No one knows the whole story yet. But, we do know the end is near and we have a real hope for the future.
Originally posted by roigamOnce again in case you missed it: have people from your organisation interpreted prophesies incorrectly and/or made prophesies that turned out to be false?
Jesus spoke of "nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom". It would seem that happened in 1914, WWI. That would be the beginning of the sign or season. So we are still in it but Jesus did say one generation would see all the sign including the "great tribulation". That has not yet occurred.
As far as prophecies are concerned, the Bible says " ...[text shortened]... ows the whole story yet. But, we do know the end is near and we have a real hope for the future.
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Originally posted by FMFApparently we deserve to be tormented forever if we reject the God who incarnated as a man and suffered and died upon His cross for our guilty selves and rose again.
And yet you think a punishment of torture for eternity is "perfect justice" for me if I don't believe in this miracle you claim has happened to you?
And sadly, I think the sinner will agree with that verdict when the full light of just Who it is he has spurned dawns upon him. And in the light of his real guilt he will hate himself. No lie can live forever. And the word of God says that "the judgment of God is according to truth ... ".
I expect that to be away from this God of love will be less painful than to remain in the light of His presence.
So it is better to begin to confess that one is indeed a sinner, agreeing with God. He as the father of the prodigal son, comes running then to him to embrace him. He is so eager that we be reconciled to Him.
" And he rose up and came to his own father. But while he was still a long way off his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and he ran and fell on his neck and kissed him affectionately. " (Luke 15:20)
Instead of contemplating - that if God loves you He would just let you be a sinner against Him always without judgment and do nothing for setting the universal scales of rightness in balance, it is better to muse on all that this heavenly Father has done that we may be welcomed back to His house.
See how eager the father was to receive his son back ? God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that he would repent.
Ezekiel 18:23
New American Standard Bible
"Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked," declares the Lord GOD, "rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?" This is the declaration of the Lord GOD. "Instead, don't I take pleasure when he turns from his ways and lives?
Your sins have made a separation between you and the reality of God. Your unforgiven sins is what makes God seem not real at all to you.
Originally posted by sonshipHow can I "sin" against a God figure that I have no convincing reason to believe in. I reject your ideology and your ghastly notion of "justice" fueled by your superstitions and belief in a supernatural being. The unconvincing, incoherent and far-fetched ideology that you propagate is what I reject. That is why what you claim is "the reality of God" remains, to me, a figment of your imagination. You declaring me to be a "sinner" doesn't make the demented, perverse vengeance you extol into a coherent moral argument.
Your sins have made a separation between you and the reality of God. Your unforgiven sins is what makes God seem not real at all to you.
Originally posted by sonshipIf I just think that God is real and think, sincerely, that I am forgiven, and I think that Jesus saved me, am I "saved"?
Your sins have made a separation between you and the reality of God. Your unforgiven sins is what makes God seem not real at all to you.
And if I don't think those things I will be tortured for eternity, is that how it works?
Originally posted by roigamWouldn't it be accurate to say, in fact, that dozens and dozens of its predictions have been false? Indeed, isn't its track record in making predictions abysmal?
It has conceded that it has made mistakes.
So, is there a particular reason why your prediction - that the end times will occur in your lifetime - is any more credible than all the predictions that preceded it and that turned out to be false again and again and again?