Do Not Die
Life is short and often life is fragile filled with illness, injury and infirmity. Accidents, aging, disease, terrorism, crime, and even pandemics make our lifetime less certain.
You cannot really avoid death, BUT
Do not die believing in Catholicism or being a Protestant or a Muslim or a Jew or an Atheist or any of the other manufactured religions. Whatever holds you to these beliefs should be the truth. Typically, what people believe religiously is the result of good indoctrination and an associated trust in people, often family. You absolutely stand in the religious position you support (including atheistic) because you trusted someone or many someone’s and there may be some well-developed supporting evidence. There are enough “trusted someone’s” and they have enough different supporting evidence that we have hundreds of beliefs. Even when some or even most of that support comes from the Bible, there may be a hundred different beliefs. We all think we are right and typically look, investigate just to affirm, validate what we already believe. Surrounded mostly by people who believe similarly to ourselves we get sufficient confirmation and we grow stronger in what might indeed be serious error. You are just as confident as the next person who believes completely differently than you.
Defending less than the truth means plugging many holes
Something happens to people when their religious beliefs take over their thinking. They frequently become irrational in defending what they believe. Men and women become very paranoid, very closed-minded, and even angry and some go to violence. That same person in relation to other matters may be very calm, very confident and always in control. The truth does not produce such out-of-character responses when a person’s beliefs are challenged. The truth is easy to defend, consistent and a comfort to those who possess it. Defending error produces absurd, ridiculous explanations and yet those using such explanations “look past” the silliness because to relent would be unthinkable.
The Test and What God Wants of You
All of the religions mentioned as well as all the religions created by men fail in the same basic manner. They do not provide what you need to satisfy God but invent a different path. God has never accepted men’s ideas about things eternal. God has always made the rules and the pattern He provided to man is the only one He will accept. God has provided a great deal about Himself and you can understand God and His purpose and then it will be easier to understand that God will not accept the religions of men/women. You can have this clarity from God if you wish.
God will have humble, truth loving, courageous, open-minded, forgiving people to receive an unfathomable reward, namely being with God for eternity. How many people find things wrong with the God of the bible? The number must be huge representing a significant percentage of the world. It would be a gross understatement to say there is incredible mis-information. So many people conclude they know better than God or they see no way that God can manage certain situations perhaps in relation to fairness. Oh, how serious it is to underestimate God thinking if they do not see a solution that God will not see one either! In some way pride is involved and an associated unwillingness to submit themselves to God. God’s rules play a part because they present very real day to day difficulties for men and women. God indeed is testing man and has developed a perfect test to determine those suited for eternal life.
The very sad part is that there are many who teach doctrines that keep people’s mind’s imprisoned in soul damaging error. You cannot name a more serious sin than that committed by those who mislead people religiously. You are Protestant and in some way are following Martin Luther or John Calvin (or others) but you are not following God. You are Catholic and following the pope and the Roman hierarchy but you are not following God. You are a Muslim and follow Mohammed but you are not following God. You are a Jew and Judaism served its purpose but failed to see Jesus as the Messiah. You are Atheist and you of course do not believe in God but almost universally you have been influenced by religion, often the history of religion. You reject God because of the absurdity of religion but it is not the religion of God but of man. How many people believe they could hide behind, “I was never taught the truth.” You cannot fool God. God wants people who have a love of the truth and have the courage to reject error.
So the God of the bible being your ultimate judge conjures up fear in that He judges all with respect to His rules. You may see this as threatening and YOU WILL NOT BE Threatened (pride). Yet, God points to fear as the beginning of knowledge. To God what matters is the soul and so He wants you to know that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. He wants His children to work out their salvation with fear and trembling. Some unwise and proud see threats in that while the wise who understand God and His purpose see love.
The Religions of Man All Fail At Their Beginnings
Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, Islam fail in their origins and to those who care that is very important. There may have been many wonderful people who have influenced us in our life to believe a certain teaching. Just as the atheist has been influenced so are all religious persons. The question is what is the truth, is there any truth? Frequently, there is no concern about God, about God’s existence, about religion – people do not care. Yet every person makes that decision for themselves even those who do not care, they made the decision not to care.
So for many the truth will come at death and then their foolishness will be revealed to themselves. Then their excuses will pour forth along with their regret and God will not hear them.
The following passage reveals something about God that you should know and in fact can know now or can know very personally at your death.
The very sad part is that there are many who teach doctrines that keep people’s mind’s imprisoned in soul damaging error. You cannot name a more serious sin than that committed by those who mislead people religiously. You are Protestant and in some way are following Martin Luther or John Calvin (or others) but you are not following God. You are Catholic and following the pope and the Roman hierarchy but you are not following God. You are a Muslim and follow Mohammed but you are not following God. You are a Jew and Judaism served its purpose but failed to see Jesus as the Messiah. You are Atheist and you of course do not believe in God but almost universally you have been influenced by religion, often the history of religion. You reject God because of the absurdity of religion but it is not the religion of God but of man. How many people believe they could hide behind, “I was never taught the truth.” You cannot fool God. God wants people who have a love of the truth and have the courage to reject error.
So the God of the bible being your ultimate judge conjures up fear in that He judges all with respect to His rules. You may see this as threatening and YOU WILL NOT BE Threatened (pride). Yet, God points to fear as the beginning of knowledge. To God what matters is the soul and so He wants you to know that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. He wants His children to work out their salvation with fear and trembling. Some unwise and proud see threats in that while the wise who understand God and His purpose see love.
So for many the truth will come at death and then their foolishness will be revealed to themselves. Then their excuses will pour forth along with their regret and God will not hear them.
The following passage reveals something about God that you should know and in fact can know now or can know very personally at your death.