A deeply troubling and awful thing.

[fuddy]

When Jesus's disciples asked him how many would be saved, he replied, " the path that leads to the kingdom of God is narrow and difficult, and few ever find it."
And so the joy of my own salvation is largely crushed by the knowledge that most of the people I've ever known, including most of my family, will spend eternity screaming in an incomprehensible agony of despair and hopelessness in hell.
It eludes me how I, or anyone else, could go skipping happily off through the daisies with Jesus while just beneath our feet such unbearable tragedy will be constantly playing out. Maybe that's one of the reasons Jesus was a man of sorrows.
It is troubling to say the least - any thoughts?

 

[JustTheFacts]

True, but unbelievers I talk to about Jesus have their mind made up and aren’t interested. Their arrogance and refusal to consider the evidence softens the sadness because, after all it is a choice. There is nothing that anyone can say that will change their minds, so I‘ve learned to follow the words of Jesus to shake the dust off my feet and move on.

 

[Lamb]

We trust that God is good and fair in His judgment, right?

God's word is alive and active, so don't give up hope on your loved ones because seeds planted can grow if that's God's will.

 

[fuddy]

God IS thoroughly good, yes, and if He weren't, He couldn't be trusted. But He is. And that's where all arguments and contention concerning His ultimate judgement about us must stop.

The people I was referring to have already died, and some of them seemed genuinely confused and unsure about the validity of Jesus and His gospel of hope. My mother and brother were among them.

The loss of people like that is what is especially so heartbreaking, and brought me to post this because unless God erases all remembrance of those people, I can't comprehend my joy being "complete", to say the least, in the life to come.

 

[Lamb]

God IS thoroughly good, yes, and if He weren't, He couldn't be trusted. But He is. And that's where all arguments and contention concerning His ultimate judgement about us must stop.

The people I was referring to have already died, and some of them seemed genuinely confused and unsure about the validity of Jesus and His gospel of hope. My mother and brother were among them.

The loss of people like that is what is especially so heartbreaking, and brought me to post this because unless God erases all remembrance of those people, I can't comprehend my joy being "complete", to say the least, in the life to come.

Here's something I cling to in those instances... they have heard the Gospel at some point in their lives, and perhaps, just perhaps, on their deathbeds God turned them to Him in faith You just never know.

 

[fuddy]

Thanks for your thoughts on this. Well, 64 views on this and only two responses - I guess most people are wary of contemplating deeply troubling and awful things... me too but hey, stuff like this often keeps me up at night, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Oh what I'd give to transport back in time to one of the disciples campsites and sit down on a log by the campfire next to Jesus and start asking questions...

 

[BruceLeiter]

We trust that God is good and fair in His judgment, right?

God's word is alive and active, so don't give up hope on your loved ones because seeds planted can grow if that's God's will.

I agree, Lamb, because the first one to believe in our family was my mom. We three boys and Dad were unbelievers until God rescued me at 16, my brothers when they were about 32, and my dad when he was 77 years old!

 

[BruceLeiter]

Thanks for your thoughts on this. Well, 64 views on this and only two responses - I guess most people are wary of contemplating deeply troubling and awful things... me too but hey, stuff like this often keeps me up at night, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Oh what I'd give to transport back in time to one of the disciples campsites and sit down on a log by the campfire next to Jesus and start asking questions...

Fuddy, I too have many questions that the Bible doesn't answer, but God wants to humble us to recognize that he's God, and we're not. We can't figure out a lot about God with our puny, human minds. God's gift of humility. for which we need to pray, gives us the ability to submit to the fact that God is very much higher and greater than we are and that we need to accept the mysteries of the Bible, which doesn't reveal everything.

 

[fuddy]

Yup, the great lesson of Job. I think my most persistent prayer, for myself, is for Him to examine me right to my core and set about fixing whatever he sees that he doesn't like. It's a scary prayer.

 

[BruceLeiter]

Yup, the great lesson of Job. I think my most persistent prayer, for myself, is for Him to examine me right to my core and set about fixing whatever he sees that he doesn't like. It's a scary prayer.

Yes, I have nine old-nature qualities that I pray every day God will change into his new-nature characteristics by the power of Jesus' death and resurrection. Some of them God has given me Jesus' victory to accomplish, but others are God's work in progress.

 

[denise]

Thanks for your thoughts on this. Well, 64 views on this and only two responses - I guess most people are wary of contemplating deeply troubling and awful things... me too but hey, stuff like this often keeps me up at night, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Oh what I'd give to transport back in time to one of the disciples campsites and sit down on a log by the campfire next to Jesus and start asking questions...

God gives us all choice we all should choose him

 

[BruceLeiter]

When Jesus's disciples asked him how many would be saved, he replied, " the path that leads to the kingdom of God is narrow and difficult, and few ever find it."
And so the joy of my own salvation is largely crushed by the knowledge that most of the people I've ever known, including most of my family, will spend eternity screaming in an incomprehensible agony of despair and hopelessness in hell.
It eludes me how I, or anyone else, could go skipping happily off through the daisies with Jesus while just beneath our feet such unbearable tragedy will be constantly playing out. Maybe that's one of the reasons Jesus was a man of sorrows.
It is troubling to say the least - any thoughts?

Besides Jesus' words, Paul writes in Romans 1, "Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Rom 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
Rom 1:19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
Rom 1:20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

All people have been exposed to God's creative power, but most have not acknowledged him, so that makes them "without excuse" before our Creator. Therefore, we need to be sharing the gospel that we believe and what God has done in our lives with unbelievers and weak Christians around us (verse 16 and 17).

 

[fuddy]

Be that all true, nevertheless it remains an awful, and eternal, tragedy that so many people are lost. No one could argue otherwise.