BUT I "LOVE" THE THEOLOGY OF HELL FIRE!!!

HELL. People's view of hell and its torturing fire for the unrepentant lost is arguably the greatest obstacle people face in coming to embrace Trinitarian, Adoption and Inclusion Theology and the salvation and redemption of ALL humans.

People just LOVE their hell and if you mess with it they get fighting mad. Why is this? In their self righteous selves of obedience and "doing" their Christian duty they see others who are sinners beyond measure and undeserving of salvation and must pay for all the "fun" they are having in the flesh now with the hell fire they deserve.

We all grew up with the concept of reward and punishment. Heaven for 'good' people and hell for evil people. Gifts for good little boys and girls and switches and ashes for bad ones. Religion historically the world over has always had this concept. All based on legalism and works with 'heaven' for good people and the netherworld or some type of suffering for evil ones.

When you really analyze this concept you will find that it actually comes from the great father of lies, Satan the devil who is a liar from the beginning. He wants to make the Father look like a harsh, vindictive, vengeful, wrathful, hateful, monster who would gain pleasure from the charred flesh of his children burning in some hell hole forever.

The ancients, and in particular the Greeks, had always had a philosophy of a netherworld or underworld for the suffering of evil men who had died. In the 4th century B.C. the Greek philosopher, Plato, took the concept, embellished it giving it names dividing the netherworld into departments with its attending torturing FIRE and called it "hell" naming it after an ancient Greek Goddess named 'hel'.

Nearly 1000 years later in the 5th century A.D. St. Augustine of Hippo, considered to be the 'father of the Catholic church and an avid fan of Plato introduced the idea of Hell, hell fire, torturing evil people forever in the depths of suffering to the church. And it has stayed in the WESTERN CHRISTIAN CHURCH'S THEOLOGY ever since.

For the first 500 years since Jesus death the idea of hell was simply living in one's own life choices, eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and suffering the consequences. But, when one came to know who they actually were IN Jesus the light of understanding went off in their life and they transitioned from a life of darkness into a life of 'abundance' in Jesus. ( John 10:10 ).

To conclude: A refusal to accept and believe who one is in Jesus which denies one the happiness of sharing in the heavenly blessings (Eph.1) is living in HELL . And this refusal Can last forever. Remember, God is not willing for any to perish-- continued suffering--Gk. "appolumi", but for all to come to repentance-- Gk. "Metanoia"--simply a change of mind of who we are IN Jesus. ( II Peter 3:9).

For you who want to learn more about the subject of Hell just Google search "Plato's Hell, or go to www.thereisnohell.com , and begin checking it out.

Happy studies !!!

Pastor Paul Kurts
Madison, AL
256-468-8081

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THE GREAT CONNECTION

Let's take a look at a few things that make all of us brothers and sisters in Christ. From acts 17 we know that God made from ONE blood all men, and women, to dwell on the face of the earth. Not only are we all made from ONE blood, we are all descended from one SEED. Amazingly, it has now been proven that all humans on the planet have a common ancestor in one common mother. The scriptures call her EVE. Her created husband was Adam.

So what do we see here? IF all of us came from ONE seed having a common mother then the simple definition of this is called brotherhood. And sisterhood. We all are just simply brothers and sisters.

But there is more. Jesus said in John 14:20 that HE was in the Father, the Father was IN Him and that He was is ALL of us. There is a magnificent connection here between all brothers and sisters, all of humanity on the earth. That connection is in Jesus by the same Spirit since Jesus is in ALL of us and we ALL are in Him, we ALL are somehow IN EACH OTHER. Same common mother, father, Spirit, Jesus, and the Father. There is a human UNITY in all of mankind which is connected by the loving Father who created all of us to be brothers and sisters in Him. A Family if you will.

The father of lies (John 8:44) would have us believe that we are all different. All separated from one another. Class distinction. Race distinction. Country distinction. Religious distinction. All in competition of the survival of the fittest. (Darwin).
But we are not in that competition in Jesus. We are brothers and sisters IN each other for the eternal blessings of being with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit forever. Just living, loving, and enjoying life together forever.

Not only has Jesus connected us to each other, He has bridged the gap between God and humanity and connected us to the eternal Triune God, Forever.