question about the Nature of God
- Thread starter TheLearner
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If that were the case then the crucifixion would be pointless. People could live however they want and repent at the last second.
People can't just 'decide' to repent at the last minute, True repentance takes the convicting work of the Holy Spirit to bring them under conviction of their sin as what happened to the thief on the Cross.
Wont that be to late since you don't know the timing? And why would you want to wait
Heb 9:27
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
When this mortal life is over, you are out of second chances.
Until the moment you die, you have every moment to repent.
You have every year, every month, every week, every day, every hour, every minute, every second, every millisecond... every moment you breathe you can repent.
And while you are living in this time, this time when you can literally repent any given second,
you are surrounded, during each of those seconds, by God's clear manifestation in all of creation.
The air you breathe, the sun on your face, the ground beneath your feet, even the existence and working of your own body... these all declare the reality of God, every moment of every day.
And there's more.
There are hundreds of thousands of churches preaching the gospel, millions upon millions of Christians witnessing for Christ, millions of web pages, videos, podcasts, sermons, books... all preaching the gospel for you to hear.... all preaching 24 hours a day.
And there's still more.
God has put a conscience within you, to understand right from wrong, and to convict you of your own sin, and of God's righteousness.
And there's still more.
Wisdom, God's profound wisdom and logic which pervades not only the physical realm but also the spiritual, the intellectual, and the abstract... this "wisdom of God" is continually "crying in the streets" day and night, as a witness of the righteous God in heaven.
You walk around in a body crafted by almighty God;
you breathe the air crafted by almighty God;
you eat food rising up from a bountiful earth crafted by almighty God,
you are surrounded by all of creation, crafted by almighty God;
you have a conscience within you showing what is true, crafted by almighty God;
you have churches, and christians, and millions of continual witnessing tools surrounding you, all a plan crafted by almighty God;
you have the very wisdom of God himself, crying out to you continually from every quarter of the physical and the abstract;
you even bear, you bear in your own self, a mind and self consciousness, which are reflections of the VERY IMAGE OF GOD, the great IMAGO DEI which is bestowed upon us...
God owes no one another chance after death...
not after he's given them millions upon millions of chances, and every possible evidence, and every possible mercy.
...
..
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
When this mortal life is over, you are out of second chances.
Until the moment you die, you have every moment to repent.
You have every year, every month, every week, every day, every hour, every minute, every second, every millisecond... every moment you breathe you can repent.
And while you are living in this time, this time when you can literally repent any given second,
you are surrounded, during each of those seconds, by God's clear manifestation in all of creation.
The air you breathe, the sun on your face, the ground beneath your feet, even the existence and working of your own body... these all declare the reality of God, every moment of every day.
And there's more.
There are hundreds of thousands of churches preaching the gospel, millions upon millions of Christians witnessing for Christ, millions of web pages, videos, podcasts, sermons, books... all preaching the gospel for you to hear.... all preaching 24 hours a day.
And there's still more.
God has put a conscience within you, to understand right from wrong, and to convict you of your own sin, and of God's righteousness.
And there's still more.
Wisdom, God's profound wisdom and logic which pervades not only the physical realm but also the spiritual, the intellectual, and the abstract... this "wisdom of God" is continually "crying in the streets" day and night, as a witness of the righteous God in heaven.
You walk around in a body crafted by almighty God;
you breathe the air crafted by almighty God;
you eat food rising up from a bountiful earth crafted by almighty God,
you are surrounded by all of creation, crafted by almighty God;
you have a conscience within you showing what is true, crafted by almighty God;
you have churches, and christians, and millions of continual witnessing tools surrounding you, all a plan crafted by almighty God;
you have the very wisdom of God himself, crying out to you continually from every quarter of the physical and the abstract;
you even bear, you bear in your own self, a mind and self consciousness, which are reflections of the VERY IMAGE OF GOD, the great IMAGO DEI which is bestowed upon us...
God owes no one another chance after death...
not after he's given them millions upon millions of chances, and every possible evidence, and every possible mercy.
...
..
...or BEFORE death. He is beholden to no one.
Hello TheLearner;
There are great answers here to your question, ones that we can all learn from. While I was reading everyone's posts I was personally convicted.
16 years ago when Mom was dying at the hospital of Leukemia, your question popped in my mind regarding my Mom's salvation. I was already hurting from seeing her suffering and asked her to receive Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior.
Mom looked at me and replied, "I received Jesus Christ many years ago and my sins are forgiven."
She then urged me, "repent of your sins, Bob, for we don't know when Jesus is coming back." I couldn't put on a poker face because Mom could see right through me. There was unconfessed sins and secrets in my life, and she always knew it.
I underestimated my Mom's faith, no wonder she looked so peaceful. That was my last conversation with her and the next day she went into a coma, then the Lord took her.
As Kyless123 shared, "why wait since we don't know the timing, when we have the opportunity now to repent."
Thank you, TheLearner, for starting this topic.
God bless you all and your families.
There are great answers here to your question, ones that we can all learn from. While I was reading everyone's posts I was personally convicted.
16 years ago when Mom was dying at the hospital of Leukemia, your question popped in my mind regarding my Mom's salvation. I was already hurting from seeing her suffering and asked her to receive Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior.
Mom looked at me and replied, "I received Jesus Christ many years ago and my sins are forgiven."
She then urged me, "repent of your sins, Bob, for we don't know when Jesus is coming back." I couldn't put on a poker face because Mom could see right through me. There was unconfessed sins and secrets in my life, and she always knew it.
I underestimated my Mom's faith, no wonder she looked so peaceful. That was my last conversation with her and the next day she went into a coma, then the Lord took her.
As Kyless123 shared, "why wait since we don't know the timing, when we have the opportunity now to repent."
Thank you, TheLearner, for starting this topic.
God bless you all and your families.
The time to Repent, Believe and Trust in the Gospel way of salvation, is when the Gospel is revead to you..
Those who reject the Love of Gods truth in this life will not be given a second chance..
Looking at Hebrews 11:1-12:3 Your statement makes no sense. My question relates to the nature of God. We know that He is both Merciful and Just. Thanks for input, I am trying to learn.
Please explain your thinking.
You mean like this?
Matthew 20:1-16 New International Version (NIV)
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
My thinking is that they are brought under conviction by God in face of the Judgement and repent. Not something they planned like Constantine.
My question relates to the nature of God. We do know that everything Jesus taught and did was not written down. So, an educated guess would be based on God's Nature correct? Thanks for pointing out that truth.
I have not waited. But, there are people one is unsure of their standing before God after they died. So, the best way I can think of to form an answer is based on God's nature.
We know from Judgement texts like Matthew 25 and Second Coming texts that there is a gap in time where believers are in Heaven and unsaved in Grave (word study on paradise). And, Hebrews 9:27 does not address the possibility of one repenting at the Judgement.
We know from God's nature that it is his desire for people to repent and live with him.
I am not an Universalist, I am simply seeking to understand God's Nature for the purpose of understanding Theology Proper.
Ezekiel 18:32 Good News Translation (GNT)
32 I do not want anyone to die,” says the Sovereign Lord. “Turn away from your sins and live.”
John 3:16-17 Good News Translation (GNT)
16 For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its savior.
Ephesians 1:5 God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children—this was his pleasure and purpose.
How can you prove that based on God's full Nature, He is both Just and Merciful. We do not have the words for everything Jesus taught.
A person after death is still a rational being right? If confronted with their sin at the Judgement and convicted by God... would not one rationally repent?
hebrews 9:27 has already been quoted so there is that.
But lets assume you COULD be right, that those who havent heard have a chance at the great white throne judgment or something.
The PROBLEM i could see with this view is that it causes a false sense of security and HINDERS evangelizing efforts. Because after all, why tell anyone, they'll get a chance in the end anyway, right?
But lets assume you COULD be right, that those who havent heard have a chance at the great white throne judgment or something.
The PROBLEM i could see with this view is that it causes a false sense of security and HINDERS evangelizing efforts. Because after all, why tell anyone, they'll get a chance in the end anyway, right?
1 Peter 3:18-20 Amplified Bible (AMP)
18 For indeed Christ died for sins once for all, the Just and Righteous for the unjust and unrighteous [the Innocent for the guilty] so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit; 19 in which He also went and preached to the spirits now in prison, 20 who once were disobedient, when the great patience of God was waiting in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons [Noah’s family], were brought safely through the water.
I know that those who teach a second chance after death quote the above text. What are the possible understandings of the text above?
18 For indeed Christ died for sins once for all, the Just and Righteous for the unjust and unrighteous [the Innocent for the guilty] so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit; 19 in which He also went and preached to the spirits now in prison, 20 who once were disobedient, when the great patience of God was waiting in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons [Noah’s family], were brought safely through the water.
I know that those who teach a second chance after death quote the above text. What are the possible understandings of the text above?
The problem does not exist because only a foolish person would rely on a possibility rather than acting on something that is certain or known.
We are responsible to share Jesus with others, even if is grabbing their hand at the Second Coming as we are being taken up.
We know that God would not be happy if we hid our talents in the ground.
Unbelievers would not likely have a sense of security since they have not even thought about the topic at all.
How does the nature of God reflect on the subject?