HELL. Always a 'hot' subject. Where did you learn your concept of hell from? What IS your concept of hell? Where did the concept of hell come from originally? We know it is prior to biblical times. It is common in all of ancient history of earliest civilizations and religions. Was it God inspired? Let's think for a moment.
When Adam sinned and assumed a darkened mind with a fallen nature all of his descendents assumed that same darkness. With Satan now being the 'god of this world' and with his influence man was ready to conjure up any explanation of the after life that 'seemed' right to him. Reward for being 'good' and punishment for being bad seemed only right to fallen man's thinking.
From the earliest recognized religion in the world, Zorasterianism to the Egyptians and the Greeks, a retributive , punishing, tormenting, suffering and torturing afterlife for evil was conjured. This Satan inspired teaching served only to discredit God and His unlimited love for His children.
For thousands of years man suffered under this illusion with fear of death hanging over his head. Unfortunately this 'hell' concept came into the Christian church in the 5th century A.D. through an early church leader named Augustine of Hippo. And it has stayed in its damnable teaching in the Christian church ever since. In its teaching is is almost point for point exactly the same as the teachings of Zorasterianism, Egyhptian afterlife, Greek after life, Catholic afterlife suffering and many Protestant teachings on the aferlife as well. It may be noteworthy to know that this 'Fire' teaching of punishment was NOT preached or taught in the early N.T. church of almost 500 years.
I believe in hell, make no mistake. But the hell one experiences is self imposed through living in darkness with a fallen nature and a darkened mind excercising what the Bible calls 'eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.' Or, living out of ones own mind and thinking. Or, not believing who ACTUALLY we are IN Jesus Christ. Even after death of our physical life, one can continue to resist believing who he or she is IN Jesus. This suffering or 'perishing' can last hyhpothetically FOREVER. One could keep himself or herself out of the party of
heaven through this unbelief. Revelation chapter 22 shows that the invitation to accept and believe and take of the river of life ( Jesus ) continues on for all to believe. But until one does, he or she continues to live in Hell. Not separated from God. Always loved by the Father. Always adopted and included and wanted by the Father in His life forever.
Until we can completely get RID of our preconceived ideas of a fiery hell and torture we can never see the real Love of God for all of humanity. Nor can we experience the real love relationship between God and ourself. Father help us to see.
I can almost hear the arguments now. But, What about Lazarus and the Rich man? And worms that die not. And any number of other scriptures which SEEM to contradict what has been said here. OK, what about them. Maybe you need to do more study into actually what is being said and taught in those examples. It is an interesting study to say the least. Until next time, God bless and happy studying.
Paul
Monday, March 21, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
DECEMBER 21, 2012--WHAT IT DOES "NOT" MEAN
I have written on the matter of December 21,2012 before. The alignment of the stars and galactic bodies in the Milky way Galaxy. Also, the Mayan calendar and the writings of Nostradamus and the Hopi Indians. In this blog I just want to put a few things in perspective.
All of these speculative prognostications along with Bible Codes and the reading of tea leaves are just that. Interesting at best. We need to understand some things about the Universe or Cosmos. The Creation.
The great Creator God, Jesus Christ, created all things. ( Col.1:16). All things were created by Him and for Him. Again in Heb.1:3, we see that all things are upheld or sustained by the word of His Power. This is Jesus Christ's universe. It belongs to Him. He upholds it. He sustains it. He is its source of continued existence.
To man's human mind the contrivance of humanity's ultimate demise is natural to speculate. It just seems to man and his interpretation of any writings that doomsday events somehow MUST come to be. There are so many natural geological occurrences going on around the earth along with the depravity and evilness of man that the ultimate conclusion for man's mind is extinction. And man has been predicting the "end" since time immemorial. To date ALL of mans doomsday predictions including the return of Jesus Christ have all been wrong. And they WILL continue to be.
There are many 'coincidences' in many writings and beliefs extant in the world over future events. Dec.21, 2012 is one more of them.
What happens on Dec.21, 2012, "TRILLIONS" of miles from the earth regardless of What lines up with whatever will NOT have any bearing on the geological forces extant on this earth. NONE. NADA. NOTHING.
Jesus Christ is in charge of this earth. He is in charge of His plan for man. He is the creator and sustainer of the creation and the supreme creation of earth and man. He will take care of his children and one day return to this earth in Glory and Power and LOVE. And yes, one day He will create a New Heavens and a New Earth. But it will not be done by caprice and galactic alignment. It will be done by His perfect design.
I believe I will trust in Jesus Christ to do His good will and good pleasure for all of the creation including all of humanity who He loves.
God bless,
Paul Kurts
Madison, Alabama
All of these speculative prognostications along with Bible Codes and the reading of tea leaves are just that. Interesting at best. We need to understand some things about the Universe or Cosmos. The Creation.
The great Creator God, Jesus Christ, created all things. ( Col.1:16). All things were created by Him and for Him. Again in Heb.1:3, we see that all things are upheld or sustained by the word of His Power. This is Jesus Christ's universe. It belongs to Him. He upholds it. He sustains it. He is its source of continued existence.
To man's human mind the contrivance of humanity's ultimate demise is natural to speculate. It just seems to man and his interpretation of any writings that doomsday events somehow MUST come to be. There are so many natural geological occurrences going on around the earth along with the depravity and evilness of man that the ultimate conclusion for man's mind is extinction. And man has been predicting the "end" since time immemorial. To date ALL of mans doomsday predictions including the return of Jesus Christ have all been wrong. And they WILL continue to be.
There are many 'coincidences' in many writings and beliefs extant in the world over future events. Dec.21, 2012 is one more of them.
What happens on Dec.21, 2012, "TRILLIONS" of miles from the earth regardless of What lines up with whatever will NOT have any bearing on the geological forces extant on this earth. NONE. NADA. NOTHING.
Jesus Christ is in charge of this earth. He is in charge of His plan for man. He is the creator and sustainer of the creation and the supreme creation of earth and man. He will take care of his children and one day return to this earth in Glory and Power and LOVE. And yes, one day He will create a New Heavens and a New Earth. But it will not be done by caprice and galactic alignment. It will be done by His perfect design.
I believe I will trust in Jesus Christ to do His good will and good pleasure for all of the creation including all of humanity who He loves.
God bless,
Paul Kurts
Madison, Alabama
Saturday, February 19, 2011
WHAT THE HELL IS HELL ANWAY?
OK. I won't tell you things in this blog, I will just ask you questions and tell you where you can get the answers the same as I.
I want to talk about HELL. Damn skippy. Where do you think the modern Western Theological concept of an everlasting , torturing , burning, punishing , retributive hell comes from? Have you ever looked into the subject, or have you just assumed that what you have been taught or thought was CORRECT? Well, let's see.
The worlds religions going back to the first, Zoroastrianism, had a concept of reward and punishment. Heaven for your good out weighing your bad and torture for your evil outweighing your good. On to the Egyptians. They had the concept of a torture of the underworld for evil and reward for good. Then the Greeks, who had a concept of reward for good and the 'netherworld' for evil people. Plato in the 4th century B.C. gave this a name and it was HELL after a Greek goddess named hel.
Now here is where I depart from explaining all of this to you all, I just want you to GOOGLE SEARCH , Plato's Hell, Egyptian Hell, and Greek Hell. Then I want you to Google search , Catholic Hell. WOW. Do you see a connection. How did all of this Hell get into the Church of Jesus Christ?
Now Google search St. Augustine and Hell and see what he did to invest this concept into the early Catholic Church. Are you getting the picture here.
I want to send you some articles on the concept of hell as to what it is and what it is NOT. Just email me at teedup162@knology.net and I will send it all to you.
Or, you can keep your head burried in the sand and ignore the truth of what hell is NOT.
God bless,
Paul Kurts
teedup162@knology.net
.
I want to talk about HELL. Damn skippy. Where do you think the modern Western Theological concept of an everlasting , torturing , burning, punishing , retributive hell comes from? Have you ever looked into the subject, or have you just assumed that what you have been taught or thought was CORRECT? Well, let's see.
The worlds religions going back to the first, Zoroastrianism, had a concept of reward and punishment. Heaven for your good out weighing your bad and torture for your evil outweighing your good. On to the Egyptians. They had the concept of a torture of the underworld for evil and reward for good. Then the Greeks, who had a concept of reward for good and the 'netherworld' for evil people. Plato in the 4th century B.C. gave this a name and it was HELL after a Greek goddess named hel.
Now here is where I depart from explaining all of this to you all, I just want you to GOOGLE SEARCH , Plato's Hell, Egyptian Hell, and Greek Hell. Then I want you to Google search , Catholic Hell. WOW. Do you see a connection. How did all of this Hell get into the Church of Jesus Christ?
Now Google search St. Augustine and Hell and see what he did to invest this concept into the early Catholic Church. Are you getting the picture here.
I want to send you some articles on the concept of hell as to what it is and what it is NOT. Just email me at teedup162@knology.net and I will send it all to you.
Or, you can keep your head burried in the sand and ignore the truth of what hell is NOT.
God bless,
Paul Kurts
teedup162@knology.net
.
Monday, January 24, 2011
IS GOD IN ALL HUMANS?
.
Is God in all humans? Does one have to accept Christ into his/her life in order to have Jesus come into his/her life? Is God living His life in us 'conditional' until we do something? Is there a quotient of belief and acceptance we have to come to in order for God to then come into us and live in us? Have we had the cart before the horse theologically?
Paul says to the pagans at Athens in Acts 17:28-31, that "we live and move and have our being in God and that God has has given ASSURANCE to ALL men".
Jesus had already said in John 14:20 that "He was in the Father, the Father was in Him and that He (Jesus) was in you/us/all." And that one day we would realize it.
When Paul writes in Colossians and Ephesians that Christ is in all he is again emphasising what Christ had already said in John 14:20 and John 17:20-26. Paul says it this way in Colossians 3:11, "....but Christ is all and IN ALL." Note Paul did not say Christ was in "you" or "you all" speaking to or referencing those at Colosse
only, he said " Christ is all and IN ALL".
In Ephesians 4:6, Paul again says it this way, " One God and Father of ALL, who is above ALL and through ALL and in you ALL."
I realize that there are those who will disagree with this but that is ok. It won't change the truth that ALL are the children of God the Father and that the Holy Spirit has been poured out in greater measure and degree on ALL flesh (Acts 2) and that Jesus lives in everyone on the planet. The caveat is that when one does not know this they do not ACT like it. When they come to a change of mind ( metanoia,Gk) of who they are in Jesus then they will begin to change and ACT like who they really are and Experience the abundant life Jesus brought to us all. (John 10:10)
Blessings,
Paul
.
Is God in all humans? Does one have to accept Christ into his/her life in order to have Jesus come into his/her life? Is God living His life in us 'conditional' until we do something? Is there a quotient of belief and acceptance we have to come to in order for God to then come into us and live in us? Have we had the cart before the horse theologically?
Paul says to the pagans at Athens in Acts 17:28-31, that "we live and move and have our being in God and that God has has given ASSURANCE to ALL men".
Jesus had already said in John 14:20 that "He was in the Father, the Father was in Him and that He (Jesus) was in you/us/all." And that one day we would realize it.
When Paul writes in Colossians and Ephesians that Christ is in all he is again emphasising what Christ had already said in John 14:20 and John 17:20-26. Paul says it this way in Colossians 3:11, "....but Christ is all and IN ALL." Note Paul did not say Christ was in "you" or "you all" speaking to or referencing those at Colosse
only, he said " Christ is all and IN ALL".
In Ephesians 4:6, Paul again says it this way, " One God and Father of ALL, who is above ALL and through ALL and in you ALL."
I realize that there are those who will disagree with this but that is ok. It won't change the truth that ALL are the children of God the Father and that the Holy Spirit has been poured out in greater measure and degree on ALL flesh (Acts 2) and that Jesus lives in everyone on the planet. The caveat is that when one does not know this they do not ACT like it. When they come to a change of mind ( metanoia,Gk) of who they are in Jesus then they will begin to change and ACT like who they really are and Experience the abundant life Jesus brought to us all. (John 10:10)
Blessings,
Paul
.
Monday, January 10, 2011
GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD--gods did not!
The concept of "HELL" can be found in the ancient religions of Egypt, Greece, and in most all religions of the world going back to the first world religion, Zoroastrianism. Eternal rewards for good and eternal punishments of the most horrible description can be found in studying 'Egyptian hell' and other's concept of the torture of damnation. ( See Internet articles on 'Egyptian Hell' and 'Greek Hell').
Note: None of the ancient gods existence was base on love. All were perceived as wanting to be worshipped and aggrandized. If one were not found bowing down to or extolling one of these gods that person would be on their way to a torturous afterlife of suffering. It was all about the god. There was no love lost on the human subjects of the particular god. There was no love relationship between the god and humans. There was no blessing on the people by the god. So the point....
John 3:16-17, John shows a very different kind of God that the true God really is. He says, " For God so LOVED THE WORLD that He GAVE His ONLY begotten Son...." This great God never intended for anyone to "perish" or continue to suffer, but that through belief in this loving God one would continue in relationship with Him forever.
The true God never says things like, " Worship me" or "Extol me" or "Build me up continually". He just loves us and wants us to love Him back and believe that all of our future is secured in Jesus for the blessing of all of us including every blessing of the heavenly realm. ( Ephesians 1:3-14).
Jesus did not adopt the pagan concept of a punishing, torturing and suffering Hell Fire for those who would not lift Him up or measure up with good deeds in order to escape eternal punishment. Jesus said He came to seek and to save what was lost and He did. ( Luke 19:10). The same Jesus says in John 14:20, that He is in the Father, the Father is in Him and He, Jesus, is IN US!!! We are asked to believe it. That is all.
The creation of God of the Cosmos and humanity was born out of pure love and a desire on the part of the Great Triune God to share that love with His creation of which man was supreme.
The Devil's religions do not change. The Good News in most churches is NOT Good News at all. It is rewards and punishment. Rules and regulations. It is RELIGION. And it is BAD NEWS!
The GOOD NEWS is , "God so loved the world" and secured and saved the creation through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. And Jesus said," It is FINISHED". John 19:30. And you are INCLUDED.
God Bless,
Paul
Note: None of the ancient gods existence was base on love. All were perceived as wanting to be worshipped and aggrandized. If one were not found bowing down to or extolling one of these gods that person would be on their way to a torturous afterlife of suffering. It was all about the god. There was no love lost on the human subjects of the particular god. There was no love relationship between the god and humans. There was no blessing on the people by the god. So the point....
John 3:16-17, John shows a very different kind of God that the true God really is. He says, " For God so LOVED THE WORLD that He GAVE His ONLY begotten Son...." This great God never intended for anyone to "perish" or continue to suffer, but that through belief in this loving God one would continue in relationship with Him forever.
The true God never says things like, " Worship me" or "Extol me" or "Build me up continually". He just loves us and wants us to love Him back and believe that all of our future is secured in Jesus for the blessing of all of us including every blessing of the heavenly realm. ( Ephesians 1:3-14).
Jesus did not adopt the pagan concept of a punishing, torturing and suffering Hell Fire for those who would not lift Him up or measure up with good deeds in order to escape eternal punishment. Jesus said He came to seek and to save what was lost and He did. ( Luke 19:10). The same Jesus says in John 14:20, that He is in the Father, the Father is in Him and He, Jesus, is IN US!!! We are asked to believe it. That is all.
The creation of God of the Cosmos and humanity was born out of pure love and a desire on the part of the Great Triune God to share that love with His creation of which man was supreme.
The Devil's religions do not change. The Good News in most churches is NOT Good News at all. It is rewards and punishment. Rules and regulations. It is RELIGION. And it is BAD NEWS!
The GOOD NEWS is , "God so loved the world" and secured and saved the creation through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. And Jesus said," It is FINISHED". John 19:30. And you are INCLUDED.
God Bless,
Paul
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
"IT IS FINISHED!" OR WAS IT?
.
Jesus, with his dying breath on the cross, exclaims, "It is finished!" What he and the Father and Holy Spirit had determined since before the foundation of the world was completed. Jesus did NOT say, "I am finished", as if there were other things left for man to do in order to effectuate the plan of salvation for mankind. In other words , "I did my part, now you humans do yours".
The Father sent Jesus to do a WORK. That work is found in Luke 19:10, Jesus said, "I came to seek and to save WHAT was lost." What was lost was the entire cosmos and humanity through sin. Did Jesus accomplish what the Father sent him to do? In John 4:34, Jesus said his "food" was to do the Father's will and to FINISH the work he was given to do. In John 17:4, Jesus said he had brought the Father Glory by finishing or completing the work the Father had given him to do.
As we look back on a couple of scriptures we see the impact of Jesus' work on this earth in the REMOVAL of Sin for the benefit of all mankind. In John 1:29, John proclaims this when he sees Jesus coming into the midst of the crowd, " Behold, the Lamb of God who takes AWAY the sin of the world!" Again in I John 2:12, John writes that our sins have been forgiven--even before we were BORN. Paul says the same thing in Ephesians 1:7, "...we have been forgiven." Notice the past tense of these writings.
What makes the New Covenant in the blood of Christ so tremendous is that it is a GIFT of God, from God to all of us-You included. It is a PROCLAMATION of God's love for us and what he has ALREADY done in Jesus for all of us.
There is NO remaining part of "finishing" anything to make our salvation secure in Jesus. We are not "Co-Saviours" with Christ by having to DO ANYTHING. Except-----Believe. Believe WHO we now are IN Jesus. We are the loved and ADOPTED children of God made true by Jesus Christ.
Notice Ephesians 1:3-14. This passage declares this eternal truth to all of us as being true from BEFORE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD. The Father simply loves us and wants us to live with him and IN the Trinity forever. He made it so in Jesus.
Can we believe this? Maybe, maybe not. It sounds too good to be true, but it still is true. Scripture attests to this fact. Believe it. "IT IS FINISHED."
God bless,
Paul
.
Jesus, with his dying breath on the cross, exclaims, "It is finished!" What he and the Father and Holy Spirit had determined since before the foundation of the world was completed. Jesus did NOT say, "I am finished", as if there were other things left for man to do in order to effectuate the plan of salvation for mankind. In other words , "I did my part, now you humans do yours".
The Father sent Jesus to do a WORK. That work is found in Luke 19:10, Jesus said, "I came to seek and to save WHAT was lost." What was lost was the entire cosmos and humanity through sin. Did Jesus accomplish what the Father sent him to do? In John 4:34, Jesus said his "food" was to do the Father's will and to FINISH the work he was given to do. In John 17:4, Jesus said he had brought the Father Glory by finishing or completing the work the Father had given him to do.
As we look back on a couple of scriptures we see the impact of Jesus' work on this earth in the REMOVAL of Sin for the benefit of all mankind. In John 1:29, John proclaims this when he sees Jesus coming into the midst of the crowd, " Behold, the Lamb of God who takes AWAY the sin of the world!" Again in I John 2:12, John writes that our sins have been forgiven--even before we were BORN. Paul says the same thing in Ephesians 1:7, "...we have been forgiven." Notice the past tense of these writings.
What makes the New Covenant in the blood of Christ so tremendous is that it is a GIFT of God, from God to all of us-You included. It is a PROCLAMATION of God's love for us and what he has ALREADY done in Jesus for all of us.
There is NO remaining part of "finishing" anything to make our salvation secure in Jesus. We are not "Co-Saviours" with Christ by having to DO ANYTHING. Except-----Believe. Believe WHO we now are IN Jesus. We are the loved and ADOPTED children of God made true by Jesus Christ.
Notice Ephesians 1:3-14. This passage declares this eternal truth to all of us as being true from BEFORE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD. The Father simply loves us and wants us to live with him and IN the Trinity forever. He made it so in Jesus.
Can we believe this? Maybe, maybe not. It sounds too good to be true, but it still is true. Scripture attests to this fact. Believe it. "IT IS FINISHED."
God bless,
Paul
.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS
Life on other planets in other Solar Systems and Galaxies??? Maybe, Maybe not.
While no one can be totally demonstrative on this subject, we can make a few observations with some degree of intelligence.
Hebrews expressly tell us that Jesus is the complete atonement for ALL sin. He has reconciled the entire cosmos back to God. He is the complete Atonement for EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING. With this in mind let's discuss life on other planets.
It is possible that God created life , just like life we have here on this earth, on other planets in other galaxies in other solar systems. Possible.
( Aliens from outer Space is a totally different subject.)
IF, and this is a big if, God created life as we know it on this earth on other planets, I believe He did so AFTER Adam and Eve's creation on this earth.
After the "fall". After the "original" sin.. After the atonement. After the salvation of the entire cosmos.
If this is so, then these people would have no need for 'another' atonement since Jesus' life, death, resurrection and asension covered ALL things. Those people too.
They could be living out what God intended for Adam and Eve to accept originally.
The Tree of life. Life. Eternal life.
Again, if this is possibly true, then I believe it would have occurred AFTER Adams's sin and After Jesus life , death, and resurrection and ascension to the Father.
So, there are many philosophyical and Theological implications to this question and I do NOT pretend to know the answer.
What do you think. Post your comments. If you wish.
Paul
While no one can be totally demonstrative on this subject, we can make a few observations with some degree of intelligence.
Hebrews expressly tell us that Jesus is the complete atonement for ALL sin. He has reconciled the entire cosmos back to God. He is the complete Atonement for EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING. With this in mind let's discuss life on other planets.
It is possible that God created life , just like life we have here on this earth, on other planets in other galaxies in other solar systems. Possible.
( Aliens from outer Space is a totally different subject.)
IF, and this is a big if, God created life as we know it on this earth on other planets, I believe He did so AFTER Adam and Eve's creation on this earth.
After the "fall". After the "original" sin.. After the atonement. After the salvation of the entire cosmos.
If this is so, then these people would have no need for 'another' atonement since Jesus' life, death, resurrection and asension covered ALL things. Those people too.
They could be living out what God intended for Adam and Eve to accept originally.
The Tree of life. Life. Eternal life.
Again, if this is possibly true, then I believe it would have occurred AFTER Adams's sin and After Jesus life , death, and resurrection and ascension to the Father.
So, there are many philosophyical and Theological implications to this question and I do NOT pretend to know the answer.
What do you think. Post your comments. If you wish.
Paul
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