Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Because the flesh is weak. The flesh will try to make you do all kinds of crazy things and feel things that are contrary to the likeness of God. That's why we have that fear. So we remember the consequences of doing something that could cost us an eternity in Hell. God has also supplied us with the 10 commandments as a moral law for humanity. Every developed nation in the world follows the basic tenets of the 10 commandments. That's how we have developed order and law in our society. And the last thing God has supplied us with is the holy spirit. The holy spirit is inside us and is our spiritual guide in our walk with Christ. The holy spirit gives us discernment for when there are temptations to commit sin or partake in it. It's what makes you walk away from doing drugs or drinking or anything that we know that we should not be doing. It's what makes pastors preach every Sunday. It's what makes you rebuke the devil. It's what keeps you from committing suicide. It's alot of things. Every believer has the holy spirit and it is important to listen to it because that will be your saving grace throughout your life to keep you on the narrow path.
Just my perspective:
I believe the narrow path is love.
Focus on love... (God IS love).
There is NO FEAR in love.
Perfect LOVE casts out ALL fear.
If you are only doing things (or not doing things) out of a FEAR of going to hell, then your feet are already falling on the wide path that leads to destruction. Your FEAR is forcing your feet onto the wide path. Your FEAR is what will eventually be destroyed. Whatever is not love within us, is on that inevitable path of destruction. This is a GOOD thing.
When you focus on love (remember GOD is love)... then you will start to understand how pathetic and weak fear really is. Fear is nothing. Perfect love casts out ALL fear. Fear keeps you DEPENDENT. Fear LIES and says to you: "You are NOTHING without me." Keep your fear on a very short leash, and let LOVE overpower it.. The Holy Spirit will ALWAYS lead you onto the path of LOVE. Meditate on what LOVE is (1 corinthians 13, for instance) and you start to feel that very unhealthy "I need fear to keep me in line" view, slipping away. Fear is darkness.
Sparrow...We will just have to agree to disagree. I think you have pegged me completely wrong and misunderstood what I was trying to say. But that's okay. I think we should just agree to disagree and leave it at that. As long as you believe in Christ as your savior, that's all that matters. God bless.
Allen, God-willing, if you get to be my age, you'll find that it's not necessary to believe in hell to keep you from doing all that wicked sexual stuff. Nature takes care of the problem for you. Just saying.
Well we can agree to disagree on that.
Like I said before, I don't know about anyone else, but I'm going to keep this fear of God.
Sparrow...We will just have to agree to disagree. I think you have pegged me completely wrong and misunderstood what I was trying to say. But that's okay. I think we should just agree to disagree and leave it at that. As long as you believe in Christ as your savior, that's all that matters. God bless.
Allen...
I did say...
Quote:
Originally Posted by .sparrow.
Just my perspective:
God bless you too, bro.
peace,
sparrow
P.S. I'm sorry you found something to disagree on in my post, although I'm not exactly sure which part you disagree with. And I don't really think I misunderstood what you were trying to say.
Just my perspective:
I believe the narrow path is love.
Focus on love... (God IS love).
There is NO FEAR in love.
Perfect LOVE casts out ALL fear.
If you are only doing things (or not doing things) out of a FEAR of going to hell, then your feet are already falling on the wide path that leads to destruction. Your FEAR is forcing your feet onto the wide path. Your FEAR is what will eventually be destroyed. Whatever is not love within us, is on that inevitable path of destruction. This is a GOOD thing.
When you focus on love (remember GOD is love)... then you will start to understand how pathetic and weak fear really is. Fear is nothing. Perfect love casts out ALL fear. Fear keeps you DEPENDENT. Fear LIES and says to you: "You are NOTHING without me." Keep your fear on a very short leash, and let LOVE overpower it.. The Holy Spirit will ALWAYS lead you onto the path of LOVE. Meditate on what LOVE is (1 corinthians 13, for instance) and you start to feel that very unhealthy "I need fear to keep me in line" view, slipping away. Fear is darkness.
peace,
sparrow
I agree with your perspective. And I have seen that the fruit in people's lives bears out this truth. Love is God's way. It sure is not the way of the world.
I respect whatever denomination or theology of Christianity you come from or believe in. But the basics of Christianity you need to believe to see heaven. That Jesus died on the cross for your sins and that he is the son of God. And repentance and forgiveness.
Allen, thank you for your post and thank you for your spirit. I was not offended and I appreciate you not slamming my beliefs. I just wanted to share that I believe that ultimately God is about love and not fear. He is love and everything He does is out of love for us. I believe that we should respect and be in awe of God. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. He is our Creator and we are the creatures. We must acknowledge and respect this, but I don't believe that He wants us to live a life of fear, that we should serve Him because we are afraid of what He might do to us if we don't. How can that be true love, Allen? It is about moving beyond that. When I was little, I feared my parents' wrath if I did something wrong but then I learned the reason why they wanted me to obey them. I learned what their motives were, that they wanted the best for me and were trying to teach me right from wrong. I learned that they loved me and did what they thought was best to help guide and mold me and punishment was a part of this at times. So I know that God does whatever He does out of love and His care for me. As I learn more about God and His ways and His love, submitting to Him has more to do with out of love for Him, not because I am afraid of Him. I hope you can understand and this makes sense. Thank you again and God bless.
I was just reflecting that if we believe that someone will not have opened eyes, a realization of their sinful condition, and a change of heart when faced with just the full holy presence of God, we must not have much faith in the presence and power of God. I was reading today that those in the lake of fire and brimstone will be tormented in the presence of the Lamb. The Lamb is not tormenting them, but being in His presence will be the torment when they realize just what they are. They will be condemned in their consciences by the presence of the Holy Lamb. They will be convicted and realize, I once was blind, but now I see.
are not rejecting what Jesus said about it as the truth.
are not accusing God of being sadistic
are not accusing God of not being fair
are not rejoicing that people are sent there
are not going to wantonly twist scriptures around to make it insignificant simply because it doesn't make one feel good
Amen!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
