hi person i do not know anything about. it is my prayer that if you get this you will read it, and leave not feeling so hostile or scared towards our Lord and avior, Jesus Christ.i am really glad that you took the time to write this. that shows that you have not totally given to to the lie that God is not just. God is just. he is the potter and we are the clay. that is how, i understand it anyway. i have a lot of hard times when reading the Bible myself. for instance , i struggle with the apostle Paul i struggle with what happened to sARAI'S hand maid, and the curse her son was under. i struggle with it, and have strggled with it, and in the past i t has kept me from coming to God in prayer. I URGE YOU TO DO THAT WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT. ironically, one of the times my head was cleared was when i was in jail, for drug related charges. this gal had some childrens vooks called the chronicles of narnia. i urge you to ind those and read them. they are an allegory. which means they are about this lion named Aslan, but lo and behol d they are really about Jesus. that is why the author wrote them, for sinmple people like me/. whenever i struggle with Gods word, or any of his people. i refer to the main charecter Aslan, and when one of the kids in the book about why this really "good" persomn did this or thaqt, he replied," my child that is their story and i never tell anyone their story unless it is about them. Another hing i refer to is the new testamnet. when the pharisees were trying to connive Jesus into looking like something less than the messiah, they asked which was the most important..... so he answered,(i'm paraphrasing here, ok?) The tewo most important are to love your neighbor as yourself, and love the LOrd God with all your might, heart soul and strenght." ok so if you love your neighbor as yourself, you will not want to sleep with his wife, if you love God the way you are intended then you will not nitpick, and try to create dissenions among your brothers and sisters. maybe those women who were not virgins went to heaven. maybe they didnt? i believe in a God who is merciful and loving. i believe he forgives all who come to him as honestly as they can. this is just mty belief. i undersnd how you can not understand that a loving God would so judge his children. the fact is every one of us are simnners. the rapist, and the child who has been raped. the only unforgivable sin, is rejecting, God. i take this to mean since God is just and loving, and kind, and merciful about our ignorance, themn he will judge on what we did understand. for example, you. you are a christian. you tiurned away from God, and thats just stupid. you not God, so you cant judge why he ran the wrold the way he did beforee Christ. if he made those women who were stoioned and they turned to him or their VERY BESTunderstanding of him, then surely arent they saved? you are trying to understand God, or you wouldnt have wriutten this post. if you at one time were really close withJesus, by taliking to him regularly listening and understanding, and then allowed youself to be turned away by the world, i feel sorry for you. however, if you were like me and only got saved, doid not nourish that relationship, via prayer and christian meditation, and simply were to frustrated to go any further because of the world, then well...... you are doing tyour best, i believe. however, i am certainly not God. Sir, i oimplore you to keep praying. look for a foursqaure church. look for more answers. feel free to email me at any time and i will respond. sincerely,
Sarah
shire_77@yahoo.com 

Our eternal fellowship with God in heaven is possible ONLY by having a right relationship with Him in THIS life.

God will have mercy on all (murderer, rapist, or June Cleaver) who acknowledge that they don't measure up to His standard (the Law) and trust in Jesus Christ's work (sinless life, death and resurrection) on their behalf (AKA substitutionary atonement).

If you think you are good enough to stand in front of the God of the universe WITHOUT the blood of Jesus covering you, you're wrong.

Check out jesusplusnothing.com 

I can understand where you are coming from; for I have felt like this for most of my life. Unfortunately all it got me was high stress levels and a very empty feeling inside.

From the sounds of it, I am sure you know the Bible verses better than I, so forgive me for not really knowing what verses to refer to.

I think the book of JOB reflects how you feel in a way...with one exception: If you are indeed as gentle a person as you describe, you are actually closer to Christ than what you may give yourself credit for.

I know somewhere in the scriptures it also notes that although God may forgive a person thier sins; ultimately they still have to account for them as well. I do not believe this means that such people will not be judged for thier crimes/actions...but it is God who will have to do the judging.

"...judge not lest ye be judged..." I believe is an important verse for all of us to remember.

Anyway, I am NOT going to say you are wrong in how you feel; moreso you are honest in your feelings. I would like to suggest that you turn to the Lord to permit Him to answer your questions and doubts. You did once before in the past, and I believe you can again even if your faith may have wained.

God bless you and yours! 

It is true that a person, even if he considers himself as righteous if you do not believe that it is through Christ only that you can be saved will go to hell... And a rapist or a murderer after [genuinely] receiving Christ as their Lord and SAviour with faith, will go to heaven. Why? because both of them and the "righteous" person are sinners and no matter how good they seem to be for themselves, they're still not good enough without Christ.

look at these verses:
Romans 3:23 --- all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God... No matter how righteous you may seem you are still a sinner.

Revelations 21:8 --- .... and all liars, their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. this is the second death.
--- haven't you lied before ? it's just as bad to God as murder and rape

You may say you're not an adulterer.. but consider this:
Matthew 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Or a murderer, but consider also this:
1 John 3:15 Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

-- YOU SEE... WE CANNOT JUSTIFY OURSELVES BASED ON OUR PRESENT LAWS. Maybe you cannot consider secretly looking at a woman/man lustfully adultery, but it is ADULTERY in God's eyes. Or hating a brother murder in human law, but it is in God's eyes... WE ARE JUST AS BAD AS THOSE MURDERERS and RAPISTS THAT WE HATE... :(


Isaiah 64:6 --- But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.


You can see that your works cannot justify you because they will just remain useless because of our sins. Therefore, only Christ can save us whether we be "good people", murderers, thieves (remember one of the thiefs at calvary?),rapists, and all... All of them are the same. God's love is not limited to a "good person". He wants to save us all -but we have to receive His gift with faith (for without faith it is impossible to please God ---Heb 11:6)

You may now say that this will just be a justification for those people doing evil and planning to just accept Him before they die. --- This is now my question, do you think God is stupid that He will not know what's inside the hearts of men? And how sure are you that they are true to their acceptance. How sure are you that you "were" sure to your acceptance when you became born again before ? Did you really Accept Christ in your heart truly and with all sincerity and acknowledge that you cannot save yourself ? Think about it friend :) The Lord knocks (Rev 3:20)


----- Grace to you :) 

changed on Thursday, April 28, 2005 10:50:46 PM

Hi,

I sent a response to your querry through your e-mail address but my e-mail did not get through. My e-mail address is art.eugenio@ph.lafarge.com. Together, let's try to dissect your questions and come up with biblical resolutions.

God bless you,

Art Eugenio
Metro Manila
Philippines 

I do not profess to know all the answers to your questions. I had the same questions at one time or another in the past. And then I read the book of Job. In this book God said, "my ways are not your ways; my thoughts are not your thoughts. God is sovereign. He gave life to you and me. He can also take back this life by whatever means without justifying it to you and me. He is the potter; we are the clay. He is our Father; we are His children. I believe that God does not mind if we His children ask Him questions. We just need to be patient and wait for His answers. 

changed on Thursday, December 09, 2004 9:50:58 PM

you must remember that the old testament was to show us how we despertly needed a savior......and the prophesy of jesus fortold...and there were many sacrfices that had to be made at the alters for the forgivness of sins (the killing and shedding of blood) which was pointing to the death of christ as a human sacrifice for us. the new testament is grace thru christ and the forgivness of sins thru one mans death on the cross,,,,,,,remember when he gave his last remember when he gave his last breath on the cross and the curtian was torn in half? well the law was abolished and grace was given....we are no longer under the law but under grace..the law was given thru moses but faith and truth came thru jesus christ...what is the greates commandment?......love the lord your god, and the second, love your nieghbor as your self........no more an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth..........just love, grace faith and obedience to gods word! 

This is for chutas: ( and anyone else with a reply)

You responded to my post about Romans 1:28, well in fact the post was about the bible in general. My whole problem with the religion in the first place comes from everything I stated before. If God is anything like the bible, I want no part in the hypocrisy. I could sit here and ramble on for hours about history and statistics. However, to tell me to read the bible more seems a little silly when you didn't even know the qoute I spoke of. I have added the verse to the end of this!!!

My question was if the bible is correct, will I go to hell for being a good person with "off" beliefs and a rapist or murderer go to heaven for simply changing thier ways. Please if you have an answer to this email it to me, my address is as follows:

Ambientfear@aol.com


Dueteronomy 22:20-21

20-But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel:
21-Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you. 

I would suggest studying the bible more, and asking god for wisdom in the questions that you have. He will reveal the answers in time, if you allow him to.

[James 1:5]; If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

I am not sure where Duet 22:21 comes from the bible.