Where in the Bible does it say that the Kingdom of Heaven is only in the afterlife? Jesus said in his prayer, Your Kingdom Come, Your Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. We can be in the Kingdom of Heaven right here, right now. You can die to the world, and live, right now. The world will bring suffering to you (Jim talked about this in the video as well,) but you just have to tell the world, I will not break. Whether it is suffering, or money like the million or 10 million or 50 million it throws at you like Jim mentioned. Its your choice, God will not choose for you. I am Orthodox, so I dont believe in the same concept as Hell as Catholics or as Protestants (which inherited that from them), however I do come from a Protestant background so I do understand the concepts, and at one time even went to a church that taught that God would be judge and executioner, and taught that God killed his only son to cover our sins, ala substitutionary atonement, because he needed blood. In Orthodoxy, which has held the same belief for almost 2000 years, Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected to destroy death by death, so that you and I could live. How many parents would execute their children? Those of us who accept Jesus as our King, and allow Gods Holy Spirit to chrismate our hearts, and do what he said to do, are children of God and can be in the Kingdom of Heaven right now. So whether we are talking about Jesus, or all children of God, He is our parent, our Father, and is it really proper to believe that he will choose who will be eternally tormented in hell? Such thoughts are not traditions of God, it is traditions of men only, and relatively recent theology of only a few hundred years old. God loves everyone, and God gives his grace to all, but you have to choose to accept it by repentance. And mercy covers a wide variety of sins. And this is what Jim was saying in the video, that God does not choose where we wind up (or in Orthodoxy, not where we wind up but what state we are in, because there is no place that God is not), but rather that we choose this ourselves. Every Liturgy we enter into Heaven, right here on earth.
Posted on: Sun, 22 Jun 2014 05:27:37 +0000
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