"So God offers reconciliation to all, but not all accept."
agreed. but, scripture does tell us that some will not be reconciled. a small number, but still some will not.
Quoting: Salt I still await scriptural support for anyone at all ever getting a second chance after this life.
the idea here is to accept Jesus in THIS life.
that is the teaching.
but, for those who refuse, well... it won't be pretty for those. but its a far stretch from burning in hell forever like the fundies want to teach.
Quoting: Salt The bottom line is indeed that people need to accept Jesus in this life. As Paul told the Greeks, God had overlooked ignorance of Himself in the past, but now that Jesus has risen from the dead, there are no more excuses.
But whether there is an eternal hell is not up to "fundies" but the whole teaching of scripture. The OT tells us very little, but the NT speaks of the everlasting nature of both life and death, salvation and separation, and the finality of one's moral state when the Millennium ends.
I cannot read about child torturers and think that eternal hell is adequate punishment for the monsters who do this. If that's what "fundies" teach, I gladly stand with them on this point, because I love the victims more than the perpetrators. Justice will be done, and God Himself says "Vengeance is mine, I will repay". I cannot imagine a heaven where the child killer and the child shake hands and let bygones be bygones.
