HOW CAN WE STUDY OUT THE ISSUE OF HELL WITHOUT HAVING OUR RESEARCH AFFECTED BY ▪ OUR VIEW OF GOD ▪ OUR VIEW OF THE ATONEMENT ▪ OUR APPROACH TO SCRIPTURE OR ▪ OUR PERSONAL NEED ?
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Herein Lies the Problem
The stubborn fact is that Scripture is richly polyphonic on the topic of hell and judgment—as if by design. Thus, if we become dogmatic about any one position, we reduce ourselves to reading selectively or doing interpretive violence to those verses that don’t fit our chosen view. Our theological prejudgments blind us to passages we may have read many times but never really seen. Even a tentative removal of traditionalist lenses leads to the question, “Why didn’t I ever see that verse before?”The complexity of the text is not a deficiency! If we can momentarily suspend our penchant for forcing the text to harmonize with our systems or even with itself, we’ll see some magnificent tensions between those old Moroccan leather covers. For example, the Bible repeatedly affirms that God has given humanity the real capacity for authentic choice. To choose between life and death, heaven and hell, and mercy and wrath implies the real possibility that some could choose the way that leads to destruction. The Bible testifies that some may opt for choices that result in permanent posthumous exclusion (the lake of fire, outer darkness, etc.). On the other hand, the Bible just as plainly teaches that God is also free: free to relent, free to forgive, free to restore even when judgment is promised (Hos 11; Jonah 1: 1; 3: 4, 10; 4: 2, 11), free to pursue lost sheep “until he finds them,”free to play out a cosmic history where, in the end, “every knee will bow,” “all things will be restored,”“everything will be reconciled,”and “all will be made alive,” a time when absolutely everything will be “summed up in Christ,”and when Christ will, in turn, hand a saved cosmos over to his Father so “that God may be all in all.” The Alpha purposes of God for the universe will come to their Omega point in Jesus Christ. Thus, before we plant our flag on any one version of hell, we must take all of the biblical texts on hell and judgment, mercy and restoration into account.
Her Gates Will Never Be Shut
Hell, Hope, and the New Jerusalem
Bradley Jersak
EVEN THE PROS HAVE TROUBLE COMMUNICATING !!
Generally speaking, people can be grouped into two categories of intellectual preference. The first group prefers explorations which require a precision of logical processes. These are the people who become interested in the natural sciences and mathematics. They do not become scientists because of their education, they choose a scientific education because it gratifies their scientific mental set. The second group prefers explorations which involve the intellect in a less logically rigorous manner. These are the people who become interested in the liberal arts. They do not have a liberal arts mentality because of their education, they choose a liberal arts education because it gratifies their liberal arts mental set. Since both groups are intelligent, it is not difficult for members of one group to understand what members of the other group are studying. However, I have discovered a notable communication problem between the two groups. Many times my physicist friends have attempted to explain a concept to me and, in their exasperation, have tried one explanation after another, each one of which sounded (to me) abstract, difficult to grasp, and generally abstruse. When I could comprehend, at last, what they were trying to communicate, inevitably I was surprised to discover that the idea itself was actually quite simple. Conversely, I often have tried to explain a concept in terms which seemed (to me) laudably lucid, but which, to my exasperation, seemed hopelessly vague, ambiguous, and lacking in precision to my physicist friends.
Gary Zukav
The Dancing Wu Li Masters
An Overview of the New Physics
1982
CAN . YOU . IMAGINE . ?
Imagine something amazingly wonderful! Now imagine something even greater and more glorious. Now go ahead and imagine something indescribably fantastic beyond your wildest dreams! For God to fulfill this for you is as easy as slipping through closed doors or multiplying fishes and bread or walking on water! It’s a piece of cake for him!
. . . I . T . . . I . S . . . U . S . .
For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
Philippians 3:3 kjv
Think deeply on this one – it’s more important than meets the eye.
God did not need our permission in order to forgive us! Forgiveness comes from love and God is Love, so the fact is, God does not have to decide to forgive us. If He had to decide to forgive then the possibility to not forgive arises. The thought to forgive or not to forgive never entered God’s mind because He is forgiveness! It’s His very nature! To ask God to forgive us with these things in mind is to insult God, and no one would do this on purpose, but only out of ignorance, and God has forgiven that also!
Tim Heart
“I BELIEVE WITH ALL MY BEING THAT GOD IS THE SUPREME QUANTUM PHYSICIST”
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It is my personal conviction that the science of quantum physics has been hijacked by New Age teachers in their eagerness to assert that nature itself confirms New Age beliefs about the nature of the oneness of all reality and the power of the mind to create and manipulate reality. My own study of quantum physics in the light of biblical revelation has given me an entirely different perspective. I believe with all my being that God is the supreme Quantum Physicist, that the world of the quantum has been beautifully and intentionally crafted by a personal God to respond to His voice, and that God alone has the power to alter reality at a quantum level for His glorious redemptive purposes.
Quantum Glory
The Science of Heaven Invading Earth
Phil Mason
IMAGINE …
………WHAT IF …
…………..OnlyBelieve …
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What if heaven is right here instead of just up there? The theory of quantum non-locality gives cogency to the notion that the spiritual world, the other world, is real and within arm’s reach. Perhaps even closer!
David Crabtree Senior Leader DaySpring Church, Castle Hill, NSW, Australia
Robin’sNote: It’s closer!!!
BIBLE REVELATION LOVES STRING THEORY !!
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String theory is immediately attractive to those whose minds are steeped in biblical revelation. As followers of Christ we are inducted into a realm of revelatory knowledge that enables us to view the world around us through the very eyes of the Creator. What we discover is a world of extraordinary elegance and beauty no matter where we turn our attention. From the sheer visual majesty of the universe with its staggering aesthetic beauty to the compelling evidence of extraordinary mathematical fine-tuning at every level of the physics of the cosmos,….
ELEGANCE !! . BEAUTY !! . AESTHETICS !!
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There is an elegance and a beauty to string theory that makes it extremely attractive to theologians who are already accepting of the concept of the extra-dimensionality of the realm of the Spirit. Extra-dimensionality is the “stuff”of biblical theology! …
[T]here is an aesthetic and mathematical elegance at the smallest level of physical creation. In the sub-atomic world proposed by string theorists, each string vibrates at a different frequency. The idea that every string vibrates differently is the factor which determines whether a particular string will result in the formation of a quark or a lepton, a meson or a hadron, a baryon or a neutrino. Don’t be intimidated by these terms; they are building blocks of the more familiar sub-atomic particles (protons, neutrons and electrons) and according to string theory these particles are constituted by strings that vibrate at different frequencies.
THE HOLY SPIRIT SETS IN MOTION AN INVISIBLE WAVE PATTERN THAT IS EVERYWHERE PRESENT THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE UNIVERSAL QUANTUM FIELD.
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“… Jesus Christ “sustains the universe by the Word of His power.”(Hebrews 1:3) Remember that Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are Spirit.”(John 6:63) … Our human words create natural sound … [while] … the words of Christ are an expression of the supernatural sound of the Spirit. When Christ speaks, His words release the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. The word of God is living and active. Obviously it is not natural sound that sustains the universe. Instead, it is the energy of the Holy Spirit that sets in motion an invisible wave pattern that is everywhere present throughout the entire universal quantum field. It is a spiritual sound that is continually generated by the Spirit of God. This biblical revelation opens up some interesting ideas about the nature of the physical universe at the quantum level. From the revelation that the Word of God sustains the universe we can speculate about the relationship between the voice of God and the quantum building blocks of matter. … String theory postulates the existence of unimaginably minute strings or loops of energy that are allegedly the constituent ingredients of the quantum world. Not all scientists embrace string theory but it is strongly advocated by some of the greatest minds in contemporary physics today.”
Quantum Glory
The Science of Heaven Invading Earth
Phil Mason