Posted on 07/01/2005 9:55:00 AM PDT by Rhadaghast
There are also those who have a child like spirit, of which the Kingdom of God is made. He looks at our heart and He precives us like no one else can, because He judges the intentions of our hearts.
yes, maybe its me just not wanting to think God has previously condemned them. I'm open to thinking I dont know it all.
But to see the love of Jesus some mentally retarded people have or others with difficulties does not seem right...so for me I choose to believe Gods love is great enough for them.
And yes, see my profile, I am a God is Justice kind of Christian.
"I think the age is 12 or so, but no I don't have the exact scripture."
I am somewhat familiar with the Bible and don't ever recall reading such a thing.
"Now are you going to seize the opportunity to be a jerk and state how incredibly wrong I am?"
Well, you kinda screwed up my opportunity to do that right there didn't you? So who is the jerk? ;-)
"Are you are a Christian wishing to educate me, or a non-Christian wishing to belittle me?"
I am a non-Chrisitan looking for some education.
I would think you would have got an "inkling" from the Clinton love fest at his last "Government sponsored" crusade.
Carolyn
..... tell me it isn't so ping
God says he will have mercy upon who he will have mercy...
Do you think that a knowledge of the creator from nature is enough for salvation?
Then, why Jesus?
How I usually deal with this is to say that Jesus is the only provision given by the Father so that people can be assured of eternal life. It is clearly *not* for us to declare who actually goes to heaven and who goes to hell. All we can do is preach the gospel. It is entirely God's responsibility to decide who goes where.
My personal hope is that God finds a way to redeem all of mankind, but I have nothing in the Bible that gives me reason to believe that's the case. Again, if someone wants to go to heaven, the only assurance the New Testament can give them is through faith in Christ. There's no other provision made by which a man can be saved.
From tripping over a couple steps days, months or years before the possibility of that event even occurring...the person would understand gravity before he or she knew what gravity was. [I like it to how my 1 yr old carefully gets down onto the floor, after he propped himself up to stand. He only had to be careless a couple of times (with someone there to catch him of course) to understand balance and the force of gravity.] That experience alone would render the possibility of stepping off a 10 story building highly unlikely.
>>That would be interesting. Where does it say that?
My thought as well. I Corinthians 7:14 calls the children of at least one believing parent "holy" so I think these children would be saved. I don't think that anything can be concluded Biblically about the children of unbelievers.
Personally, I believe that is what the reverend was trying to say.
Have you read the Chronicles of Narnia?
C. S. Lewis has a character that follows Tass (which is the other evil religion). Well, during the book The Last Battle, the followers of Aslan (Christ) go through this barn door to heaven. When they are in heaven they see this follower of Tass and ask how he got there. He says something like that he was always trying to do the right thing, and that he thought Tass was the correct god. However, when he got through the door he realized that he was really trying to follow Aslan all along.
Somehow after this character got to Heaven he got a choice to follow God.
I don't know if I explained it correctly. However, I think what C. S. Lewis is saying is that people who have never been exposed to Christ in this world will be given a final chance to follow Christ in Heaven. I also recall reading in the Bible that somehow everyone will be given a choice to follow God.
There is no Age of Reason in the Bible. God didn't create this process to be complicated. Christians are to spread the Gospel so that people may hear and be Saved. There is only one way to Heaven and that is through Christ. We reject the Gospel and are imperiled by our decision.
Yeah, what was a Christian doing talking to a sinner?! Christ would NEVER... oh, wait a minute.
I don't agree with all Graham's comments that night, but I'm not going to encourage scurrilous rumours or false witness as a result. Again, where's the transcript? Why are so many so eager to judge without solid evidence?
Sorry, but I'm not going to race with my Zippo to this particular witch-burning, thanks.
I can't find it right now. But in John it says Christ will judge ALL THE NATIONS, and many of them are pagan, so I assume they have a chance to accept him.
As am I. I do see justice and mercy as one in the same, though.
I believe we can understand His thinking since He's the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and we have numerous examples of how He acts.
I think it's very likely that they will be welcomed into His Kingdom, but I try not to presume how He'll decide since I then risk molding Him into the God I want, rather than the God He is.
2 Kings, 2:11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
It isn't about talking with sinners, it's about what was said. Christ never minced words in telling someone that they're doing wrong. He's been known to bang some heads together to get the point across, too.
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