More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
September 29 - December 4, 2020
Many of the words used in the Vulgate, such as eternal, redemption, justification, sanctification, sacrament, perdition, punish, torment, damnation, etc., were coined by Tertullian and his contemporaries and came to be associated with concepts foreign to the original Greek.
David Daniell
King James Authorized Version in 1604 (a seven-year project), he intended to make sure that the new version would “conform to the ecclesiology and reflect the episcopal structure of the Church of England and its belief in an ordained clergy.”[19]
The Scriptures, as given originally, were inspired; and nothing God has said will pass away until it is fulfilled. We have read too much into those verses.
if hell is really true, and God is actually losing most of His creation to evil and darkness, you could say that good is overcome, and darkness overtakes light. Ultimately, Satan wins the tug-of-war over creation, and God loses.
a historical-critical approach to the Bible does not necessarily lead to agnosticism or atheism.
He goes on to express his utter contempt of the idea that a God would torture people 30 trillion years for sins they committed over the course of thirty years, referring to a god like that as a “divine Nazi.”[22]
The god we have unwittingly manufactured has feeble hopes for His own children—hopes that are dependent upon human free will, and confined to the length of His children’s brief, mortal lifespans. Along with that, He’s either too short-tempered and callous to forgive His enemies and save them, or He’s too weak and limited in His power to eventually overcome their stubborn wills and save them.
Not unto the end shall He be provoked to anger, nor into the eon (age) will He cherish wrath.
God opposes sin enough to punish it, but not enough to destroy it altogether; instead of destroying sin altogether, he merely confines it to a specially prepared region of his creation, known as hell, where he keeps it alive for an eternity.
now believe that this second death is the inward remorse and response that happens when we are awakened to the damage we have caused ourselves and others. Some people voluntarily surrender to this death in this lifetime, while I believe others do so in a future age.
John clearly states that all of Revelation is a vision—not to mention that Jewish teachers recognize that all of John’s writings are symbolic or “mystical.”
Fire is a fascinating concept in Scripture. It’s almost always figurative or symbolic with the purpose of purifying, refining, and for accomplishing general good.
“Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.”
How then does orthodox Christianity teach that for most people, death never ends?
God stands alone, does whatever He pleases, no one can ultimately oppose Him, and no plan of His can be thwarted or foiled
who will have all men to be saved,
(1 Tim. 2:3–6, KJV).
Does God expect that Kent should be more loving and merciful than Himself?
‘Mercy triumphs over judgment’ (James 2:13),”
Some Christians believe that the God of the Old Testament is a stern God of strict judgment without mercy, but a religious Jew would not be able to discover such a deity in the Hebrew Bible.[27]
Our opportunity to participate in parenting is so that we can more fully understand His unfailing love for and His attachment to each and every one of us.
Loving parents only intend good for their children. No good parent ever asks, “How can I ruin my kids’ lives today?”
Could God’s intent be any less for His children?
He would not have created intelligent beings, had He known they were to be forever miserable.
Loving parents make sure the punishment fits the crime.
One little understood intent of the Levitical Law, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” is the admonition to not over-punish the offender, while at the same time providing a way of restoration to the community. Yet many Christian teachers have turned this law on its head, making it about getting even. This is not God’s way.
Susie is cutting a tooth and she’s been cranky and defiant all week. A good parent, knowing their child intimately, is able to offer patient understanding when the need arises.
“He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever.[*********] He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:9–10, NIV).
Do you think the three children upstairs, loved and cared for as they were, could really trust parents who could do this to “one of them”?
Loving parents ultimately long to be restored in relationship.
A large part of the Levitical Law was to teach people that reconciliation is the satisfaction (atonement) for sin and broken relationships, not destruction or casting away.
Perfect justice requires reconciliation and restoration.
Ultimately however, our deepest desire is to weed out rebellion.
We don’t realize how double-minded we sound to the world when we say that God loves them unconditionally, yet if they don’t pray a certain prayer before they die, this love becomes very conditional and temporary.
“first born of all creation”
You don’t have to be a Christian to be one of God’s children, as Paul explained to the Greek
A true father’s love cannot be earned, and it cannot be done away with.
it is the love of a heavenly Father that inspires such heroic efforts in saving the helpless.
the greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends”
“Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins”
when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts,
Never once does He (or anyone else) say to share the Gospel with them or snatch them from eternal flames.
If God were planning to send most of the world’s poorest of the poor to hell because they don’t believe in Him, why would He care about meeting their
physical needs while they’re alive? I don’t see what difference it would make for these outcasts to have a few extra years of full stomachs while livin...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
We’d basically be prolonging their suffering and giving them a little pat on the back before sending ...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you”
He came to bring permanent healing to those who are spiritually sick.
God asks me to forgive my enemies, to be kind to them, to show them mercy, and to overcome their evil with good, yet He’s ultimately not going to forgive His enemies, to be kind to them, to show them mercy, or to overcome their evil with good? How absurd and hypocritical is that? If this is what “our Father” is really like, and we are to imitate Him as “sons of the Most High,” shouldn’t we turn our backs on our enemies, damn them, and then build torture chambers for them?
Many people are so injured that they can’t initially receive love or help, because they don’t know how to recognize genuine love, or to trust long enough to let down the drawbridge.
