Originally posted by Proper Knob
[b]If man takes into himself this other being, this Satan, this original thrust for supposed independence from his Creator, he will withdraw from goodness, life, blessing, righteousness and the government of the Creator.
Hang a minute. Are you seriously suggesting that unless someone accept/believes in the 'government of the Creator' ie. your Chri ...[text shortened]... kend, i won't be back till after Monday so i get round to your reply then my good sir.[/b]
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Believing in a God who will send people to Hell simply for not 'believing' in Him is what is 'warped'.
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A place that people themselves want, that is without God, is by its own charateristics, a hell.
Hell is your escape. There you get yourself. That's all you wanted.
Unless God works in your being to conform you to the image of His Son, yourself, as it is in this fallen world, will be your hell.
The sinner has there a rendevous with his conscience. The conscience will finally catch up to him. And his own conscience will cry out for punishment at the realization of the seriousness of his sins.
Jesus Christ just saw deeply into the problem of your sins long before we did, and came to save us from those sins. Each sinner's estimation of sin will eventually see those sins as God sees them.
The reason you can be so flippant now, is because you do not see the seriousness of them. Neither do you see the love of God to send you salvation from sin.
Apparently, life goes on. There is no angry burst from heaven upon what you said, what you did. Apparently, all is well.
It is this apparant calm throughout your life of sinning which has deceived you into thinking that there will be no accounting.
Christ's death and resurrection for salvation of man is not a trivial matter. Maybe you only wish that it would be a trivial matter not worthy to consider.
But Christ is not a trivial Person or His work a trivial matter. It is full of weighty significance.