Hell . . . The Bad News.

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• Matt 8:11-12 . . I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and
west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the
kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into
outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Outer darkness is again spoken of in Matt 22:13 and Matt 25:30

It appears, from comparison of the available data, that "outer darkness" isn't
a location, rather, a state of mind characterized by the deepest possible
feelings of anguish and grief associated with loss.

It's akin to the day that God announced to Moses' people they were going to
have to stay in that awful Sinai outback until they were dead. They missed
their opportunity to enter the land of milk and honey and there was no way
to regain it.

The people must've been pretty upset over that; no doubt they had all been
joyfully looking forward to a new life over there; and there was no use in
praying about it because God had made up His mind.

I've only experienced deep personal grief associated with irreversible loss
but one time; that was when my No.1 nephew passed away suddenly of
natural causes at the age of 51. I had held him in my arms upon returning
home from three years in the Army when he was only a couple of weeks old.

News of his passing has thus far been the only time in my 76 years that I
actually clenched my teeth, sobbing out of control, and choking, while
clinging to a handrail in the front room to keep from losing my balance and
falling to the floor.

Fortunately my wife was out on an errand at the time or she would've been
very frightened as she has never seen me in such a state even once during
our nearly 41 years of marriage.
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[Bobby Jo]

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It appears, from comparison of the available data, that "outer darkness" isn't
a location, rather, a state of mind characterized by the deepest possible
feelings of anguish and grief associated with loss. ...

It would appear that you've confused the "subject" (the individual) with "society". "Society" isn't cast into outer darkness, and can't cast the "individual", -- the individual chooses outer darkness, independent of "society".

Perhaps your "heart" is deceiving your "head".
Bobby Jo

 

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The criminal records associated with the great white throne event depicted
at Rev 20:11-15 likely won't be used only to condemn people's actions, but
also to prove that the people themselves are not the kind of folk with whom
God prefers to associate.

For example; God isn't comfortable with dishonesty. So if the records show
that someone was deceptive and/or told a number lies during their lifetime,
then they will be barred from heaven; not only for their dishonesty, but also
because they are capable of dishonesty.

• Matt 15:19 . . For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries,
fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.
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[Bobby Jo]

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because they are capable of dishonesty.

-- better said: incapable of honesty ...

Apparently Bill Clinton PREFERRED to lie even though the truth was easier. They called him a "congenital liar" ...
Bobby Jo

 

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Eddie Van Halen passed away recently. He was a Roman Catholic. It's not
easy to get into heaven via that version of Christianity.

Well; if perchance Eddie didn't make the cut (not saying he didn't; only
saying "if perchance") then he will never again be allowed to even so much
as see a guitar let alone pick one up with his hands.

Can you imagine a talented, pioneering musician like Eddie never again
allowed to do the one thing in life that he enjoyed the most? I mean never
again like as in permanently.
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FAQ: The New Testament says that the lost will be put to death in a lake of
brimstone. (Rev 20:11-15.) If that's so, then why is it commonly believed
that they will suffer till time without end? Don't people have to be alive in
order to experience suffering?

A: People's body and soul are slated for destruction in hell fire (Matt 10:28)
but I have yet to encounter a New Testament passage verifying that people's
consciousness will be destroyed.

FAQ: How can people be conscious when they're dead? Isn't death eo ipso a
state of unconsciousness?

A: I've been under anesthesia a number of times for surgery; and every
time I was totally unaware of anything going on around me and/or done to
my body with knives, needles, saws, probes, and tubes. But I have never
been dead so I cannot speak from experience about consciousness in that
condition. All I know about existence after death is what I read about it in
the Bible.

Matt 10:28 speaks of people's body and soul. It says nothing of their third
component: spirit (1Thess 5:23). I suspect that the spirit is where human
consciousness resides when people pass away.

The story in Luke describes a man existing in a disembodied condition;
which strongly suggests that when tourists pass by to view the dead spoken
of in Isa 66:22-24 and Mark 9:47-48, their remains will be visible but not
the people themselves because they will be disembodied spirits rather than
the whole men and women they were before execution in the lake of
brimstone depicted at Rev 20:10-15.
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A rich man, in the story located at Luke 16:19-31, passed away and was
buried. (Luke 26:22)

Though his corpse lay in repose; the man himself is depicted in the afterlife
fully conscious and capable of intelligent thought and conversation; with his
memories intact, with eyes that see, a tongue that needs water, a nervous
system sensitive to temperature, and an emotional state capable of anxiety.

That all runs counter to passages in the Old Testament that seem to imply
that people lose their sentient characteristics when they pass away. How do
we deal with this apparent discrepancy between the Old Testament and the
New?

Well, first off we need to deal with the fact that:

1» Christ is God's final word to mankind (John 3:31-34 & Heb 1:1-2)

2» He's greater than even Moses (Heb 3:3)

3» He's the incarnated voice of God (John 1:1 & John 1:14)

4» He's smarter than Solomon (John 3:31 & Matt 12:42 & Col 2:3)

5» He was involved in the creation of the cosmos with all of its forms of life,
matter, and energy (John 1:1-3, Heb 3:3-4)

6» He has actually seen the afterlife for himself; therefore knowing from
experience what he's talking about rather than something he read in a book.
(Mark 1:21-22)

From all that, I think that we can safely conclude that Christ's teachings
trump everybody else's teachings. So then, when it appears that the Old
Testament contradicts Christ, then for safety's sake, I strongly suggest that
we align ourselves with Christ and begin figuring out how to get the Old
Testament in step with him in the New.

• Matt 17:5 . .This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.
Listen to him.

• John 3:34 . . For he is sent by God. He speaks God's words, for God's
Spirit is upon him without measure or limit

• John 3:36 . . He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he
that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on
him.
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