This morning I was in 2nd Thessalonians and got hung up on heaven & hell, to go into their existence this subject would be more than folks have time to read.....From this Scripture I went to John 3:16 and then to the dictionary, & Greek word dictionary, once again to go through this would be a rather long process, then out of curiosity I pulled out my J.B. Phippips translation.......Way back years ago when my dad was alive he gave this Bible to us explaining that sometimes this just makes things more clear, so from Phillips I read from 3:16-21-----"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him should not be lost, but have eternal life. God has not sent His Son into the world to pass sentence upon it, but to save it---through Him. Any man who believes in Him is not judged at all. It is the one who will not believe who stands already condemned, because he will not believe in the character of God's only Son. This is the judgment----the light has entered the world and the men have preferred darkness to light because their deeds were evil. Everybody who does wrong hates the light and keeps away from it, for his deeds may be exposed. Everybody who is living by the truth will come to the light to make it plain that all he has done has been done through God"
I suppose it boils down to-- does one believe-- or-- does one not believe.....Nothing to do with your good works, or just being a good person, it all depends on do you believe or not. My son once told me that he thought being a Christian was rather simple and often folks complicate being a Christian.....LOVE GOD AND LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF---then everything else will fall into place, think on it and it really makes good sense.. According to Scripture heaven is real and hell is real----our place in eternity solely depends on that little word----"believe" and it is a free choice. Paul write in Ephesians 2:8---"For by Grace you have been saved through faith"-----if I may, faith=believing----God Bless
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