there is an old story which speaks of and old man who had never believed or prayed to god his whole life, who had never had a religion. this old man walked into a church one day and prayed to god just that one time for forgiveness. God forgave the man the instant he asked for redemption. the next day the old man died in his sleep. the old man went to heaven even though he never acknowledged God until the day before he passed to a better place.
God is forgiving! he loves all of his beautiful works. he created many people and many cultures who to us seem strange and unusual but to him they are family. I have herd from many people that when some one dies we can pray for there forgiveness. And God will listen to the prayers of the lost ones family and friends. the people who believed that suicide would bring them to God in the "hidden space ship" did not follow Gods will but in the Holy Bible it states "he who believes in God shall have everlasting life." those people believed in God and he knew that and he kept his promise and granted them everlasting life.
2 comments:
The key to this is the person asked God for his forgiveness... Just like the theif on the Cross was truly sorry for his actions...
Luke 23:42-43
Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
The problem with thinking God will accept every person even when someone else wants them to gain God is that God wants people who Love HIM and this Love is a choice of each individual... He will not force himself on others.
Believing is the first step... you must do more than believe...
James 2:19
You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
The Bible teaches we must "repent" and "be baptized...in the name of Jesus Christ".
Acts 2:37-39
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call."
I could not tell you that the people in the suicide scenario will go to Heaven or not... What I can say is that their belief in God was distorted and placed them in grave danger physically and spiritually...
They may have believed in God, but they did not place their trust in God.
> the people who believed that
> suicide would bring them to God
> in the "hidden space ship" did
> not follow Gods will but in the
> Holy Bible it states "he who
> believes in God shall have
> everlasting life." those people
> believed in God and he knew that
> and he kept his promise and
> granted them everlasting life.
Whether or not those people "believed" in God in the true Biblical sense of the word can be known by God alone. I hope they did.
Nonetheless, see the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25. There can surely be many who call upon God as "Lord, lord" who will be judged as non-believers, the Lord's response to them being, "'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." (Matt 25:41).
Just because one calls Jesus Lord doesn't mean they believe in Him. It takes more than words, but also deeds.
The Bible says, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who DOES NOT OBEY the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him."
True belief clearly involves obedience to God's will, the "obedience of faith." (Rom 1:5; 16:26)
If I act contrary to the will of God in some grave matter, and do so DELIBERATELY, that is with FULL KNOWLEDGE and PERFECT CONSENT, I may be among those who Christ addresses, who said to Him, "Lord, Lord", but Christ's reply was "I do not know you." (Matt 25:12).
This is not to say that suicide is always a direct path to hell. Only God knows the impediments to the will and intellect present among those troubles souls of the "Heaven's Gate" cult. If they were as bonkers as they seemed, then its difficult to believe they acted DELIBERATELY against God's will. Without deliberate consent, such grave sin cannot be mortal. Yet, only God can judge the inner disposition of any man's soul.
God bless,
Dave
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