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What Does The Bible Say?
Some say there is no hell. Yet others say
God would never send someone to hell and that everyone will be saved and
go to heaven. And yet others offer scriptural explanations like Luke 23:34
when Jesus was dying on the cross and spoke out saying, "Father, forgive
them for they know not what they do" as an example of why we will all go
to heaven. The implication here is that because the soldiers were ignorant
of who Jesus was, that they should be spared. Well there is truth to that,
but spared from what? From hell? I daresay not. That is not what is said
here. If they are forgiven this sin, then they are heavenbound. Not quite.
There are no contradictions in the bible, just misunderstandings. Yet some
imply that based on the mercy of Jesus here that no one will go to hell
and Jesus as our judge will have mercy on everyone. Claims that bible
verses like everyone who confesses the name of Jesus shall go to heaven
and every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord would
seem to indicate that therefore everyone goes to heaven but this simply is
not true when interpreting the whole context of the bible. The verses are
true, but not the interpretations. So what then is an interpretation that
fits into the whole of the bible? Read on. The proposed idea is simply not
the case. Then in fact there would be no need for a hell. That is not what
the bible teaches us. That is not what Jesus taught us. The antichrists
would have you believe that however, for then there would be no need to
accept Jesus as there is no hell and we are all going to heaven anyway.
Every tongue indeed confesses that Jesus is Lord IN HEAVEN. It is the
already saved tongues that make this confession. Romans chapter one tells
us that even the remote man in the deepest jungle away from all
civilization is without excuse. Faith in God is what gets people to heaven
before Calvary and since Calvary the only way to receive heaven is through
accepting the righteousness of Jesus Christ (Christ=Messiah or Savior).
Here we take a closer look at what Jesus said at Calvary.
Let Us Consider...
Let us consider the broader picture. God
loves us and He protects us. When Adam ate the forbidden fruit from the
tree of Knowledge of Good and evil, he then had knowledge for the first time of good and evil. He then knew
that there was good and evil. Evil was born unto humanity. Adam and Eve became shameful of their bare bodies. While the book of Genesis does not point
this out emphatically, God in His mercy and love for us immediately
evicted Adam and his wife from the Garden of Eden banning him from
returning. God even placed cherubim to guard the entrance that no one
shall enter. Now man can consider this an act of selfishness or even
meanness but in fact this was an act of love toward man. For you see,
inside the Garden of Eden was also the tree of Life. Now had man eaten
from the tree of Life in his fallen, sinful state, he would indeed have
lived eternity in hell. By God keeping us from the tree of Life, He
protected us giving Him time to perform His plan of redemption. God surely
loves us in a way that is beyond our imagination and capacity to
understand.
Now let us consider 2Samuel 6:6 where the
ark of God was being transported back to Jerusalem by oxen. When the oxen
stumbled, Uzzah reached out and grabbed
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hold of the ark of God to steady it so it
would not fall. The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his
irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the
ark of God. King David was angry because of the Lord’s wrath. He could not
understand why God would do such a thing to an innocent man especially
when Uzzah was only trying to help and acting in a manner which he thought
was reverent and respectful. Poof, nontheless, God struck him dead
instantly. God is a perfect, pure, righteous being. The mere touch of a
sinful man on His ark was a gross contamination. God cannot be that close
to sin. This is why the description of exactly just how the ark was to be
built and handled was provided by God himself. It was to safeguard His
Holiness. It was important to follow the instructions of God with
meticulous detail. Ok, back to
Calvary. When Jesus petitioned His Father to forgive those who were
torturing and killing His Son, Jesus was asking that His Father not strike
them dead right there on the spot for their heinous act. Jesus was not
asking that they be forgiven of all their sins so that they would not have
to go to hell and could then go to heaven. For if that were true, then God
is a liar and the bible does contradict itself. But we know that God is
not a liar and that the bible does not contradict itself. Jesus indeed had
mercy on these few just as He did when evicting Adam from the Garden of
Eden. Jesus wanted these men spared that they may have time to come to the
understanding of who He is, accept Him and receive then, the gift of
eternal life. Jesus’ plea was in fact merciful, but not as some would have
you believe.
So Who Is Right?
We must use reason, we must consider and
come to a right decision and understanding. Jesus expects nothing less
than that from us. The law was given to Moses because of our
transgressions for us to realize that we (as man) cannot possibly keep it.
Therefore, if man could come to that realization, he would then know that
he needed a Savior, that he could not possibly save himself. Let us not be
so presumptuous as the pharisees thinking that in fact all their lives
they actually kept all the law as did also the rich man who came to Jesus
asking what he must do to follow Jesus. The whole purpose of the bible and
especially the last book of Revelation is to point us toward, to bring us
to Jesus, Son of God. Be productive and think! Come to a right decision
and understanding! This is your challenge. Accept Jesus while you are
still living in the flesh because once your flesh is dead, it is too late
and you do not know when your flesh is going to die.
How does one believe in Jesus? Follow the
Roman Highway. Just do it NOW!!!
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