Jonathan (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} boomerangaz) wrote,@ 2006-07-31 09:39:00 |
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Tract from Family Radio
Part 1 of 3
Q I sometimes wonder if God loves me. If He is a loving God, why is there so much suffering and sorrow in the world?
A In His book called the Bible, God explains that our sins are the cause for all the suffering and sorrow. It is true that God reveals His love to the whole world, as we read in one of the most quoted verses in the Bible:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
However, God has more to say:
The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the LORD: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness. Proverbs 15:9
For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Psalms 1:6
Q But I am not wicked. I am a decent, moral person. Surely the good I have done in my life far outweighs whatever bad I have done. How can these verses apply to me?
A By God's standard of righteousness even the most moral person is looked upon by God as a desperate sinner on his way to Hell. The Bible teaches that no one is good enough in himself to go to Heaven. On the contrary, we are all sinners, and we are all guilty before God.
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. Romans 3:10-11
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9
Q If I am such a wicked person in God's sight, what will God do to me?
A The Bible teaches that at the end of the world all the wicked will come under eternal punishment in a place called Hell.
For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains. I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them. They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust. Deuteronomy 32:22-24
Q Oh, come on now! Hell is not real, is it? Surely things are not that bad!
A Indeed, Hell is very real, and things are that bad for the individual who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. The Bible makes many references to Hell, indicating it is both eternal and consists of perpetual suffering.
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:15
So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 13:49-50
. . . the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9
Q That is terrible! Why would God create Hell?
A Hell is terrible, and it exists because God created man to be accountable to God for his actions. God's perfect justice demands payment for sin.
For the wages of sin is death . . . Romans 6:23
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 2 Corinthians 5:10
But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. Matthew 12:36
