Is It Possible?
Is it possible to truly be at peace if at the same time you know your brother will suffer in an eternal HELL without any possibility of a reprieve?
I ask that question in all seriousness to those Christians who believe that God will punish all those who do not acknowledge His son and follow His commandments.
This really is a very simple question that any honest person needs to answer. We all know someone we love who by even the most liberal criteria of church doctrine does not fit the bill. How does it make you feel that they will suffer endless torture? Are you at peace with that thought? If you are then you’re not a person I care to know, and if you are not at peace with it then why is your heart kinder then your doctrine?
You see, I believe if we can just get people to trust their hearts there would be a lot more peace in this world. The new covenant that God has with us says just that.
HEB 8:10-12 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
According to the scriptures above we ought to be able to trust our hearts. We shouldn’t need anyone to show us what is right, and even when we mess up we our hearts should remind us that we ARE forgiven. Why doesn’t the churches of today teach this covenant? Could it be that they know if you trust your heart that their doctrines of condemnation won’t stand? Could it be that if you trust your heart you would no longer need to be under the authority of some pastor who demands your money week in and week out?
The answer to the question "Is It Possible?" is YES, YES, YES. In Christ all the answers are YES.
- Yes, you can be at peace.
- Yes, you can trust your heart.
- Yes, He will be merciful to our unrighteousness.
- Yes, He will not remember our sins and iniquities.
- Yes, you are his beloved child and there is nothing that will ever separate you from your Father.
What does your heart say? Are you at peace? If not, try trusting your heart for a change and quit listening to some preacher who’s telling you to follow some doctrine that is separating you from a brother or sister that Christ died for.
BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD, WHICH TAKETH AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD.
And another amen from the hills of WV. As I read this and watched George in the previous video post, I thought how important it is for us to believe and confess. But not that our belief and confession redeems us but that the cross already did that. It accomplished the impossible that while WE (all) were yet sinners Christ died for all of us ungodly people so that we could overcome a mindset of arrogance and condemnation and actually live in lasting peace, first with God and then with our neighbor, whoever they might be.
Believing that our redemption is secure in Christ and His work alone (for us all) can bring about a lasting change to this world that all of the religious effort can never produce. That should be so very obvious. Confessing that Jesus Christ really has taken away the sin of the world can bring peace to minds. It can give hope to the hopeless.
It is the arrogance of those who see themselves above others that continues to produce division, anger and wars. Only the love of God as demonstrated in the cross of Christ, conquers that…and it has. He led the captivity of us all captive. He gave gifts, totally free gifts, and the best that can be given to men. Oh that all men would but believe that but the religious resist it the most and do so in the name of a loving God while they heap condemnation on their perceived adversaries.
May that which we, and others like us, confess to start a tidal wave of love that fills this world and brings in lasting peace to the minds of mankind and may we continue to speak it forth boldly. May those who still see some as their adversaries understand that God is at peace with His creation, both them and those adversaries. The cross ended hostilities. It is a new creation where the Prince of Peace reigns supreme. That is the good news. May it flood this world with love and grace.
WOW!
I want to remind all of the readers who don’t know, CLIFF is PASTOR of a local church!
Now if we just had more pastors who speak the truth BOLDLY as Cliff does the world WOULD CHANGE!
Cliff, You are a Pearl of Great Price! I love your heart and how you bring The Good News to us ALL!
In Perfect Peace
Geo
Steve,
You bring up a good point. The confession of this Gospel does need to be confessed. But it needs confessed more to those who “claim” belief than it does to the unbeliever! I understand now what Paul said when he said this, “to the Jew first then to the Gentile”
It is the Christian believer who needs to hear this message first, then to the unbeliever. I think that is where we have too not be ashamed of the gospel i.e in front of “Christian” believers. Who will persecute you when it is done. But take heart because the Gospel of Grace & Peace once planted in their hearts will grow!
In Perfect Peace
Geo
Well put Cliff and great comment, Steve!!
Cliff,
Way back when I was preaching, I used to ask a similar question, but with a different motivation. I was trying to motivate my congregation to go out and “evangelize” (ie make converts to our way of thinking). I’d ask them, “How can you be at peace knowing that your friends and family members are going to burn in hell for all eternity? You need to get out there are tell them the Good News of what they must do to obey the gospel.”
Now, I see the point more clearly. If we believe that God will torture people, then we can’t live at peace. It’s just not possible. That’s one reason why we find so many zealous religious folks acting in so many destructive and self-destructive ways. How can we live with ourselves and our ‘god’ if we believe that the god we consider to be all-powerful will hurt the people we love forever? Our hearts are saying “love’ but our adherence to a doctrine says ‘rejection.’ It creates a cognitive dissonance that causes us to take out our frustrations somewhere.
As a former minister, I know that I took out my frustrations on my congregation and my family. I couldn’t see it at the time, but now it is very clear.
Thanks for this post. Many blessings to you.
It certainly is possible… but when we allow ourselves to believe that it is PROBABLE, then it becomes an irresistibly life-changing force.
Sadly, we don’t believe. The “church” won’t let us.