the ONLY sacrifice and WORKS that survive are JESUS
CHRISTS...The works DONE in HIS NAME BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
ARE THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE PERFECT WORKS....
Because...they GLORIFY GOD..not any person...it is the same
as trying to justify yourself by your own righteousness,,instead
of accepting the righteousness of God.
Is the atheists knee bent to Jesus Christ? No, not as long as
he is in a state of unbeleif...But he will be changed.
It is not love in a worldly sense that we speak of..BUT THE
LOVE OF GOD IN IT'S TRUE SPIRITUAL SENSE...THAT WILL
SAVE ALL MEN REGARDLESS OF ANY STATE THEY ARE IN
what part of ALL MEN HAVE FALLEN SHORT IS NOT
UNDERSTOOD? You will hold up as an example to the body
an unbeleiver[atheist] as an example of someone righteous on
their own merit?
Sheila, I think you may be, quite possibly misunderstanding what I am saying. This has happened to me before when talking about this. Some folks don't seem to understand what exactly it is that I am saying.
I have never said anything about people's good works saving them. That is not what I am talking about at all. I
DID say "everyone's knee would bow and every tongue WILL CONFESS Jesus Christ is Lord!"
This has not a thing to do with with people's own righteousness or whatever.
I am talking about LOVE. LOVE ENDURES. LOVE NEVER ENDS!!
If it is LOVE in a person's heart , even an ATHEIST's heart who professes NOT to believe in God yet they, out of PURE love in their heart for their fellow human being (Love your neighbor as yourself), lifts up their fellow human being and sacrifices something, out of LOVE to help them, not for any self serving reasons, but out of genuine love in their heart, then do you NOT SEE that that LOVE is FROM GOD? and that LOVE will ENDURE. And will NEVER END?
Are these people NOT doing these things in God's name? What is God's name?
Doesn't it say that God is LOVE??
I think folks are missing the whole, entire POINT.
I am not sure what you mean by this: "the only sacrifice and works that survive are Jesus Christs, the words done in His name by the Holy Spirit are the ONLY acceptable perfect works because they GLORFIY GOD... not any person".
Does an atheist..... who pushes away the false image of God that has been taught to them, yet cultivates LOVE and compassion and all of the other fruits of the spirit in their heart, (remember GOD IS LOVE) do you really think that a person like this, who KNOWS and SEEKS love, yet rejects only the false picture of a sadistic God, whose only ignorance is not understanding that God is GOOD, who would lay down their life for their neighbor, do you HONESTLY not understand that this person may actually understand FAR MORE about God than your average Christian, but they just don't know it yet? They just haven't put two and two together? What is LOVE will REMAIN. It will NOT be destroyed.
No one is saying that a person's "good works" is going to save them. That is not what this is about AT ALL.
I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."The human beings themselves will not go into "eternal punishment" but it is those works they did or did not do out of wrong motivation of heart. Things that were not done out of love at all. These things will be destroyed because they are nothing. Ugly nothingness. Whereas, what is of
love will endure.
Love never ends. On the other hand, the atheists "unbelief" will ALSO be destroyed! Because HE will NOW believe. People will see what they did (professing it was out of love) yet knowing it was NOT out of love, will see those things destroyed. When encountered with TRUE love, (through God) those things will most certainly be burned off and destroyed. They will know the error of their ways. Just as the atheist will then know the error of their ways in thinking there was no God! We're all learning what we need to learn. Don't think we won't. All of our dross will be removed. This is a good thing.
There are those who know God in their minds but not in their hearts.
There are those who do NOT know God in their minds but actually DO know Him IN their hearts.
I firmly believe that EVERY KNEE WILL BOW and these two groups of people will serve as a lesson for ALL. ALL are God's children. Good works do not save a person. I never said that. Nor did I say they were a substition for Jesus!! What I am saying, is that God has a plan for each person. What is LOVE will never end. Love endures. God SEES the heart. Some understand what God is about FAR more than they actually realize. While others who think they understand God, don't know very much about Him at ALL.
ALL of this is going to serve a grand purpose. In teaching us ALL more about GOD, More about LOVE. That is the whole point we are here on this earth, in my opinion.
Like I said, God works in mysterious ways. Am I saying that it's ok for the athiest to not believe? OF course not! But GOD WILL USE EVERYONE'S LIFE to teach us ALL something.
There is nothing we can do to escape His love. And His love is playing out in different ways in each and every person on this beautiful earth. We may not see the whole picture now, we may only see threads here and there of the beautiful, PERFECT tapestry He is weaving, but one day we will ALL SEE, and will ALL understand and will ALL cling to Him forever.
peace.
