My brother, I have to respectfully disagree that none of us have an excuse. The truth is that, none of us have a chance without Jesus and God knew this. You, me, and BILLIONS of others were born with the affliction of sin and we are INCAPABLE of NOT being sinful. As Jesus implied, we are ALL "slaves to sin".
John 8:34 esv
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin."
Hebrews 1:3 esv
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
My brother, God is a refiner. Our experience here on Earth is about learning and about being refined in order to live with God in his kingdom on the new Earth. I wrote and shared the following with others but I'll copy and share it here too.
God is a REFINER and NOT a destroyer!
Some of the Bible uses analogies and symbolism to convey messages. As we say nowadays, a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, I think many authors of the scriptures tried to paint pictures to the readers. In a number of verses God is compared to a “refiner”. The authors use terms that people of that era might understand and relate with a metallurgist, for example. The Bible talks a lot about “fire” but I believe that a lot of it is symbolism and NOT
literal fire. Anyhow, I believe the following verses will demonstrate how God is like a refiner or a metallurgist. Why is this relevant? Because God wants to fix, purify, and mold us into becoming like Christ. He doesn’t throw his creation, made in his image (no less), into a literal fire to be tortured forever. Now, he might throw us into a “Lake of Fire” that is more like a crucible or a cauldron but it’s for the purpose of refining us and removing our impurities, just like a goldsmith might do and that’s where terms such as “sulfur” and “brimstone” come into play in the Bible. Those compounds are used for purifying. Why would God need sulfur and brimstone if the purpose was simply for us to burn forever? You might use those agents if you were trying to purify gold but you wouldn’t need them if you were burning, for example, garbage. So, the next set of verses from the Bible speak about refining and purification because God IS a refiner and NOT a destroyer!
Verses that relate to refining, purification, etc:
Malachi 3:2-3 esv
But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?
For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap.
3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver,
and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.
1 John 3:3 esv
And everyone who thus hopes in him
purifies himself as he is pure.
Mark 9:49
For everyone will be salted with
fire.
Hebrews 1:3 ESV
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Zechariah 13:9
And I will put this third into the fire,
and
refine them as one refines silver,
and
test them as gold is tested.
They will call upon my name,
and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘They are my people’;
and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”
1 Peter 1:7 esv
So that the tested genuineness of your faith—
more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 1:25 esv
I will turn my hand against you and will
smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy
(Note: Here is a definition of “dross”)
noun
ˈdräs
ˈdrȯs
Synonyms of dross
1
metallurgy : the scum or unwanted material that forms on the surface of
molten metal
2
: waste or foreign matter
: IMPURITY
3
: something that is base (see
BASE entry 3 sense 1), trivial, or inferior
Isaiah 48:10 esv
Behold, I have
refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the
furnace of affliction
Psalm 66:10 esv
For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us
as silver is tried.
(Note: Psalms is attributed to have been written by King David, who lived about 1,000 years before Jesus).
Proverbs 17:3 esv
The
crucible is for silver, and the
furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts.
Job 23:10 esv
But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as
gold.
Jeremiah 9:7 esv
Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: “Behold, I will
refine them and test them, for what else can I do, because of my people?
Jeremiah 6:29 esv
The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed by the
fire; in vain
the refining goes on, for the wicked are not removed.
Proverbs 25:4 esv
Take away the dross from the silver, and the smith has material for a vessel
Revelation 19:20 esv
And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the
lake of fire that burns with sulfur.
2 Corinthians 3:18 esv
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Revelation 20:10 esv
And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into
the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
(Note: Here is Revelation 20:10 as translated by Young’s Literal Translation)
Revelation 20:10 YLT
And the Devil, who is leading them astray, was cast into the
lake of fire and brimstone, where [are] the beast and the false prophet, and they shall be tormented day and night --
to the ages of the ages
God works with us in ages. What Revelation 20:10 is saying, per my understanding, is that the beast and false prophet will be thrown into the Lake of Fire for the duration of the remaining ages. Thereafter and for eternity, as the following verses will demonstrate, they too will join God so, no, their trip to the “Lake of Fire” is not forever.
Revelation 3:18 esv
I counsel you to buy from me
gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
1 Peter 5:10 esv
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in
Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
Titus 2:14 esv
Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to
purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Ezekiel 22:18-22 esv
Son of man, the house of Israel has become
dross to me; all of them are
bronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace; they are dross of silver. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have all become
dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem
. As one gathers silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into a furnace, to blow the fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will put you in and melt you. I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst of it. As
silver is melted in a furnace, so you shall be melted in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord; I have poured out my wrath upon you.”
(Note: The Book of Ezekiel was written five or six hundred years before Christ appeared. Again, notice how various authors of scripture all say the same things. That is because of God!)
Psalm 12:6 esv
The words of the Lord are pure words
, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.
Revelation 14:10 esv
He also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be
tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
(Note: I need to research this further but we frequently see the word “torment” a lot and I believe it’s meaning as used by the original authors has a different and restorative definition rather than the
modern definition one will find in any dictionary.
There is probably more scripture along these lines, but I think this should more than suffice for the reader to understand and accept that God is a refiner, not a destroyer.