Freedom,
Yes I do.
Consider these scriptures. They were the first ones
that got me thinking.
1John 5:12
"He who HAS the son Has life."
Notice the present tense here. It does not say that he
who has the son will have life someday in the future.
You know as a witness they teach that when you die,
you are dead. You are not conscience of anything at
all. You turn to dust. You are in God's memory to be
ressurected someday. Yet, it says here..... we have
this gift of life now as long as we have the Son. We
(HAVE) LIFE.
John 5:24,25
"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and
believes him who sent me HAS eternal life and WILL NOT
BE CONDEMNED: he has passed over from death to life. I
tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God
and those who hear WILL live."
Prior to Jesus coming, the dead could not go to
heaven and be with God because they were sinners and
imperfect. A debt had to be paid. The debt was death.
Jesus paid the debt for us. He did the penalty that we
should have paid. When he died, he said.."It is
finished."
We now became righteous before God because of him.
Nothing we can do will make us righteous. No amount of
good deeds or works. Jesus did it. WE just need to
really believe in Him. That is why the above scripture
says if we believe in Him we have eternal life and
will not be condemned (which was death). When we
believe in him we cross over from death to life. We no
longer have to pay that penalty.
When Jesus says a time is coming and it is now when
the dead would hear his voice and live he wasn't
kidding. He had arrived to pay our price and he bought
us. He bought Jew and gentile alike. The dead were
now able to live in heaven and those after him are now
allowed to go to heaven because we are now righteous
thru the blood of Jesus. He bought us....we now are
owned by him. He bought us because HE WANTED US that badly.
Remember, He came not to condemn the world, but to
SAVE THE WORLD. Save us from what? It was to save us
from death. He was successful........ If we really still do die
when we pass on, then his death is in vain. He really
did not save us from death if we still continue to
die. That is why 1Corinthians 15:13 says...: If there
is no ressurection of the dead, then not even Christ
has been raised. Then our preaching is in vain.
John 8:51
"I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he
will NEVER SEE DEATH AT ALL"
NEVER means NEVER. He did not say maybe you won't
see death....or you will see death until I ressurect
you later. He said you will NEVER see death.
John 11:25
"Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the
life. He who believes in me WILL LIVE, even though he
dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will NEVER
DIE."
Hence, we WILL LIVE and we WILL NEVER DIE.
The apostles felt the same way.
Pauls says:
2Corinthians 5:8
"We are confident. I say, and would prefer to be AWAY
from the body and at home with the Lord.
Philippians 1:23
"I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be
with Chirst, which is better by far. But it is more
necessary for you that I remain in the body."
This brings up the topic of spirit, soul and body. See
how he wants to give up the body and be home with
Jesus? The body is just needed to live here on earth
It is not needed in heaven. But the spirit resides in
the body!! The spirit lives on. The spirit is the
real you.
Acts 7:59 tells us where Stephen is being stoned to
death. It says...
"While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit."
How about the famous Matthew 10:28 scripture that says
to fear those that can kill the body.... but NOT KILL
THE SOUL!!!!
1Thessalonians 5:23..
"May your WHOLE SPIRIT, SOUL AND BODY be kept
blameless."
Ephsians 2:4
"Because of HIs great LOVE for us, God, who is rich in
mercy, made us ALIVE WITH CHRIST even when we were
dead in our transgressions... it is by GRACE YOU HAVE
BEEN SAVED."
Isn't it funny we preached in the door to door work
challenging people to examine their religions to see
if it was the truth, but we were not allowed to
examine our own!!! If we did we were labled
apostates!!... and disfellowshiped!!
I am so glad I took the time to really read the bible fresh with a free mind. All the answers were there all along.........I was just too blind by a cult to see it.
agape love, Gold_morning
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