Talking about Hell

I find it so frustrating as a Christian when I talk about the goodness and greatness and awesomeness that comes when you accept Jesus as your Lord and saviour, only to have someone ask,"But what about those who don't accept Him?"

I get irritated about this because I know the question is really about hell, and in my experience people become indignant at the thought of them not going to heaven 'just because they didn't accept Jesus'.

But let's forget about hell or heaven for a minute, and go back to what I was actually talking about.

What I'm talking about is the all the goodness that comes from saying yes to Jesus. What I'm talking about is love; crazy, over-the-top, passionate romantic love, and at the same time that fatherly love that protects you, always looks out for your best interests and does everything it can to help you succeed, what I'm talking about is peace; not just calmness and quietness, but a peace within you, that comes from the deep-rooted knowledge that someone has your back always, what I'm talking about is forgiveness; not just 'Look, you really hurt me but, I guess I can get over it' forgiveness, but forgiveness that sees beyond your failures and mistakes and refuses to judge you according to them, what I'm talking about is GRACE.

So when people ask me about what happens to those who don't accept Jesus, there are two thoughts that cross my mind. Either those people haven't really heard the truth about Jesus, His love and all that He has done, or those people are crazy.

Think about it, who in their right mind, would hear about unending joy, perfect peace, life in abundance, love and forgiveness that never fails, a constant support and encourager, and say, "Nah, I'd rather be alone, always depressed, always worrying and confused, constantly weighed down and defined by every little thing I've ever done wrong in my whole life"?

It's like being offered free first class passage on a plane and choosing to pay to ride in the hold with the luggage instead. Why would anyone do that? It doesn't make sense!

Of course there is also the option that people haven't heard the truth about Jesus, and His love and His mercy and His compassion, but that's what we should be telling people, that is the gospel!

Because, whilst yes, hell is a very real consequence, and yes it is forever, people shouldn't chose Jesus in order to avoid hell any more than they should chose Jesus to get to heaven.

Heaven and hell are not the point, Jesus is!

His radical, unrelenting, passionate, forgiving, merciful, love and grace are the point. A relationship with the one who created the universe and created you and knows you is the point.

So to those who get offered all of that, and chose to go it alone, I don't really understand you, I kind of feel sorry for you. But for those who have not been shown or offered all of that, and have instead been offered a 'gospel' that sounds like a set of rules, a curse, or a burden, I sincerely apologise, because that is not Christ at all.

Christ is a blessing, is life itself, is love itself. Heaven is forever with Jesus. If you don't want to be with Him in this short period of time we call life, why would you want to be with Him FOREVER? Or what do you think heaven is?

Heaven is forever with Jesus, it's life without Him that you should be concerned about, because that's  hell.

The Gospel : In Bullet Points

First things first, my intention is not to offend anyone with this short summary of what Christianity is all about...my intention is to simply put it out there in a straightforward way as a starting point for people who have not got a clue what it's about.

The reason being..I wonder if people don't like the gospel (good news) because they don't hear or see it. If all they hear and see is judgement, hate and a list of rules... they are not going to want to know more, they're going to run in the opposite direction, and so they should...none of that sounds like good news to me either.

So, for those of you reading this that have never really heard what Christianity is all about, this is for you.

Here goes:

• Christianity in one word is probably best described as forgiveness. We believe that Jesus died for us, thereby paying the price for the sins of each and every one of us (past, present and future) and in exchange giving us His perfection and righteousness (lack of sin). 《1 Peter 2.24》
• We believe that in dying for us Jesus, opened up the way for us to have a purposeful, loving relationship with God the father and therefore live life through Him, and as a result live better.

That's pretty much it. The bible is all about the situation we were in before Christ came to earth (in need of forgiveness), what happened when He came to earth (paid the penalty for our sin and brought forgiveness), and the new situation we can be in if we choose to accept Him in our lives (living a supernatural life -beyond natural, realer, deeper and more vibrant than what we see and do day-to-day).

I could go on..but I wanted to keep this short and sweet. The gospel is that Jesus died to set us free from lives full of sin and all that go with them and enable us to live a life of righteousness with Him, our closest, most trustworthy and faithful friend; leading the way.

Saying, 'I'm sorry'

I'm a bit of a romantic, and in order to kick back the other day I decided to watch Letters to Juliet. I won't go into the entire film, but I do want to draw something out to you from a scene within it.

The male lead is rude, and in the wrong, and his grandmother forces him to apologise to the female lead, looking her in the eyes and saying I'm sorry.

How often do we do that?

I remember doing so as a kid, if I was rude or mean or hurtful, being told to apologise sincerely, but I think somewhere along the line in adulthood we lose that practice.

Forgiveness and apology are vital parts of relationship. Why? Because in a relationship with someone you are close to, inevitably, at one point in time or another, one of you will upset the other. When this happens, there are two ways to move forward, either the one who was in the wrong apologises and the one who was wronged forgives, or the one in the wrong refuses to acknowledge their wrongdoing and the one who was wronged refuses to forgive and let go.

In my limited experience, the first way of action yields much better fruits than the latter, which leaves both parties bitter and resentful.

I think this especially important in Marriage. I can't help but wonder how many people might still be together today if they had sucked up their pride and done their part to resolve the situation. The problem is very often within each of us and not the other person.


"Where do wars and fights  come  from among you? Do they  not  come  from your  desires for  pleasure that war in your members?"

- James 4.1

"But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers! Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather  let yourselves  be cheated? No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and  you do  these things  to your  brethren!"

 - 1 Corinthians 6.6-8

Celebrating Easter

I know that in terms of timing, this post is a little late, but I really wanted to share this anyway.

Easter is such a big deal for Christians because it is the heart of the story. It is what Christianity is all about.

Whilst Christmas is a lovely celebration; we recognise Jesus came to Earth, the son of God, fully man, fully God etc etc. the reason why Christians are Christians and call themselves Christians is because Christ died for their sins.

History proves that Jesus existed. A man, called Jesus was alive at the time the bible claims that He was, and He caused quite a stir. That much can be proven.

What makes this Jesus man particularly significant is the fact that He claimed He was the son of God. If you think carefully about it; the place and culture in which He was saying this, the gravity of the statement He was making and the fact that saying such a thing would have a MASSIVE impact on the people who belonged to the culture He was speaking to... you have to think about it...He was either completely nuts - as in the guy wanted the people of Nazareth and Bethlehem and Judea to kill Him, or He was telling the truth.

If He was telling the truth; which is what Christians believe, if He was telling the truth, then this is what He was saying:

Jesus was claiming that the root of all problems faced in the world, in this life, all of them, could be found in sin, something which is found within us.

Jesus was saying that it was sin that caused pain, distrust, corruption, dishonesty, poverty, harm, and general disaster.

So if Jesus was telling the truth about Himself and about sin, then, as He said, the only permanent solution to the problem would be Himself.

Hear me out. In humbling Himself; that is in coming in the form of a man, with all the temptations, exposure to sin and its effects and ordinary people, and then dying as He did, he provided us with the grace to live SIN-FREE, dealing with the source of the world's problems permanently, so that sin could no longer cause any problems.

Now, don't get me wrong. I am fully aware, that some Christians, in fact, A LOT of Christians (myself included), have acted sinfully (outside of God's will) and as a result done A LOT of stupid things. But here's the difference between how Christians deal with sin, and how non-Christians deal with sin.

In my experience, when non-Christians sin, or, as a lot would say 'do bad things' or 'do the wrong thing', they will say this; 'I couldn't help it', or 'it's human nature'. There is an acknowledgement that what happened was wrong, and more often than not they will also say something along the lines of 'I won't be doing it again though', or 'I'll try harder next time not to'.

When Christians sin, they also acknowledge that they did the wrong thing, but they acknowledge that the wrong thing was not only done against the person or persons or object, but against God, because they were falling short of His standard, i.e. sinning. This is significant because when we acknowledge that we did the wrong thing before God, we are also acknowledging that there is a penalty we are required to pay for our sin. God being Good (without sin) and just (fair - as in, He can only accept Good), means that when we sin, He has to acknowledge it. He can't just gloss over it, because immediately He's not always Good, because He's allowing sin. It's like a judge saying to a murderer, 'no you're good, be on your way', it immediately makes us question how Good God is. And when God acknowledges our sin, He acknowledges that there is a penalty we have to pay for it.

BUT, because God is merciful and gracious, He didn't want us all to pay the full wages of our sin (death - eternal death, eternal separation from Him). So He looked for a way for us - if we wanted to - to be reconciled to Him, without compromising on His Goodness and Fairness. So what He did, is that He put Himself in our place. He gave us His son, the human embodiment of Himself on this Earth (Jesus), to go through the same everyday struggles as us; betrayal, hunger, friendship, family, even the paying of taxes, and yet NOT sin, so that all the sins we have ever and will ever commit, would be accredited to Him - as in, we did the crime but He did the time - so that we could still have a relationship with Him.

Got it yet?

He gave up a part of Himself, so that we could be part of His family.

So when Christians acknowledge their sin before God, they acknowledge the penalty that they owe, but even greater than that, they acknowledge that the penalty they owe (to God), has already been paid, so they can still be in relationship with God despite their sin, and so that next time, when the opportunity to commit that same sin arrives (and it always does, trust me), they can be sure, that the person who went before them, Jesus; God Himself, already went through temptation and resisted it, so that there is another way to do things, and they don't have to give into human nature; therefore meaning, that those impulses they have always given into, are not the only way to live, that they don't have to be in a sin-guilt-sin-guilt cycle, but that they can have a new future shaped by a new way of doing things, with the help of someone BETTER than themselves: Jesus.

To sum up why Christians celebrate Easter. Easter is a celebration, a party if you will, at which Christians remember and get excited about the fact that God loved them so much, that despite all their idiocy; the silly day-to-day sins they commit and mistakes that they make, He gave Himself up for them so that they could be free from a sin-FULL lifestyle, and live one of grace, with forgiveness in abundance, available every nanosecond.

Happy Easter - Jesus died to set you free, He said, "take up your cross, and follow me".

Forgiveness is NOT - Taken from the Mars Hill Website

1. Forgiveness is not denying, approving, or diminishing sin that is committed against us.
We cannot say we are fine, that it was no big deal, or that, since it was in the past, we’ve just moved on. We must be honest about the reality of the sin if we want the forgiveness to be equally earnest. In forgiving, we are, in fact, saying they are wrong, we do not approve of their sin, and that it really is a big deal and not a trivial matter to us.

2. Forgiveness is not naïveté.
Naïve people are prone to live as if the world were not filled with depraved sinners capable of evil, and they often become naïve by not really looking at the sinfulness of sin, including their own. Such people are not forgiving sin as much as they are ignoring it.

3. Forgiveness is not enabling sin.
To forgive people is not to remain stuck in their cycle of sin, thus being complicit and enabling their continued transgression.

4. Forgiveness is not waiting for someone to acknowledge sin, apologize, and repent.
The sad truth is that some people will never fully repent, and others never at all. Others we will never see again, or they will die before we hear an apology. We forgive because it is what God requires and what we need, not because our offenders have apologized.

5. Forgiveness is not forgetting about sin committed against us.
It is actually impossible to completely forget such things. This is why when God says, “Their sin I will remember no more,” it does not mean that he has no memory, but rather that he continually chooses not to bring it up or keep it in the forefront of his thinking. Indeed, because God is all-knowing, it is, in fact, impossible for him to actually forget something.

6. Forgiveness is not dying emotionally and no longer feeling the pain of the transgression.
Rather, forgiveness allows us to feel the appropriate depth of grievous pain but choose by grace not to be continually paralyzed or defined by it.

7. Forgiveness is not a one-time event.
Those who have been sinned against commonly have seasons when they feel afresh the pain of past hurts and have to forgive their transgressors yet again.

8. Forgiveness is not reconciliation.
It takes one sinner to repent, and one victim to forgive, but it takes both to reconcile. Therefore, unless there is both repentance by the sinner and forgiveness by the victim, reconciliation cannot occur, which means the relationship remains continually broken until reconciliation does occur. Forgiveness is the beginning of potential reconciliation but is not in and of itself reconciliation. Forgiveness takes a moment. The trust that reconciliation requires is gained slowly and lost quickly.

9. Forgiveness is not neglecting justice.
In fact, if a crime has been committed, we can simultaneously forgive someone and call the police to arrest him or her. God will deal with every sin of every human being justly. For those who repent of sin and come to faith in Jesus Christ, justice came at the cross of Jesus, when our Savior suffered and died in our place for our sins. For those who do not repent of sin and come to faith in Jesus Christ, their justice will come in the punishment that is assigned to them in the conscious eternal torments of hell. By not seeking vengeance, we are not neglecting justice, but rather trusting God for perfect justice and getting ourselves out of the middle between the sinner and God. Romans 12:19 instructs precisely this: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’”

We know that we are not bitter when we actually want those who have sinned against us to be maturing Christians and, in addition to praying for them, we forgive them in hopes of showing them the gospel of grace.

Click HERE for the orginial post

Luke 24.26-27 and The Gospel of Jesus Christ

'He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem..."'

The gospel of Jesus Christ is repentance and forgiveness:

Not condemnation, but hope.

Not death, but life.

Not lawfulness, but relationship.

One of the things the scribes took issue with was Jesus forgiving sins (Matthew 9.1-6), because they believed only God had power to forgive sins, but if Jesus was who He claimed to be, the son of God (Luke 22.70) and the Christ (Matthew 16.16-17), then He had full right to forgive sins.

And that's what He came to earth to do. He came to bridge the gap between the sinful and the sinless. So He came to Earth, still God, in the form of a man, so that He could walk among us and make God real to us, make God personal. He came to Earth to save us.

Do you know where something similar happened? Joseph.

Joseph was fully human (you can tell by his behaviour), and when he dreamt of his future and all that was to come, instead of keeping it hush-hush as Jesus did (Matthew 16.20, Mark 8.30, Luke 9.21), he went around boasting about it.

He wasn't lying though. His brothers were going to bow down to him (Genesis 37.7-11). So after he told them all that he had dreamt they 'disposed of him', rather like what happened to Jesus with his crucifixion. And they thought that was the end of it.

"But what they didn't know was that what they had meant for evil, God had meant to be their own salvation (Genesis 50.20)."

You see without Joseph being thrown in a well, he wouldn't have been sold to Ishmaelites, which would have meant he wouldn't have been a slave in Potiphar's house in Egypt, which in turn would mean that he wouldn't have been accused of rape, which would mean he wouldn't have ended up in jail, which would have meant that he wouldn't have been there to decipher the meanings of the dreams of the baker and cupbearer, which would have meant that he wouldn't have been able to decipher the King's dream, which would mean that he wouldn't have been able to save Egypt and the surrounding lands (including the land of Canaan where all his brother's lived), which would have meant that his whole family would have died.

In much the same way, if God was not merciful, then He would not have sent His son Jesus (who was both God and man) to be crucified, which would mean He (Jesus) wouldn't have taken the cost of all our sins, and if He hadn't taken the penalty for all our sins which is death (Romans 6.23a), we would all be facing eternity without God, Hell, rather than having what we now have (should we want it), the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus (Romans 6.23b).

Hey guys, use this website http://www.blueletterbible.org/index.cfm to look up all the verses that I have mentioned. Just type each of them into the search bar at the top and choose a version you think you will find easiest to understand. The version I have used for my quotes here is the NIV.

A Beautiful Exchange

There's a song that we sing at church sometimes, I can't remember the name of the author or the name of the song, but there are words in that song that bring a smile to my face every time I hear them:

"There upon the cross I see,

You're unfailing love for me,

the majesty and mystery,

There upon the cross.

In death you won the victory,

That echoes throughout history,

The promise of eternity,

There upon the cross."

When Jesus was nailed on the cross to die He took ALL our sin, shame and guilt with Him (2 Corinthians 5.21). When I sin, I don't let it get me down. I'm not a sinner. I am a new creation in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 2.17). I have all His righteousness because He took my sin and shame.

It's a concept few non-Christians grasp. God loved me so much, He not only sent His son to help me out of the gutter, He sent His son to take my place.

Being part of Jesus' death and resurrection; dying to sin and rising with Him, means that no matter how many sins I have committed, am committing, or will ever commit, my slate is clean. (Romans 8.1)

God is a God of second, third, fourth and fifth chances. His mercies are new EVERY morning. (Lamentations 3.22-23)

Get to know Jesus and get to know freedom.

x

A Beautiful Exchange

The Truth About God's Forgiveness

I am currently signed up to a monthly newsletter called 'Investigating Faith' by Christian Apologetic, Lee Strobel, author of the book 'The Case For Faith'.

Scrolling through some old emails I had neglected to read, I came across a video he had made about God's forgiveness.

The most common misunderstanding of God's grace that I have come across is that God can't love us if we've sinned, and that we can't go to heaven.

This is completely untrue. The bible teaches us that God is merciful (Deuteronomy 4.31), and that it was whilst we were still living lives of sin (Romans 5.8), He sent His son to die for us.

The truth is, we could never 'pay God back' for all the sins that we've committed against Him no matter how 'good' we were, it just wouldn't be good enough (Isaiah 64.6, Romans 6.23).

God gave us what that verse in Romans (above) calls the 'gift' of eternal life in Christ Jesus. Grace. For those of you who have no idea what I just said; God sent His sinless son Jesus, to swap places with us. He took all our sin and called it His own, so that instead of us facing eternal separation from God, we got His blessing; eternity with God (John 3.16).

Jesus paid the price, because no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't.

Here's the video: