Universalists & People Pleasers, are they right?
What i find quite incredible is “some” (i must put emphasis on some) people in the Church say everyone will go to heaven and say this to unbelievers, i have witnessed this in the last 2 months and i find that really sad, genuinely.
1. Firstly i can’t see that when you read the bible, study it daily and understand who God is can you come up with this wacko theology, its wrong and if you teach people this then you have become a false teacher and heretic. You have twisted, manipulated and changed scripture adding something to it which is not true and have mighty God to answer to.
This has either come from their loose reading of the bible taking scripture out of context, deliberately ignoring it because it unsettles them, or it has come from someone else, maybe a church leader, friend, family member or preacher that has taught them it.
2. Secondly, i believe this can come about not only from incorrect reading, understanding or teaching of scripture, but potentially out of love for people. Let me explain…. No one wants people to got to hell, its not in us to want that at all. However if we just sweep hell under the carpet and forget about it, it is not going to go away and we give people a false understanding of the Gospel.
Remember we are not responsable for the hearer of the Gospels response, they may repent and find a new love for Jesus and want to tell others or they may harden their hearts and reject it.
3. Thirdly if you say there is no Hell then you must assume Sin is allowed in Heaven? I would ask how can the unrepentant go to Heaven and dwell in the presence of God, the one who they have rejected.
“Sin is in effect cosmic treason” – R. C. SPROUL
What was John the Baptist talking about when he said repent. Whats all this repenting about. God’s glory is eternal therefor sin is an eternal offence. This is why we believe in an eternal life and an eternal hell. Heaven is the spiritual dwelling place of God, and it is where all faithful believers will go. Hell is the place of eternal separation from God, prepared for the devil and his angels (the devil will not rule it with a trident but will suffer). It is a place of eternal torment. This is for the unrepentant, sinful and unfaithful.
The Bible is very clear on the existence of hell. Christ described the plight of the wicked in Matthew 25:46 in this manner: “And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
JESUS said that… thats an important fact to remember.
4. Lastly If everyone goes to heaven then what was the point of “The Great Commission” Matt 28:16-20. We are called to make disciples. Live out and teach the Gospel.. Evangelism would be a waste of time and we could sin as much as we like.
Didn’t Paul address this sin as much as we like statement… Rom 6:15
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no “Flippin” (paraphrased) means…
We can not erase, destroy or lighten the concept of hell, it is very real and very scary. It is not as some atheists would call a way of “indoctrinating” people out of fear. That is wrong and not what the Gospel is about, the Gospel should change the heart and create in it a love for God and a reverent (right) fear. Not a fear of, “i better believe this or im stuffed”.
Why am i writing this blog post to what seems like a minority of people? Well as someone that preaches and leads people i feel the weight of what the Bible teaches strongly. If we teach something that is incorrect we open up a load of other untruths and will have to answer for it. James 3:1 says “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” We have a responsibility as leaders, preachers and teachers to be true to scripture.
So don’t be encouraged into a bad belief by bad preachers and leaders with no respect for scripture who preach out of emotion instead of truthful text teaching. They become people pleasers and ear ticklers. Watch your doctrine closely and understand the Character of God and who he is. He is merciful and loving but also wrathful for those that rebel against him and do not repent or acknowledge his preeminence .
I hope this blog post has been interesting and helpful to you.
Blessings.
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