How Rob Bell Drove Me To Repentance – A Quote from Another Blog

-
Reformation Theology quotes a pastor on the reality of hell at this link. Here’s the quote:


A very good friend of mine, Pastor Graeme Adams, from Dundee, Scotland writes, "“Are you orthodox on the issue of hell? Good! Does it cause you to pray and weep for the lost and actively seek ways to reach them with the good news of Jesus, or be smug or worse because you know something Rob Bell doesn’t? It’s incredibly sad and harmful when high profile leaders propagate heresy, AND when millions of Christians profess faith, historical biblical faith, and yet don’t live it. Heresy and Cold lifeless heartless Orthodoxy are partners in crime against humanity and God. May God use this issue to break our hearts.”

Comments

Steve Martin said…
Great quote!

So many revel in the thought of hell, and almost WANT people to go there.

I know that I deserve to go there, were it not for Christ Jesus.
The fewer that go, the better.
March 17, 2011
Anonymous said…
Hi, I am from Australia.

Please find some references which point out that Right Life can only begin when you have thoroughly Understood the meaning and significance of death. And that until that occurs every dimension of ones being is saturated with a hell-deep FEAR & TREMBLING.

www.adidam.org/death_and_dying/index.html

www.dabase.org/dualsens.htm

www.dabase.org/tfrbkyml.htm

Plus references on Right Life

www.adidam.org/teaching/aletheon/truth-life.aspx

www.dabase.org/2armP1.htm#ch1

www.beezone.com/up/criticismcuresheart.html
March 22, 2011
J. K. Jones said…
Steve,

Amen!

JK
March 24, 2011
J. K. Jones said…
John,

The links you placed on my blog go to sites that make much of facing the reality of death. Two passages of Scripture and some comments are below.

1 Cor. 15:1-11

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.


This passage was written in about 55 AD, about 22 years after Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. It mentions appearances of Christ to Peter / Cephas, the twelve apostles, 500 brothers at one time, James and Paul. James (the brother of Jesus) and Paul (the persecutor of the church) were skeptics whose conversion was unexpected. 500 brothers, some of whom were still alive to testify to what they saw, are convincing witnesses. The twelve apostles started a movement that turned many Jews (who would have been resistant to the gospel) to the Christian faith and started a religion that would take over the Roman empire in a few hundred years.

This is strong evidence that Christ rose from the dead. I have every reason to believe the hope that I have in Him. We should trust His teaching and the teaching of the Apostles.
March 24, 2011
J. K. Jones said…
1 Corinthians 15: 12-58, selected verses:

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all…

What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body…

I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.



The only hope we have to face death is in Jesus, united to Him in faith. He has won the victory for us. He has conquered death and gives us eternal life in the Spirit.

That is the way to face the reality of death. Death is awful. Death comes about because of sin, and it is detestable. However, death does not have the ultimate victory for those who are untied with Christ because they trust Him and His death and resurrection to pay the penalty for their sins.

I hope that you will trust Christ.
For more information, please see the search labels “Argument from Scripture” and “Faith” and “Extra Nos.”

JK
March 24, 2011
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Face of Terror

-
Osama Bin laden is dead. Since the rest of the internet is buzzing with opinions on that death, I thought I would weigh in. First, this is not the end of global terrorism. Like the Hydra of old, when one head is chopped off, two more take its place. We still need diligence in our fight against global terror. U. S. and allied Armed Forces still need our prayers. We still need a strong military and intelligence community. We have not yet cut off the Hydra’s immortal head. Second, the way to get to the ‘heart of the matter’ is with Christian missionary efforts. We must reach the people who make up those societies and population segments that produce terrorists . To tell a story I have told here before : Early in the twentieth century, Baptist evangelists preached through rural Mississippi and Alabama with such effectiveness that moonshiners could no longer sell their whiskey: All their customers were getting converted! In desperation, the whiskey sellers hired two men to murder on...
Read more

The Canons of Dort

-
I believe that the Canons of Dort are true. This is a statement that came out the Synod of Dort, held from 1618-1619. The Canons of Dort outline the system of theology known today as the “five points of Calvinism.” The problem I have with most “five-point Calvinists” is that the Canons of Dort contain much more than five points. Many explanations of the TULIP (total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace and the perseverance of the saints) are gross simplifications of the Canons of Dort. [This is especially true of explanations given by those who oppose Calvinism. It is easier to knock down a straw man than it is to knock down a real man, and so it is easier to criticize an oversimplified Calvinism that the more robust form.] Some of those who teach the “five points” leave out some of the quotes below: This death of God's Son is the only and entirely complete sacrifice and satisfaction for sins; it is of infinite value and worth, more than ...
Read more

Intelligent Design

-
The Intelligent Design (ID) movement makes much of the argument from irreducible complexity. Dr. Michael Behe has become famous for a simple example, the mousetrap. He points out that the mousetrap will not perform its function without all of its parts. The wooden base, the metal hammer, a spring, a catch and a metal bar to hold back the hammer are all necessary parts. One component by itself will not catch a mouse. Mainstream evolutionary science has a counter-argument. To paraphrase Dr. Kenneth Miller, if you disassemble the mousetrap, each component can serve as something useful on its own. If we take away the catch and metal bar, we have something left that can serve as a paper clip. The spring could make a simple two-section key chain. The wooden base makes a paperweight. Evolutionary processes like random mutation and natural selection can combine and retain the useful parts as the complicated evolves to perform the complex function. The useful parts are combined into the mousetr...
Read more