Hard Questions—about eternal hell

Isn't hell an unreasonable punishment for not believing in a specific set of truth claims?




A1 Definitions

B1 Hell

C1 Hebrew

D1 H7585 שְׁאוֹל sh'owl (sheh-ole'), which grave or world of the dead. It is described as down to the grave as Genesis 42:38, to the world of beings below the surface of the earth as Psalms 55:15, a place of punishment for the wicked Deuteronomy 32:22, a place to avoid that has sorrow and punishment. There is hope, however, as in Job 19:26, Psalms 16:10, and Psalms 19:45.

D2 H6900 קְבוּרָה qbuwrah (keɓ-oo-raw') is the grave. This is a place for the body. It is just like our grave of today. It is not hell.

C2 Greek

D1 G1067 γέεννα geenna (ge'-en-na) was a valley near Jerusalem. Since it was the garbage pit of the area, there were fires continuously burning, thus a picture of the future hell.

D2 G86 ᾅδης hades (ha'-d̮ees) is the same as Sheol in Hebrew.

D3 G5020 ταρταρόω tartaroo (tar-ta-ro'-ō) which is a special holding area for especially wicked, rebellious fallen angels.

D4 Lake of Fire is the final, true hell. God created this for the rebellious, wicked angels. The rebellious, wicked humans will also go there at the final judgment.

C3 For further study see

D1 https://www.bereanbiblesociety.org/hell-sheol-hades-paradise-and-the-grave/ \

D2 http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/doctrine/hades.htm

B2 Punishment

Law Dictionary--What is PUNISHMENT?

In criminal law, Any pain, penalty, suffering, or confinement inflicted upon a person by the authority of the law and the judgment and sentence of a court, for some crime or offense committed by him, or for his omission of a duty enjoined by law. See Cummings v. Missouri, 4 Wall. 320, 18 L. Ed. 356; Featherstone v. People, 194 N. E. 084; Ex parte Howe, 20 Or. 181, 37 Pac. 530; State v. Grant, 79 Mo. 129, 49 Am. Rep. 218.

 

A2 Answer

B1 People don't go to hell because of their doctrine (truth claims) or if "they asked Jesus in their heart."

B2 People go to hell because they are blasphemers, murderers, adulterers, liars, thieves, etc. Every person (except the Lord Jesus (Hebrews 4:15)) has done these things at least in their thoughts but many times in actions, too.

C1 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23, EMTV)

C2 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things which are written in the book of the law, to do them." (Galatians 3:10, EMTV)

B3 Nevertheless why would these sins result in eternal damnation?

C1 God's holiness is eternal.

D1 Holiness is a state of not ever breaking a law in thoughts, desires, words, or deeds. If holiness is nothing more than "being separate," then God would be an introverted loner. There has to be some standard of what is sacred and profane. This standard is perfect adherence to the Law of God.

D2 God is holy.

E1 The very definition of "god" would have to have this.

E2 If the definition of "god" could include the idea of not being holy, then what laws would he/she be breaking. Would it be their own laws? Then he/she would be a hypocrite. If it was someone's law, who would that be? Would there then be a higher being than "god?"

D3 "Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? (Exodus 15:11, ESV)

D4 Exalt the LORD our God, And worship at His holy hill; For the LORD our God is holy. (Psalms 99:9, NKJV)

C2 God's warning that punishment never ends.

D1 "because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead." (Acts 17:31, NKJV)

D2 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23, NKJV)

D3 "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." (Revelation 21:8, NKJV)

D4 And these shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (Matthew 25:46, EMTV)

C3 God's forgiveness is based on faith, not sight.

D1 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. (John 5:24, NKJV)

D2 What the Law could not do, because human nature was weak, God did. He condemned sin in human nature by sending his own Son, who came with a nature like our sinful nature, to do away with sin. (Romans 8:3, GNB92)

D3 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16, NKJV)

C4 Humanity's refusal/resistance to God's plea.

D1 "How stubborn you are!" Stephen went on to say. "How heathen your hearts, how deaf you are to God's message! You are just like your ancestors: you too have always resisted the Holy Spirit! (Acts 7:51, GNB92)

D2 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! (Matthew 23:37, EMTV)

Sunday School Lesson—Blessed to be a blessing

Blessed to be a blessing




Theme: God made a covenant.


Scriptures:

Genesis 12:1-9

Genesis 15:1-6

A1 Outline

B1 God's call of Abraham--Genesis 12:1-9

B2 God's covenant with Abraham--Genesis 15:1-6

A2 Notes and questions

B1 Covenant

C1 Defined

D1 A promise. A specialized promise, not the ordinary kind we make every day. It is a special promise between Yahweh and a person, persons, group, and clan (as in the case of Israel).

D2 "A usu. formal agreement between two or more parties to engage in or refrain from something." Wordsymth

D3 Business Dictionary

1. "Written, solemn, and binding agreement.
   


2. 2.Binding promise explicitly or implicitly stipulated in a deed or contract (a loan agreement, for example), by a covenantee (a lender, for example), which the covenanter (a borrower, for example) must agree to (otherwise there is no agreement or deal). Once agreed to, the covenant is usually enforceable even if it is unwarranted and/or is unsupported by a consideration. A covenant need not be explicit if its implication is necessary to carry out the intention of the explicit covenant(s). Covenants can cover virtually anything; in a loan agreement, for example, covenants can restrict size of a firm's total debt, salaries of managers, and dividends to shareholders. A covenant may be (1) Positive, when it forces an action, (2) Negative, when it restrains or prevents, (3) Independent, when applicable on its own, or (4) Dependent, when its application requires a specific condition to occur.
   

C2 Bible Covenants

D1 Types--conditional and unconditional

D2 Typically 8 covenants are recognized

D3 Table THE EIGHT COVENANTS OF THE BIBLE

Name of Covenant	Made with Yahweh and	Conditional or unconditional
Edenic Covenant	Adam	Conditional
Mosaic Covenant	Nation of Israel	Conditional
Adamic Covenant	satan, Eve, and Adam	Unconditional
Noahic Covenant	Noah	Unconditional
Abrahamic Covenant	Abraham	Unconditional
Palestinian or Land Covenant	Israelites	Unconditional
Davidic Covenant	David-eternal kingship (Messiah)	Unconditional
New Covenant	Body of believers in Jesus Christ	Unconditional

D4 Abrahamic covenant

E1 The covenant itself Genesis 12:1-9

E2 The ceremony Genesis 15:1-6 (21)

F1 Makes sealed and unconditional. Both parties would pass between the pieces, but here only God passed between the pieces.

F2 God is not seen except as the light moving being the pieces.

F3 Genesis 15:1-6 is a promise of a descendant and Abraham's conversion--he believed and God forgave.

B2 Genesis 12:1

C1 Who is speaking? (Yahweh)

C2 Who is listening? (Abram)

C3 In THIS verse what is commanded of Abram?

C4 Is this the norm for all the saints? (No, Yahweh is speaking to Abram, not everyone).

C5 Would it be hard for you to leave all you family members and your homeland?

C6 How does Abram know this is God? Didn't Mohammad say that Gabriel had brought God's message to him? How do we know what is God's voice and not God's voice? Do we follow something subjective or objective for our source of truth? Abraham was a prophet ("Now therefore, restore the man's wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours." (Genesis 20:7, NKJV).

D1 Spirits

E1 Good and pure=angels.

E2 Evil=unclean spirits, demons, etc. But these can and do know how to appear pure. They know the walk, the talk, and the dress/appearance of purity.

D2 Humans can be and are deceived.

D3 The only, absolute, 100% truth is the Bible. It is proven. See:

E1 http://normangeisler.com/ten-reasons-for-the-historicity-of-the-resurrection-of-the-saints-in-matthew-27-norman-l-geisler-2011/

E2 https://answersingenesis.org/store/product/how-do-we-know-bible-true-volumes-1-2/?sku=40-1-410

C7 Verses

D1 Acts 7:3 (GNB92) and said to him, 'Leave your family and country and go to the land that I will show you.'

D2 Hebrews 11:8 (GNB92) It was faith that made Abraham obey when God called him to go out to a country which God had promised to give him. He left his own country without knowing where he was going.

D3 We learn that faith is not some wish, but it is believing God.

B3 Genesis 12:2-3

C1 Was this promise to Israel?

C2 Would this promise ever change?

C3 Was this covenant literally fulfilled?

D1 The land

E1 And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: "Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are–northward, southward, eastward, and westward; "for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. "And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. "Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you." (Genesis 13:14-17, NKJV)

E2 So the LORD gave to Israel all the land that he had solemnly promised their ancestors he would give them. When they had taken possession of it, they settled down there. The LORD gave them peace throughout the land, just as he had promised their ancestors. Not one of all their enemies had been able to stand against them, because the LORD gave the Israelites the victory over all their enemies. The LORD kept every one of the promises that he had made to the people of Israel. (Joshua 21:43-45, GNB92)

D2 Spiritually

E1 And Melchizedek, who was king of Salem and also a priest of the Most High God, brought bread and wine to Abram, blessed him, and said, "May the Most High God, who made heaven and earth, bless Abram! (Genesis 14:18-19, GNB92)

E2 Just
as Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." (Galatians 3:6, NKJV)

D3 Many descendants

E1 Genesis 22:17 (NKJV) "blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.

E2 Deuteronomy 1:10 (NKJV) 'The LORD your God has multiplied you, and here you are today, as the stars of heaven in multitude.

D4 THE descendant--Messiah, who is Jesus Christ

E1 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Christ. (Galatians 3:16, NKJV)

E2 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. (Romans 4:13, NKJV). Seed is singular here though many understand it as a plural as English does with the word sheep (1 sheep, 10 sheep, etc.).

F1 Ask, and I will give you all the nations; the whole earth will be yours. (Psalms 2:8, GNB92)

F2 All kings will bow down before him; all nations will serve him. (Psalms 72:11, GNB92)

D5 Indeed those who believe like Abraham did also receive a blessing. List some of the blessings we receive because of Abraham?

E1 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 12:3, NKJV)

E2 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's descendants, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:29, EMTV)

B4 Genesis 12:4-5

C1 What did Abraham do after he received the command from God?

C2 How old was Abraham? Could we start a "new" life at 75 years old?

C3 Abraham had no children. Did he still believe God?

B6 Genesis 12:6-9 What 2 important things did Abraham do? (Built altar to worship God. He, also, called on the name of the Lord (acknowledging the Yahweh is God).

B7 Genesis 15:1-6

C1 "After this..." What is this referring to? (Genesis 14:24. It was after the defeat of the kings and rescue of Lot).

C2 Does God care about each one of us individually? How can God do this when there are so many?

C3 Was Abraham discouraged (Genesis 15:2)?

C4 Did God scream and yell at him for his discouragement? Why do we sometimes think God is doing or will do this to us?

C5 How did God encourage Abraham? (Genesis 15:4-5)

C6 What great importance is taught in Genesis 15:6? (He believed God). Is faith a work as the Calvinists tell us? Is this blind faith or reasonable faith?

C7 Has the Gospel changed from age to age, or is it the same from age to age?

C8 Is God's timing better than ours? Do we get impatient at waiting? What can we do about it?

C9 What does God want us to do? (In the New Testament, which is our instruction manual from Jesus, we )

D1 Know there are some things we must not do.

D2 Know there are some things we must do.

D3 Principles of right and wrong.

D4 Examples of bad and good choices.

The Lord Told Me – I Think!

A good article to read and ponder. Is the Bible adequate for us today? The link to the whole article is on the title.

The Lord Told Me – I Think!

It seems the Lord has been quite busy lately speaking to His children. A few years ago Alistair Begg quoted a survey stating that one in three American adults say that God speaks to them directly.[1] And hearing the voice of God is not isolated to the common person either. A slew of evangelical leaders claim to hear from the Lord, some of them quite regularly. Henry Blackaby, an avid proponent of extrabiblical revelation of this type, when asked how he knew he was hearing from God and not from some other source, gives this answer, “You come to know His voice as you experience Him in a love relationship. As God speaks and you respond, you will come to the point that you recognize His voice more and more clearly.”[2]

Is God Speaking Today?

Of course, that leaves dangling the important question, “How does one know he is hearing the voice of the Lord in the first place?” Is it not possible...

Hard Questions—danger of using common sense?

What is the role and danger of using "common sense" in evaluating truth claims?




A1 Common sense

B1 Defined

C1 Wordsymth: practical judgment based on experience or native intelligence, and not on education or training.

C2 Infoplease: sound practical judgment that is independent of specialized knowledge, training, or the like; normal native intelligence. Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.

C3 The Law Dictionary: Sound practical judgment; that degree of intelligence and reason, as exercised upon the relations of persons and things and the ordinary affairs of life, which is possessed by the generality of mankind, and which would suffice to direct the conduct and actions of the individual in a manner to agree with the behavior of ordinary persons.

C4 Sense can be both

D1 Common in that people and animals recognize a certain shape, smell, taste, etc. to be the same. Salt is an example.

D2 Special in that people know their culture and cultural thinking, which would influence a decision or opinion.

B2 Example

C1 We don't step in front of a speeding car, because we know what will happen. We have seen pictures of it, etc.

C2 We don't drink poison, because we know what poison does.

A2 Atheist explanation

B1 Some may consider common sense true, but it really might not be. It used to be people considered tomatoes poisonous, but obviously they are not.

B2 Our common sense may reject things that we cannot see or experience but are in fact true as the movement of continental plates or a heavy and light object fall at the same rate (resistance as air, etc. influences the slower fall of feathers compared to a rock).

A3 Answer

B1 Christians have a reasonable faith, not a common sense faith (even if that is true).

B2 Christians appeal to facts as history, archeology, and the great number of eye witnesses.

B3 People may have different philosophical definitions of truth, but when they are short-changed by the cashier, they throw their philosophy out the window and want the correct change back.

B4 Faith is based on truth.

B5 Faith in someone is based on prior dealings with him/her. They are proven.

B6 Jesus existed. This is most reasonable.

A4 Resources

B1 http://www.equip.org/perspectives/is-faith-reasonable/

B2 http://coldcasechristianity.com/2015/is-the-christian-faith-evidentially-reasonable/

B3 http://www.reasonablefaith.org/

Sunday School Lesson—a monument to human pride

A Monument to human pride


Theme: God Scattered the People.


Scripture:


A1 Outline

B1 Tower of Babel

C1 What the people are doing

C2 What the Lord does

A2 Notes and Questions

B1 Babel--Traditional site

B2 Some imagined ideas on what the tower looked like

C1

C2

B3 Area of Lake Van and Mount Ararat (give or take 300 km)

B4

C1 What is noticeable about this passage?

C2 Why is the language information repeated twice (same language, same speech)?

C3 When is unity good, and when it is wrong?

D1 Unity with Yahweh and His ways is good.

D2 Unity against Yahweh and His ways is evil.

D3 Is doctrine important? (Very important)

C4 Is there a Christian (?) and religious unity being promoted now?

C5 How do we avoid the wrong kind of unity?

C6 In , , and say the families were divided by their languages, yet says that all were of one language. How do we reconcile these apparent contradictions?

D1 Genesis 10 is a summary and Genesis 11 is the details.

D2 Genesis 10 tells us how the nations spread and came about. The reason they spread is in Genesis 11. After reading Genesis 10, one might ask how and why did all these people scatter? Genesis 11 has the answer.

B5

C1 They traveled east. Looking at the map, Shinar (Babylon area on the Mesopotamian plain) was about straight south. How do we account for this?

C2 They traveled east first, maybe to the Caspian Sea, then sough to the Zagros Mountains, then east to Shinar.

B6

C1 What is the significance of "Come" ("Go to" in KJV)?

C2 What is pitch (KJV)? It is bitumen, a tar that is sticky or black colored.

C3 What are they trying to do anyway?

D1 Defy God by building this tower.

D2 Making it waterproof.

D3 Not wanting to spread over the face of the earth as God wished. God is King!!!!

C4 What is their motivation for building this building? (Rebellion and arrogance).

C5 What was the tower to be used for? Some suggestions are

D1 Tower may have been used for astronomy and/or astrology.

D2 Tower may be a statement that it is higher than flood waters and is waterproof (brick and tar).

D3 Tower may be a place for the "gods" to come down.

C6 Why did they want to make a name for themselves?

D1 Be famous

D2 Pride

C7 What seems to be their greatest fear? (To be separated). Yet, what happened?

C8 When we fight God, who wins?

C9 Whose plans are these? ("...let us make..."). What plans should we be attentive to?

C10 Sons of man or humankind literally is sons of Adam.

B7

C1 How could Yahweh come down? Is He weak and could not have seen and known from heaven?

C2 What did He see?

C3 Couldn't He have seen this from heaven?

C4 What is wrong with people's heart? (Sin, here specifically pride).

C5 Where would other "gods" come from? (evil spirits)

B8

C1 What is the meaning of Yahweh's word "...nothing will be impossible for them?" Does this speak of a liberated free will?

C2 Is there selfishness and self-pleasing in the human race? What can we do about it?

C3 Does God hate?

D1 There are six things Yahweh hates, and seven things are abominations of his soul: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a devising heart, plans of deception, feet that hurry to run to evil, (, LEB)

D2 The devising of foolishness is sin, And the scoffer is an abomination to men. (, NKJV)

D3 ...slanderers, haters of God, insolent men, proud, braggarts, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, (, EMTV)

B9

C1 Note the 3 times "let us" is mentioned.

D1 Then they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. (, NKJV)

D2 And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." (, NKJV)

D3 "Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." (, NKJV)

C2 Note the word confuse, confound, etc. The Hebrew word is בּלל bâlal baw-lal' and means mix thus here confuse.

C3 What are the three main personages related to Babylon?

D1 Nimrod-Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD." And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city). (, NKJV)

D2 Nebuchadnezzar-Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down. (, NKJV)

D3 Beast of the book of Revelation-Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. (, NKJV) and throughout Revelation. This is the anti-Christ.

C4 Do things happen to us that return us to God's ways?

C5 Are all trials in our lives chastening from God?

D1 Sometimes it is.

D2 Sometimes it is the effect from a fallen word (most sickness or accidents).

D3 Sometimes it is our own stupidity and bad decisions. We cannot blame God for our bad decisions and choices. What guide do we have to avoid bad decisions?

C6 Can God's plan be thwarted? Does sin thwart God's plan?

C7 How can we seek God and His Kingdom?

B10

C1 Whose plan happened? God's plan to spread out over the earth or these people's plan to stay in one place?

C2 What is God's plan and way of living for Christians?

B11 the summary.

B12 How do we serve God?

C1 What was satan's problem? Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.' " (, NKJV). Is this good advice for us?

C2 Can we serve two masters? "You cannot be a slave of two masters; you will hate one and love the other; you will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (, GNB92). How does this apply to those who teach "when you send in your seed faith, God will make you rich."

C3 Whom did Paul, the Apostle, serve? For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong, whom also I serve, (, EMTV)

C4 It comes down to we serve God by obeying the rules of the New Testament.

B13 Are we serving God?

B14 Noah served God. What happened to his descendants? How can we avoid this fallen situation from happening with our children/grandchildren?

From my friend and Christian brother, John Kulp

Conscience Toward God

In the first installment of this topic, we covered in a few words what the Scriptures mean by an “evil conscience” and a “purged conscience”. But what is meant by the concept of a “good conscience before (or toward) God” in Paul’s testimonies and in Peter’s exhortations? Let’s look at these passages one at a time.

“And Paul, earnestly beholding the council (Sanhedrin), said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day” (Acts 23:1). Many believe that Paul meant this introductory statement to refer to his past life as an observant and zealous, though yet unconverted, Jew. Likely he sought to appeal to their consciences, as to Jews who...

Click the link above to read the whole post

Hard Questions—Christians have objective truth?

How can it be reasonable for Christians to claim knowledge of an objective truth?




I'm not positive of her full question. I think she is asking if believing in God can be an objective truth.


A1 Objective truth

B1 Basically is reality.

B2 It is raining outside. True or false?

B3 God exists. True or false?

B4 How do we test if these are true?

B5 Does God exist?

A2 Reasonable truth is what a Christian claims.


A3 Christians don't believe in blind faith.

B1 Many may have not thought this through, and so they are ignorant.

B2 We have a reasonable faith.

A4 Again I refer to Cold Case Christianity and Please Convince Me.