Mr. Smith,
I hope that my original e-mail did not offend you, because that was not my intention. My intention was to grab your attention and in doing so take hold of an opportunity to teach God's word. I want to go to Heaven and take as many people with me there. I hope that your desire is the same. I can tell that you truly have a zealous attitude towards your beliefs, and that is good as long as those beliefs are based on the knowledge of God's word and a willingness to obey them. I have looked into the verses that you have chosen, and the main issue that I see is that you have chosen many verses without looking at the full context of their passages or looking at other verses that will better clarify what these mean. For instance Isaiah 26 if read in context is describing not the final judgment, but the return of Judah from captivity. Isaiah's hope is that his nation would come to know righteousness. The remainder of the verses a re describing that Christ was sent to be the savior of all, meaning there is a possibility, but not all will be saved. I find it quite ironic that you used I Tim 2:4, this is one of the better examples I could use to prove there is a Hell. "Who will have all men to be saved, and come unto the knowledge of the truth." The word (#2309 in Strong's) is meaning prefer, desire or hope. His hope is that all men would be saved, which means that some will not. It is the same word used in I Cor. 14:5, when Paul is saying that he wished all spoke in tongues, but realizes that all do not. A better example is if you write a will, but no one reads or follows it, chances are it will not have the result you intended. You willed that they might have their inheritence, but it will not happen unless they are willing to follow the proper steps. Mark 16:15-16 is another example. If men do no believe, the are condemned.&nbs p; ; What does this mean if there is no Hell? In reality what is the point of the Bible if their is no Hell? What is Jesus saving us from? Why should we follow anything it says if we will all learn of salvation on judgment? We would be able to live however we wanted and still be saved. But we are told that few will enter in the narrow gates of Heaven. We are also told that many call upon the Lord but Christ will say depart from me ye workers of iniquity (Mt 7:21-23). Where will they depart to? Many a "good" people will not enter the narrow gates, including grandmothers and pregnant women, because even they have sinned Rom 3:23. I hope this next part does not offend you either, but I honestly think that you do not believe that there is no Hell. You may try to convince yourself, like we all do at one time or another, that what you believe is correct so that you will not have to change your lifestyle and still feel safe and secure. The reason I say this is that your final sentence was
for God to have mercy on those who teach there is a Hell, but if there is not one, and all will learn righteousness, then God would not need to be merciful, because there is nothing to protect us from. One final note, I'm sorry if I missed YOUR teachings, but it is because I am looking for the truth. You, or any other man, can not save me, only one, Jesus, can. I pray that you will ever strive to study the true word of God and that you will be willing to accept the changes required as you gain knowledge of His will. I look forward to your response, and hope that you will continue to ask questions if needed. I continue to ask questions on a regular basis because I do not claim to know everything about His will, but know that I need to follow it to the best of my ability. Thank you for your time. In Christian Love, Sean
Dear Sean: I have 424 unanswered emails ahead of yours waiting for my reply, so I will make this very short. I have no idea how a statement like, "In reality what is the point of the Bible if their is no Hell?" Wow! That is utterly amazing. So a place where most of the human race (the majority being grand mothers, and great grand mothers, and great grand father, and great grand father--for proof see my paper "The Christian Hell is a Christian Hoax) will be tortured unmercilessly in fire for all eternity is a needful addition to prove God's love for us, is it? Wow. Unbelievable.
Why do you despise the word of God? Why would you take a Scripture like Isaiah 26:9 and suggest that it is not true? If the fact that "WHEN God's JUDGMENTS [not just the act of judging, but JUDGMENTS] the inhabitants of the world WILL LEARN RIGHTEOUSNESS" is true in Isaiah 26:9, in ANY CONTEXT, then it is true in ALL CONTEXTS or we either call God a liar, or that under different "contexts" God is a "respecter of persons," and therefore those particular people will NOT learn righteousness. It is blasphemy, Sean, it is blasphemy. God is able to bring any person to repentance through His judgments and then teach them godliness and righteousness. This is, in fact, the work of GRACE. See Titus 2.
You then try to prove that when God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth "desires" something, it has no more of a chance at success than when a worm of a human being "desires" something. If you can find were a MAN desired something that didn't come to pass you assume you have proved that in I Tim. 2:4 God Himself will not fulfill His Own deepest desires! It is blasphemy, Sean, it is blasphemy.
Just because the word for "power" is used of both men and God, does not mean that the word power has as little force with God as it does with MEN--Am I going too fast for you? The Scriptures tell us that God WILL FULFILL ALL His desires, and pleasures--ALL OF THEM, and it is blasphemy to even think that He will not. You really need to get your head out of the sands of Babylon, Sean, and believe the Scriptures. "For it is GOD [who men? NO, GOD] which works in you BOTH TO WILL AND TO DO of His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). So much for the damnable doctrine of human free moral agency.
God be with you,
Ray