You could read this in 5 minutes. 5 minutes is the time of an advert break between Hollyoaks or the time it takes to switch your computer on and login into facebook. 5 minutes is the time it can take to decide what to eat for dinner, or what nightclub to go to, or what girl/guy your going to hit on! But what about taking 5 minutes away from all those other things and just take that quick amount of time to ask yourself if there are bigger decisions to make? …because sometimes questions are worth answering.
If you had to choose between Heaven and Hell,
...where would you choose?
...where would you choose?
If God rules Heaven and the devil rules Hell,
...who would you choose?
...who would you choose?
If God created everything that is good and the devil attacks, destructs
and hides this good,
...who would you blame for the evil and suffering of the world?
...who would you blame for the evil and suffering of the world?
If the devil hates God and hates the world that much, and if you were created by God in His image,
...do you think the devil would hate you?
...do you think the devil would hate you?
If the devil hates you and God unconditionally loves you,
...would you choose to be loved or hated?
...would you choose to be loved or hated?
So what if we do have a
choice to make? But we are given
free will to make that choice so does it really matter? ...Life goes on
regardless, right? …And if there is Heaven
and Hell and God and the devil really exist surely we will just find out and choose
once we die?
…But what if then it’s too late. If hell is separate to God, and God
is life, love and all things good –then hell has none of these things and it
would be a place God would not want you to go –But if God is righteous and just he has to
give us free will. What if there’s
always a choice and what if by not
choosing or not believing God, we are automatically, maybe blindly choosing the
devil. So then what if when we die we find there is a heaven and a hell, but the choice has already been made… not
by God but by ourselves.
If God really is all-good and
all-loving He would save us though, right?
…And what if He already has? People talk about Jesus and how he was
the Son of God, and that he died on a cross… but is there really meaning and
truth in that? Well Jesus’ life,
the crucifixion and the resurrection are the most historically documented
events ever to have happened so there is definitely proof if you want to look for it, but really this is a
guy we didn’t know, and we weren’t there so what relevance does it have if it
was over 2000 years ago!? We can all decide what relevance it has or
doesn’t have on us, but a few questions to ask yourself are…
The reason Jesus was
killed was because he claimed to be the Son of God. …If this was a lie, why did he not admit it!? ...Instead
He endured beatings, whippings, He had a crown of thorns dug into His head, He
had nails pierced through His hands and feet-so that He could be lifted up on a
cross to suffer horrible death for 3 days …would you ever take a lie that far?
So then if He was telling the
truth in what ways did He show us He was
the Son of God, some obvious answers to this question …He loved, He didn’t
judge, He treated everyone equally, He got angry
with religious people for following laws or worshiping other idols- instead of
being faithful and loving God, He healed the sick, He fed thousands, He performed miracles, He served
people -he did not ask people to worship him and treat him like a king but
instead like a servant… the list could go on!
But how do we know these things are true?! Well, they are documented, and most of the miracles that took place were in front of many hundreds or thousands of witnesses (locations of these events were included) so when they were written and recorded there would have been many witnesses to dispute any false recordings -but there has never been any such documents!! There are many other ways to find proof; you just have to be willing to want to hear them or to look for them…
But how do we know these things are true?! Well, they are documented, and most of the miracles that took place were in front of many hundreds or thousands of witnesses (locations of these events were included) so when they were written and recorded there would have been many witnesses to dispute any false recordings -but there has never been any such documents!! There are many other ways to find proof; you just have to be willing to want to hear them or to look for them…
Anyway so if this is all true,
why does it matter? We weren’t
alive then, Jesus didn’t know us, we didn’t
kill him! Why is something that
happened so long ago relevant to you
right now?
…What if to be righteous and just God has to give us all free will …so He knew we would all have to make a choice, and if our choice has to be made before we die then God had to provide us with an unchanging question to all ask ourselves and answer! …That question is, DO YOU BELIEVE JESUS DIED FOR YOU? –Do you believe that he was telling the truth, that he went through that pain and suffering so you don’t have to, that he died but conquered death and hell by rising again to heaven!? …If this man -Jesus, only loved, cared, and did good, if He told the truth about God and never lied, why did he suffer so much to do this-to tell you the truth? …The answer is, love.
…What if to be righteous and just God has to give us all free will …so He knew we would all have to make a choice, and if our choice has to be made before we die then God had to provide us with an unchanging question to all ask ourselves and answer! …That question is, DO YOU BELIEVE JESUS DIED FOR YOU? –Do you believe that he was telling the truth, that he went through that pain and suffering so you don’t have to, that he died but conquered death and hell by rising again to heaven!? …If this man -Jesus, only loved, cared, and did good, if He told the truth about God and never lied, why did he suffer so much to do this-to tell you the truth? …The answer is, love.
It says in the bible that ‘we love, because He loved us
first’...hasn't love become something so wrapped up in sex, marriage, divorce,
or we so often see love as the number of things that person does for you -the
number of roses they give, or the number of times they tell you your beautiful,
or how often they cook and care for you. But true love isn't about
scoring the amount of love you receive, it's about what you give up for someone
else -it's about showing people how much you love them by the sacrifices
you make ...Jesus sacrificed His life, surely that is true love?
So what if God has provided us each
with a choice in this life that is so often masked with irrelevance – maybe
because as a generation we see church to be outdated and uninteresting, or
because we distract ourselves so much with finding evidence against that we
don’t stop to question, or maybe it makes us uncomfortable to think about so we
just ignore it …think of all the things that have stopped you, and maybe go
back again to the questions at the beginning. Take time to ask yourself
what you think. And question this, if the choice
your making right now is the one that would last forever, would you choose
differently?
What if God is real, and Jesus was telling the truth ...what would that mean for YOU?
[The man who had the experience is called Bill Wiese and his preach is called 23 minutes in hell, he's written two books and done many preaches, I listened to one he did in C3 Church San Diego.]
What if God is real, and Jesus was telling the truth ...what would that mean for YOU?
[The man who had the experience is called Bill Wiese and his preach is called 23 minutes in hell, he's written two books and done many preaches, I listened to one he did in C3 Church San Diego.]
