| Posted: 13 September 2019 at 9:22am | IP Logged | 7
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Hi Eric S.! To answer your questions...
About the conscience--
Yes, that was my point. (Sorry, JB, for phrasing it in such a way that you thought I was insulting you.) Everybody has a conscience (except, I suppose, sociopaths), and I believe that is God's way of talking to EVERYBODY whether they believe in Him or not. That's the basic foundation of knowing good and bad.
About Jesus going to Hell-- Well, I really shorthanded that. The scripture teaches that He went to "Abraham's bosom," which seems to have been a sort of "holding cell" or waiting room for the dead, and He led those there out of it. As for who's there now, I don't know. I admit, eschatology is not my strong suit. I don't know if everybody is literally "asleep" until Judgment Day or if those who have passed are awake doing stuff right now. But one day, Hell itself will be thrown into the Lake of Fire (which was created for the Devil and his angels--who had full knowledge of God and sinned anyway). It's up to God who is in Hell when it gets tossed and I'm not going to assume anything.
About which Bible-- Do you mean translations? Most translations get the important stuff right (unless the translator is trying to be tricky on purpose). You can come to knowledge of the true Christ even reading the Bible that Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons use. (Cults are cults usually because they add ANOTHER book or work and hold it equal to the Bible. Added teachings can really mislead.)
About those who haven't heard about Christ-- There are a lot of different schools of thought on this, debated for 2,000 years now by wiser men than me. Here are some of my random thoughts on the matter: 1. "Snakebite"--I liken salvation to being bitten by a poisonous snake. Say, everybody in a valley is dying from the dame kind of snakebite and a Healer comes to town and offers everybody the antitoxin. Those who accept it are saved, those who don't aren't. Is it the Healer's fault that a bunch of the people rejected the antidote? 2. "Age of Accountability"--This teaching is that children cannot be held responsible for their sins because they are spiritually and positionally innocent until a certain age (that age is debated though), truly not knowing good and evil,.and therefore fall under Grace. 3. The Mars Hill Sermon--In Athens, Paul preached on how he saw the statue with the inscription "To An Unknown God" and he attributed righteousness to the people that were praying to the one true God without even knowing it. This is where the conscience comes in and the possibility that people can worship the God of the Bible without ever having seen a Bible. 4. The Chinese written language--God reaches different people in different ways. I read a fascinating book (the title escapes me) that showed how the Gospel message is under the noses of a billion Chinese people right now in the form of their pictogram written language! Some examples: The word "Tempter" is represented by combined pictures that, separately, say "secret" "man" "in the garden"; "salvation" has a lamb in it; "woman" is pictured as a hand reaching into the side of a man; and the word for "boat" has 8 people on it, like Noah's ark, the first boat. 5. Dreams--Even in locked countries where the Gospel is not permitted, the Word of Salvation reaches people. I can't tell you how many times I've heard (directly from missionaries I was in contact in through my old job, and from other sources) about Muslims who have a dream where Jesus appears (they often don't even know it was Him until they come to the West and learn about Jesus for the first time) and shares his salvation message with them.
To those ready to pounce, sorry I don't have all the answers. (The fig tree was a lesson to the Disciples about Israel, by the way. And, no, Robbie, I don't want to be a slave in the Middle East 2-4,000 years ago.) And I'm not here to get beat up by you all. I just popped in and saw Marc Baptiste's earnest question and thought I'd try to help.
Edited by Eric Jansen on 13 September 2019 at 9:27am
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