RE: GOING DEEPER WITH PAPA-PEPPER: The Deep Thinker
Excellent observations, friend @apolymask... May I respond from a personal perspective?
While hell is most certainly a fearful thing, what the organized church has taught it to be for so long is far from what scripture actually teaches. God is a consuming fire; when anyone ultimately stands before God, they will either be regenerated or consumed. Scary, but not an endless torture chamber.
As to your second point, there is no amount of "doing good" that can ever merit our redemption. The only way eternal heaven is available is as a gift from God.
Both of these concepts are nicely and concisely summed up in this scripture:
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 6:23
Also not seeking an argument or debate here, just offering up my perspective. My God, Jesus, has freed me from bondage to old ways, gifted me with eternity, and consequently I am liberated to voluntarily do good in the world and to peacefully interact with all my neighbors who will thus interact with me.
Thanks for letting me use the quote pepper, and sure we can talk about it another time if you'd like. Thanks for being understanding as well.
In response to creatr. I knew I should have been a lil more specific in my statement and not uses the extremes of heaven and hell, but also I should have added.. That doing something in the "name of" could be similar. To do good in the name of anything other than good, imo is not the most pure good. Good for it's own sake, to me.. Is the most pure, not in the name of any specific God, but just because you feel it's right.
I could also argue I have an understanding that I am eternal, and that I have been freed from bondage of old ways, and that I am also liberated to voluntarily do good and all of that, but I don't need to cite any specific name of being or entity other than myself. To me, it's almost.. Giving away your power when you give it to another being like that. And I was just go a little further to say that.. I consider myself pretty spiritual, I've had experiences that have shown me windows into other dimensions, and I do believe there is more to life than this, but I don't see some kind of being as a God, and it's not a "him" either, if anything it's a combination of man and woman, and it's a spiritual energy that makes up everything, including the bad and evil things. So.. You could say I'm closer to a pantheist and I believe "EVERYTHING" is God.. And I respect your views, but.. I don't necessarily think I'm lacking because I see everything s God instead of the way you see God. Whether my view is more fuzzy or more clear, it's different.. And I'm glad we can have differences and still communicate respectfully. Too often that is not the case when it comes to this topic.