Somebody please pin this so all of the Christian Hell-consumed fear-mongers can "get it for once" out of the scriptures themselves.
Christians routinely distort what Christ said, making His message into a fear-mongering say-a-prayer-5-minutes-before-you-die-to-avoid-hell nut-case message.
When asked specifically about what one must to do eternal life, He simply said:
"Keep the commandments." Matthew 19:17
Note: This is NOT "accept Christ as your Lord and savior."
When he talked about being "born again" to "see the kingdom of God," He did NOT mention hell in that scripture ONCE, yet people interpret it as "You must be born again or go to hell":
Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God." John 3:3
The Kingdom of God is defined as "A life of goodness, peace, and joy," *NOT* as avoiding hell:
"For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." Romans 14:17
Think about it -- why didn't He tell Nicodemus in John 3:3 to "Keep the commandments," if He was talking about eternal life as in Matthew 19:17 ????
It's because He's not talking about that!
The Kingdom of GOD, also known as the "Kingdom of Heaven," is a term to specifically denote the rule of "heaven on earth." It is NOT the place of heaven itself. Christ is saying, in order to see HEAVEN MANIFESTED ON EARTH, the KINGDOM of Heaven, one must be BORN AGAIN (to have one's eyes opened to live a life of goodness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit). This is what He's talking about.
Hell was made for the DEVIL and his ANGELS, and the comparatively few who are indistinguishable from them.
Stop distorting Christ's message of love and hope with your fear-mongering.
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 40317378 Wow .....exactly ....I wasn't sure any other "Christians " believed like me on here
the book of revelations says that the " Holy City" ..."New Jerusalem" comes down out of heaven and sits on the New Earth ....... This is where Christ and his people (born again) will live and the rest of the people that recieve eternal life but weren't born again will populate the New Earth
Ofcourse there will still be some humans that are condemned to the lake of fire for their evil deeds but there will be hundreds of millions or billions of people that that never were born again yet they receive eternal life because of their good deeds alone ....and if people don't believe that people will recieve eternal life for their good deeds alone then they might as well rip Matt 25 right out of their Bible where Jesus himself said that people would recieve eternal life for the good deeds alone
Matt 25
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Absolutely nowhere is anything mentioned about being born again .... It's strictly about good deeds .....these people inherit the kingdom of the new earth while Christ and his Bride(born again)inherit the New Jerusalem which is the Physical Kingdom of God ......Jesus said to the Pharisees ...I am from above , you are from beneath .....God is from heaven ...the physical kingdom of God comes down from where God resides and is placed on earth
Ofcourse born again christians already partakers of the Kingdom of God but only spiritually right now ....one day the spiritual kingdom and the physical Kingdom will join togather
