Were You Born Again or Just Joined a Club?

I have been wondering recently how many people in these last days, have "decided" to become Christian, because it appeals to their pride to be better than others, but these same people have never confessed their sinfulness or trusted Christ.
 
I think in our day there may be many more than we realize.
 
Matthew 7:21-23...
"21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’"

This is why I don't assume someone is a born again believer simply because they tell me, I don't even assume it because of good works that they do. I seem to be able to tell often by how quickly the Spirit within me connects with the Spirit within them. Often I sense something ugly and foreboding in some people, making me question whether or not they were ever born again.
 
The answer to this is that there are many who decided to join a Christian group but never confessed they were sinners, so Christ never changed them into a new creation. They joined a club like we would join a bowling league, when we get tired of it, we quit the club and move on to something else.
2 Corinthians 13:5 "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you-- unless indeed you fail the test?"

They Didn't Teach It Right: Hell

I a pretty sure that many people will be taken aback by what I am about to say, that's alright, this matter of our beliefs about hell is not a salvation issue, however it does show us the nature and character of God.

For many years I was disturbed about the idea that those who reject God would burn forever, and yet, the Bible seemed to say that, so I believed it. What was not clear to me and has become clear, is that much of what we were taught about many things was based on the Greek interpretations of the Hebrew text as it was being translated. I won't go into all that here, I have posted the video already of Mr. Fudge speaking and the one of Dr. David Reagan, they have answered this matter to my satisfaction, however, I didn't accept it right away, I prayed about it, after which the pieces just seem to fall into place.

The same churches that claimed to be Bible believing and Evangelical were entrenched in the pagan holidays, attempting to "Christianize" them, making them fit into their theology, even though there was no Scriptural basis for doing this.

Knowing this about the holidays led me to ask God what other things there might be that we have been trained to believe by shear repetition, that in fact were not at all true.

Every time a question about anything comes up my first response is to ask God if the belief is from Him or from human tradition. It is almost a given that if the world is doing something the Christian likes to do, they almost inevitably attempt to infuse that desired belief into their Christianity, so that they can enjoy that activity too.

Many things have fallen away from my belief portfolio since I asked God to show me nothing but truth on every level. This matter of the belief that hell for mankind is eternal is one of them. For years I have rejected the belief of the Adventists who don't believe in hell and I STILL DO. What God revealed to me recently through prayer and confirmed by others is that our culture has held a wrong view of hell in its purpose and duration. Yes, hell still exists, it is a terrible fire and it is punishment, created for the devil and his angels forever, but not permanent for mankind.

After praying about this, the Lord has made it clear that the belief of eternal fire for human beings doesn't make sense, but it does make sense for angels. Since God created hell for the devil and his angels because of their rebellion, we know that they are held much more accountable for their rebellion. Christ did not die for them as He did for mankind.

The nature of God contains justice and love. Without justice there is no love and without love there is no justice. Does it really seem just to punish a murderer forever in hell when Christ died for the murderer while he was still in his sin? The sin itself does not send us to hell, it is rejecting Christ's payment for our sin that sends someone to hell. The sin is the reason for hell, but the sin is either paid for by Christ or remains in us. When we refuse to trust what Christ did for us on the cross we then are sentenced to hell for the punishment assigned to us and then destroyed after the punishment.

When a man goes to jail for life, he is sentenced and place in jail for his crime, UNITL he dies, or he is executed if the penalty is the death penalty, then he is gone. He does not suffer forever for his crime on earth, if he does not repent before he dies, he is then thrown into hell to pay a penalty there until he is burned up, commensurate with his crime is his degree of punishment.

•John 3:17-18,” “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him. 18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

•Heb. 2:2-3, “For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard.”

Luke 12:47-48, “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, shall receive many lashes, 48 but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. And from everyone who has been given much shall much be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.”

Heb. 10:29, “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?”

How much more intense is the fire in hell for one man more than another man, I think it is reasonable to believe that the fire in hell is the same intensity for everyone, making the deration of pain and suffering seem more likely, since everyone will have to be punished differently for their sin.

Does rejection or sin have to be atoned for forever to be God's justice? Does a loving God Who sent His Son to die for all of mankind while they were still sinners, enjoy the suffering of the sinner in hell forever?

It makes much more sense that God, Who is One of mercy, love and justice, would not enjoy the suffering of a man forever, justice suffering for a time, yes, but not forever since the Lord said this:

Proverbs 14:17 "Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;"

Ezekiel 18:23 ""Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked," declares the Lord GOD, "rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?"

God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but since He is God of justice, He must punish sin. This suggests to me that hell is fire, hell is terrible beyond description, the deration of hell for each human being is based on the amount and intensity of sin, but there is total and complete destruction for everyone who goes there, not the angels, they must live there forever, but for mankind there is an end.

The man who rejects Christ dies twice, once when his physical body dies on earth never to live on earth again and the second time when he is consumed in the lake of fire, never to exist again, the final and permanent eternal death. I am convinced that death means death, not associated with pain, but associated with total and complete annihilation.

So many people over the years have tried to spiritualize and dance around the plain language of the Scriptures to justify beliefs that come from pagan ideas rather than what God actually said. God told us to dig for wisdom like we would for silver and gold, that's why we must question all that we were taught while praying that God would bring the understanding. I can't emphasis this enough, since our "Christian culture" has enmeshed humanistic and pagan beliefs with the Bible, sometimes believing the opposite of what God meant.

Ezekiel 33:11 "11 Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?"

The man who trusts Christ lives forever, but the man who does not suffers punishment and is extinguished when his sentence is finished.

There are eternal consequences for rejecting Christ, those are first the punishment in hell commensurate with the level of sinfulness and then the end of life entirely.

Revelation 21:8 "8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Lamentations 3:22 "The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail."

Since God's compassion is much greater than ours, it fits more with His character to completely remove the evil man from existence, after paying the penalty for his crimes, rather than making him suffer forever. I know that we cannot depend on life experience for our doctrine, however sometimes life experience reveals things to us that enlighten the Word as we read.

God cannot ignore sin, there must be justice! Why do we think that God Who would send His Son to die for evil man while they are still evil, would be a god who would exact everlasting punishments on the evil doer? Punishment yes, intense pain and suffering, yes, but there is no need for that punishment to be forever as we have been taught, justice is done, it ends and for the rest of eternity the man who lives, the believer, will never have to think about the deeds of the evil doer or the evil doer again.

 In order to see all the scriptures associated with this it would be good to revisit the video found in the link below. Before you judge me as a lunatic, please hear all that Edward Fudge has to say on the subject. Please do not judge it on the basis of what you have been taught, but on the Bible, perhaps we have been reading into the phrases in the Bible our own prejudice based on what others have taught us.

I do not judge anyone as saved or not, as Christian or not based on a disagreement over this, I hope that you will extend the same courtesy to me.