Unredeemed humanity is on a run-away freight train careening down a slithering track at breakneck speed hurdling towards a 10’ thick brick wall. Their train has no brakes, the engineer is gone, and they are doomed. However, there is hope - they can be saved. All they have to do is reach out and take the hand of a Savior, but will they? We see the hand of the Savior reaching in through the windows of the train. He is desperately searching the train cars, His eyes are moving to and fro, His hand is darting in and out of the windows as He plucks each redeemed soul and holds them close to His bosom. He knows the emanate danger and can see their calamity and horrible death. A few lucky souls have reached out and taken hold of the promise of salvation. He gently lifted them out of the peril and set them on solid ground. They are not that different from the doomed sinners on the train, they just wanted salvation from the clear and present danger they saw before them. The other poor wretched unredeemed in their company will now absolutely perish. They will be lost like so many billions before them. The ironic thing is that they all knew in their hearts what would happen if they did not grab hold of that Hand of Salvation thrust through the window of that train. They knew that Salvation was required in order to save them. What drove them to turn from their obvious rescue? Sin stopped them from accepting the Hand of salvation when He offered it. We see in 1Revelation 16:10-11 that even after humanity sees the end times tribulation and has suffered great curses and torment, they still will not repent. Sins hold on their eternal souls is so deep-seated they would rather succumb to eternal torture and death than repent and acc...
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...rupt; there is none who does good, not even one.
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4 John 8:34 - Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
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5 ISA 59:1-2 - Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
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6 GA 6:7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
Source: English Standard Version, http://BibleStarPro.com
1) Jonathan Edwards delivered this sermon during the first Great Awakening, a time of religious revival in Europe and America. During the Great Awakening, christianity shifted its focus from ceremonies and rituals, and began to realign itself with introspection to encourage fostering a deep sense of morality and redemption. Edwards was a key preacher and minister that delivered many sermons preaching about revival and reformed theology.
Emotions are the first thing that someone thinks about when listening or reading a sermon, speech, or literary work. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God made a lot of people think about their actions and decisions. In the sermon, it was stated that the wicked man deserves to be cast into hell and God can do so at any time. The sermon states that the devil stands ready to fall on wicked people and they are under condemnation to hell if they continue on their present course. This is true, that God will cast people to hell for their actions, but there is a predestined time for such a thing to happen, and will not happen at any time. In addition, many people were reflecting o...
“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:17
These literary works portray how differences in societal circumstances, expression, and other people can change the way a person interprets the paper. The authors offer different perspectives in order to get their points across. In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” the audience of the sermon is being persuaded to follow God because He is the only one who can keep a person from spending an eternity in hell. The story “Young Goodman Brown” proves how easily people are influenced by the decision of others and also includes how witchcraft was changing the faithful of that time. In comparing the two stories the reader will come to know the influence of the time era, the differences in which the characters are being approached, and the impact the clergy has on people.
Now, you know, that verse used to bother me when I thought John was writing about a sin that one could commit and for which there was no forgiveness; that a person who committed that specific sin, whatever it was, could never have forgiveness; that they were doomed forever. However, John’s message suggests nothing akin to that idea.
Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon.
In the first chapter of God Behaving Badly, David Lamb argues that God is unfairly given a bad reputation. He claims these negative perceptions are fueled by pop culture and lead many to believe the lie that the God of the Old Testament is angry, sexist, racist, violent, legalistic, rigid, and distant. These negative perceptions, in turn, affect our faith. Ultimately, Lamb seeks to demonstrate that historical context disproves the presumptuous aforementioned. In addition, he defends his position by citing patterns of descriptions that characterize God throughout the Old Testament. “Our image of God will directly affect how we either pursue or avoid God. If we believe that the God of the Old Testament is really harsh, unfair and cruel, we won’t want anything to do with him” (Lamb 22). Clearly, they way Christians choose to see God will shape their relationship with Him.
“The devil is not as black as he is painted” (Alighieri), this statement especially holds to be true in Dante Alighieri’s Inferno. According to Dante, Hell exists to reprimand sin, and the appropriateness of Hell’s punishments affirms God’s divine perfection that sin violates. Looking at Hell from Dante’s point of view, allows the readers to visualize the devil as a sinner not from Earth, who oversees God’s divine punishment of other unrepentant sinners from Earth. A perfect description of the devil comes from SparkNotes, who states, “The prince of Hell, also referred to as Dis. Lucifer resides at the bottom of the Ninth (and final) Circle of Hell, beneath the Earth’s surface, with his body jutting through the planet’s center. An enormous giant, he has three faces but does not speak; his three mouths are busy chewing three of history’s greatest traitors: Judas, the betrayer of Christ, and Cassius and Brutus, the betrayers of Julius Caesar” (SparkNotes). Dante felt that unrepentant sins committed on Earth have a direct connection with God’s divine punishment in Hell.
An instructive and stirring string of verses, this passage from the Bible holds great relevance not only for the Ancient Israelites to whom it was spoken, but also acts as a herald to Christians today. This passage forms part of Moses great oration; his instructive teaching, advice and counsel narrated to the second generation of Israelites who required redirection before moving forward into what God had for them. Similarly, it is also relevant for all Christians as we remember what our faithful, loving and powerful God has done in the past, and what he requires of us to move forward.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book, The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne committed adultery with the town’s most loved minister, Arthur Dimmesdale. During the Puritan era, marriage was sacred, and breaking the bond was punishable by death (Hawthorne 49). As fate would have it, only Hester was found out for her sin because of her pregnancy. Hester’s life was spared, but her sin forever changed her. Hester’s sin warped her interactions with society and her loved ones, altered her way of life, and ultimately changed her persona.
“For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength… but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” -(Corinthians 25-28)
There are many religious groups throughout the world and the three largest religious groups are Christianity, Islam, and Nonreligious people who claim no religion at all. Under these three religions are other religions that basically having the same belief, but their belief may differ slightly. They all worship God, but in their own way, each having their own belief of salvation of how man is saved.
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom 8:1-2). Paul believes if you are in Christ Jesus, then you will be saved. Because of Jesus' selflessness, he has freed us from sin and death. God had created the world through wisdom and with Adam we then were under the reign of sin. Then, with the resurrection of Jesus, He freed us from the law and we entered into a period of grace with God. We are living by the Spirit in an era of grace, so therefore we should be dead to sin. Paul explains this in greater detail in the beginning of Romans in 3:9.
Grace In order to completely understand the theology of grace. you have to take a look at Augustine, Aquinas, Luther. Rahner, Segundo, and Boff, and how they understood what. grace was.
Adam and Eve, the two that started it all. These two names will remain as a reminder to us forever because of their actions. Genesis chapter two talks about how man was made perfect; flawless and in God’s favor. These two individuals change how mankind would be from that time on. Sin entered the world and things began to change.