Not Total Depravity without a Choice

Unsaved people can genuinely care about others. The rich man in hell was begging God to warn his brothers who had not yet died. There must have been some sense of care for his brothers.

Mankind is desperately wicked, but they are not totally depraved as some would say. If someone were totally deprave, they would not have even a smidgen of caring for anyone.

 
We were made in the image of God and have many of the inklings of morality and love, even though they have been perverted by the fall of man; they are not completely absent.

 
Mankind knows right from wrong often, even doing the right things at times. The difference between the believer and the non-believer is that the believer knows how to interpret that sense of right from wrong with the mind of Christ, and the unbeliever relies on themselves to understand.

 
I have known unsaved people who were deeply loving toward their children, caring about what happens to them. A totally depraved person wouldn't have even a smidge of love for anyone.

 
I do not believe God made us "totally depraved" without the ability to make choices for good or for evil. He gave us the knowledge of what is good and what is evil; it is our choices about those things that tell us about ourselves.

Genesis 2:17 "But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Before the first couple ate from the tree forbidden to them, they did not know evil. After they partook, they then saw the difference between good and evil, they knew both, and were then required to choose. Mankind chose disobedience to God in the garden, but through the knowledge of Christ can choose Him instead of their own way.

 
It would make no sense to send someone to hell who didn't know he was sinful. Every human being knows about themselves, but makes a choice to go their own way or to trust in Christ to be changed by Him into a new creation.
We cannot change ourselves, but we can choose who we wish to follow and desire to be changed by Christ.

Many are Weary but Keep Going Anyway

On another thread, some ladies were lamenting all the things they were seeing in the world today that is evil and frustrating. They described themselves as weary of all of it and I get that. One lady declared that she is going to post less because she was weary of the news. Here was my response to it:

"I don't watch or listen to news, my husband does, and I just ignore it because we are living in the days of great deception; nothing we hear or see can be trusted.

 
Only Christ and His Word can be trusted. I suggest that you post more things than before, but nothing of the world or politics, or news. Post about Jesus Christ if all you can do is write His Words, He will begin to give you more as you study Him.
I am not weary because I don't focus on the world or the events, I focus on prophecy and Christ, this brings me continual joy."

I am ready to go home because the world has nothing for me here except whatever God wants me to do yet. When my calling is complete, I am ready to go home.

Kind Deeds Done in the Flesh or in the Holy Spirit?

Unbelievers do kind acts to make themselves feel good and often to make someone else appreciate them. These sound like good reasons until we compare them with the principles of Christ.

Born-again believers do good deeds because they know it glorifies God, and because they are the right thing to do for the sake of the others they serve.
There is a significant difference in the motivations between unsaved people and born-again individuals. One is self-focused and self-glorifying, while the other is God-centered and other-centered.

 
When our focus is Christ and pleasing Him, we will not operate with manipulation and self-pleasure. We will be acutely aware of what pleases God and walk in His principles for His purposes.

And, yes, it is manipulation to do good deeds so that others will like or appreciate us. One woman once told me she did good deeds to someone who was angry at her to heap hot coals of kindness, as though she was the one heaping the coals.

 
When God said in Romans 12:20 "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on his head.” He was not telling us to do the heaping of coals on purpose to cause guilt in someone else. He was telling us to be what we should be, the loving person directed by God, and that may heap hot coals.

 
If someone is attempting to heap the coals of guilt on someone, they are operating from the flesh. It is not love; it is to further aggravate a person so they will be frustrated more than they were before. Perhaps the one who continues to aggravate the one ignoring them is really attempting to draw the frustrated one back into more conflict, refusing to allow the other person to be in control of their own life without the narcissist.

 
Narcissists hate when they have been denied access to those who have been wearied of the foolishness of the narcissist and have walked away in independence of them.

 
When someone is sending a strong message that they no longer want anything to do with us, we are to give them what they want and leave them alone. Continuing to bother them with greetings and gifts is manipulation to control their reactions.
This is a classic example of how many people twist the scriptures to justify their mean and rude vengeful behavior.

Those who are proud of themselves for "heaping hot coals" are usually the ones who started the whole mess and want it to keep going.

 
When we have genuine love and kindness toward those who have harmed us we do not do it to manipulate. We do it because it is the right thing to do and out of love. Boasting about heaping hot coals on someone shows an attitude of flippancy and revenge.

 
Those who want to heap the hot coals for the purpose of self-elevation are operating from a heart of control, the need to be the final word, pretending they are happy while the other person is sad. They have to keep the other person sad continually; this is the objective of those who want to play God and appear to be the innocent party.

 
I detest this kind of pompous misuse of scripture, and so does God.
May we seek Christ for the proper use of Scripture that we not end up dishonoring HIm through twisted Scripture and wicked actions disguised as kindness.

 
The more pretenders come into the church gatherings, the worse this problem of Scripture twisting is going to grow. We must know God's Word, pray for wisdom, and model it as led by the Holy Spirit.

20 Secret Ways Narcissists Use Demonic Influence on You

The Error of "Soul Sleep"

For those who believe the souls of the dead remain in their bodies after death, there is this to say:

The bodies of born again believers are in the grave when they die, but their spirits are with God after the death of a born-again believer.

2 Corinthians 5:8 "
"But we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord."

When Christ went into Sheol to preach to the dead saints of old, they trusted in Him and He took them out. Their spirits were there but their bodies remained in the grave.

Here's the thing, what about those saints who were burned at the stake, their bodies were ashes and they never ended up in a grave? Or those who traveled across the wilderness, died there, and their bodies went to dust? There is no mandate in the Bible on how to bury a believer in Christ.

 
God told the rich man in hell that there is a great chasm between hell and those who were in heaven, and no one can cross over.

Luke 16:19-31
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, enjoying himself in splendor every day.
20 And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores,
21 and longing to be fed from the scraps which fell from the rich man’s table; not only that, the dogs also were coming and licking his sores.
22 Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s arms; and the rich man also died and was buried.
23 And in Hades he raised his eyes, being in torment, and *saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his arms.
24 And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’
25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.
26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set, so that those who want to go over from here to you will not be able, nor will any people cross over from there to us.’
27 And he said, ‘Then I request of you, father, that you send him to my father’s house—
28 for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not come to this place of torment as well.’
29 But Abraham *said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’
30 But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’
31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

What makes us think the dead who go to hell immediately after death would go to their designated place at death but those who died in Christ would not go to their designated home immediately after death?