Heaven and Hell

Do you believe in a literal heaven and hell? What happens to people who die without a saving knowledge of Christ?

Lets take this one step at a time; do I believe in a literal heaven? If I didn’t I would be living for nothing. I would have absolutely no hope for life after death. Everything that it stands for to be a Christian, everything that I am striving to be, would have no purpose, no meaning.

If there weren’t a literal heaven then the Christians on the earth wouldn’t need morals or values. Because lets face it, if this life is as good as it will ever get, why in the world would we be storing up treasures in some place that we are never going to go? I would be living it up here on earth without any restrictions.

But as a believer in the living God, I know that there is without a doubt something even greater than life on this earth. Praise God for eternity in heaven. I think I would have a very sad life if this weren’t true.

Going to heaven and living life with Jesus worshiping God the Father is what makes this life worth living for. It is what provides joy in times of sorrow, and hope in times of despair.

At the same time Revelation paints a picture of hell that is undoubtedly real. And unfortunately if we aren’t willing to recognize the truth, which is Jesus, then we aren’t going to go to heaven. And if we aren’t going to heaven then the Word makes it clear, we are going to go to hell.

I would love to be an optimist and say that no everyone gets into heaven and the awful place known, as hell isn’t real. But the fact of the matter is, the Bible makes this clear, if you don’t believe that as humans we sin, and that we need the blood of Jesus to be forgiven and clean in God’s sight then we don’t get to spend eternity in the presence of Christ.

So those without a saving knowledge of Christ then ultimately, you go to hell. While it may sound as though we have a harsh God who sends people to a place with eternal flame. To be truthful, hell is a terrible place that we all deserve. It was by His grace that we were given life to seek truth in the first place. Being human and even our entrance to life here on this earth makes us automatically sinners, who deserve nothing. But by recognizing His grace we receive everything. This includes a hope for life after death and eternity in heaven.

Sanctification Part 2

If sanctification is God's responsibility, then why don't we see more "sanctified" persons around us-especially among older adults, those who are supposed to be more mature Christians?

Conversely, if sanctification is primarily our responsibility, does this possibly explain why we don't see more "sanctified" people?

I believe that becoming sanctified is my responsibility as a follower of Christ to want and seek sanctification. However, I cannot be fully sanctified without Christ actually doing that work within me. I am not so sure that sanctification is a visible thing. I get that if you are set apart from the world and in a way that glorifies God you are consecrating yourself. Isn’t that how Christians should act? I think that being a Christian and being sanctified are different things. Yes, if you are a Christian you should strive to be sanctified, but we are human, we mess up. This is what I am getting at, once you are a Christian you will always be a Christian. The same does not hold true for being sanctified. We will never 100% of the time be fully set apart. It doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try, but lets be real. So why aren’t we seeing more “sanctified” persons? First I’m not sure that it is something that can fully be mastered and then visible in each person who has figured it out. Why aren’t we seeing older, mature Christians being sanctified? I don’t know that it can be measured by me. I have so many amazing mature Christians in my life that I can say seemed to be completely sanctified people. However, they will be the first to tell you that they are not. Conversely, we must acknowledge that there are definitely more people who are not sanctified than who are. Why? Because seeking sanctification isn’t easy. It takes work along with a constant seeking of God. This is why we don’t see it. Even mature Christians don’t have it figured out so it doesn’t make sense then to expect to see a lot of people who are in fact sanctified. Becoming a more sanctified person requires a lot of dedication that often gets neglected by most in this hectic society we live in. It’s a marathon not a sprint and I’m not even sure there is a finish line on this one that we will see here on earth. But, it is definitely a race worth running.

Sanctification

Developing A Christian Worldview.
Is Sanctification Our Responsibility or Gods?

According to my Mac dictionary, sanctify is to set apart as or declare holy; consecrate. So as Christians is it our responsibility or God’s to be holy and consecrated?

My response to this question is that it is duel responsibility between God and us. I say this because we first must be willing to allow the Holy Spirit to work and move in us. However, we cannot, in our sin, make ourselves holy. As humans our natural instinct is sin and corruption. Without God we will always fail. We will always fall short. We cannot on our own save or separate ourselves from this world.

What we can do is dive into the word of God daily and pray for our heart to reflect the heart of Jesus. I think that God has given us the bible so that we may see what is right in order to know what is wrong. By reading scripture it plants seeds in our heart that the Holy Spirit then waters, but that alone cannot sanctify us. We need the Holy Spirit to then come in and give nourishment and strength to aid us in the process of becoming holy.

If you are not going to let the spirit move then sanctification can never happen. In short, the process is a joint responsibility between us as believers and God as the father to become holy and set apart as followers of the one true God.