Trying not to have a repeat of Thanksgiving 2009 and Easter 2009, I pretty much kept my mouth closed at Thanksgiving this year in regards to religion. My relatives know my position and they've heard the Gospel from me before.
The Gospel, the Bible, and Jesus are my favorite things to talk about, so when my uncle started talking about my aunt being "church lady" by my uncle because of her involvement in her (Catholic) church, it was hard for me to bite my tongue, but I did.
It was mentioned that my aunt was still teaching CCD. If you read the two blog posts linked above (Thanksgiving 2009 and Easter 2009), you can find out what my aunt believes. Sitting here a few days later, I want to ask her if she is teaching what she believes or what the church believes. Either way, it is still heretical.
In defense of the Catholic Church, I have had it said to me in the past, "Everyone doesn't believe everything the Catholic Church teaches." Guess what? They aren't Catholic- just like I can't cherry pick in the Bible what I want to believe and be Christian. If you have read the posts above, you will see what I mean about my aunt's "doctrine."
One thing that I did notice is that through all this religion and church talk, not once did anyone bring up Jesus or what He did on the cross. Funny how "religion" does that. Your religion won't save you- only Jesus Christ.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Does God Accept Me?
Someone recently posted a response to a status I had posted on Facebook that, "If Jesus is not love and accepting and if what you assert is true...then basking in His presence for all of eternity doesn't sound much more appealing then being sent to Hell." Let me unpack that statement.
First of all, while God is God of love, He also a God of wrath. How can this be? Simple. God displays His wrath toward unrepentant sinners by sending them to Hell as a penalty for their sins and God displays His love through sending His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins. Through our repentance (turning from sin) and placing our trust in Him (like a parachute), we can have eternal life- even though we deserve Hell for our sins.
To the second point- God as accepting. I am not going to even look at this from a Biblical standpoint initially, but a human perspective. The above comment was posted in response to me saying this: "I will be loving and accepting toward a homosexual in this lifetime- but when that person dies, they go to Hell. That isn't love- that's hate."
This society has been taught to accept homosexuals. Coming from that view, I can see how it is hard to understand why a homosexual deserves Hell. Let me make this abundantly clear, though. It is not just homosexuals who deserve Hell.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." The list extends to a lot more than just homosexuals.
The question is, who should be accepted? Should homosexuals? Some would say yes. What about the sexually immoral- those who have sex outside of marriage? These are both sins, but a lot of people want to write these off as not severe enough to send one to Hell. In fact, as I will later show, we are all guilty.
What about Hitler? Should God accept Hitler? I have asked this to people on the street and it is at this point that a clear line is drawn in the sand. Obviously, not Hitler. He killed millions of people! This, by the way, is breaking the 2nd commandment- creating a false idol. Your "god" would never send a homosexual to Hell, but He would definitely send Hitler to Hell.
The problem is we measure people according to our standards. If someone is worse than our standards, they deserve Hell. If our standards allow for sexual immorality, then that is no longer a damnable sin.
Here is the problem: God is not grading you on a scale, as you are with the rest of society. If you want someone to compare yourself with- compare yourself to Jesus. He sinned not ONCE in thought, word, or deed. How do you look now? God made this very easy for us: He told us that "None is righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10,3:23). There aren't a certain amount of good deeds that need to be done or a sin "limit" that can be reached- we are all guilty.
To sum this up, God doesn't accept ANYONE except through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. By repenting of our sins (not just admitting you are wrong, but turning from them) and placing our trust in Him, you can have eternal life. Not because you are a good person, not because you deserve it, but because you are a sinner justified in the eyes of God through the blood of Jesus Christ.
"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). By repenting and placing our trust in Jesus, God will take all of your sins and place them on Jesus on the cross. He paid the penalty for your sins. His righteousness, perfect and sinless, will then be imputed to you. This is the good news of Jesus Christ.
First of all, while God is God of love, He also a God of wrath. How can this be? Simple. God displays His wrath toward unrepentant sinners by sending them to Hell as a penalty for their sins and God displays His love through sending His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins. Through our repentance (turning from sin) and placing our trust in Him (like a parachute), we can have eternal life- even though we deserve Hell for our sins.
To the second point- God as accepting. I am not going to even look at this from a Biblical standpoint initially, but a human perspective. The above comment was posted in response to me saying this: "I will be loving and accepting toward a homosexual in this lifetime- but when that person dies, they go to Hell. That isn't love- that's hate."
This society has been taught to accept homosexuals. Coming from that view, I can see how it is hard to understand why a homosexual deserves Hell. Let me make this abundantly clear, though. It is not just homosexuals who deserve Hell.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." The list extends to a lot more than just homosexuals.
The question is, who should be accepted? Should homosexuals? Some would say yes. What about the sexually immoral- those who have sex outside of marriage? These are both sins, but a lot of people want to write these off as not severe enough to send one to Hell. In fact, as I will later show, we are all guilty.
What about Hitler? Should God accept Hitler? I have asked this to people on the street and it is at this point that a clear line is drawn in the sand. Obviously, not Hitler. He killed millions of people! This, by the way, is breaking the 2nd commandment- creating a false idol. Your "god" would never send a homosexual to Hell, but He would definitely send Hitler to Hell.
The problem is we measure people according to our standards. If someone is worse than our standards, they deserve Hell. If our standards allow for sexual immorality, then that is no longer a damnable sin.
Here is the problem: God is not grading you on a scale, as you are with the rest of society. If you want someone to compare yourself with- compare yourself to Jesus. He sinned not ONCE in thought, word, or deed. How do you look now? God made this very easy for us: He told us that "None is righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10,3:23). There aren't a certain amount of good deeds that need to be done or a sin "limit" that can be reached- we are all guilty.
To sum this up, God doesn't accept ANYONE except through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. By repenting of our sins (not just admitting you are wrong, but turning from them) and placing our trust in Him, you can have eternal life. Not because you are a good person, not because you deserve it, but because you are a sinner justified in the eyes of God through the blood of Jesus Christ.
"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). By repenting and placing our trust in Jesus, God will take all of your sins and place them on Jesus on the cross. He paid the penalty for your sins. His righteousness, perfect and sinless, will then be imputed to you. This is the good news of Jesus Christ.
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