Eternal Damnation
Eternal damnation is not a doctrine taught by Christ 'for all,' otherwise we would have to subscribe to this doctrine here. Jesus as an apocalyptic preacher was more interested in the Kingdom of God, than to preach all must be burn in hell. This Kingdom of Heaven was supposedly soon to be realized in his life time, and all his adherents were to benefit from it, his their lifetime. It was not until the rejection of this message, that people of his time did not subscribe to this message, that Jesus' message became increasingly desperate, and violent, as seen in the parable of the King who invites guests, and they did not want to come. In that story, you have these rebellious subject seized the prince, killed him, and the King ended up killed those, and burned their cities, again, no eternal damnation was mentioned, or taught here.The Kingdom of God was that marriage feast that no one cared for, Again, no eternal damnation as mentioned here. Another parable refers to the last harvest, where wheat and tares were left along to both grow in the field, and like the harvest, wheat was gathered, and the tares were collected to be burnt on the field. What has not been discussed here, is the agricultural methods, burning off the rest of the tares, weeds and bails of straws, was to rejuvenate the land so that next year, the harvest would be possible. It is to put the nutrients back into the land, and this is not the 'eternal punishment' but rather an agricultural practice, here and now. Again, the doctrine of hell is not mentioned here.
Yes, I am aware of the verses by Jesus about 'the flames never goes out' and 'into the flames reserve for the angels, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:" (Mathews 25:41). In this case, it is not salvation by grace or faith in the death of Christ, etc. It is rather focused narrowly on these followers who claimed faith in Christ, and failed to followed through in his teaching, eg to feed the poor, to visit the sick, and to clothe the naked, etc. These acts lead them to the Kingdom of God, not faith in Christ alone. The fire mentioned here, is a parable, which means it is a good story. The moral is that if you failed to live these teachings, you will not inherit the Kingdom. Again,. this teaching by John MacArthur here is not mentioned. He does not deserve anything in the Kingdom of Heavens, if he failed to do those things Jesus mentioned here, eg,. John here is not a man who would go out to the poor, feed the hungry or clothe the naked. He benefits obviously in this type of teaching, selling his messages for profit, collects money for his own use, and gaining support and fame for the 'supposed' teaching of Christ. If anyone would be in danger of 'fire and eternal flame' it would be this John here. There is no grace, no 'saving faith' that would prevent him from being served fire and eternal flame. He deserves these not because he did not accurately believe in a Christ. but that his life and his faith in practice failed to come through. This Jesus in Mathew is very clear about it. When I mentioned this to Barry Donnelly, he failed to come up with a theological argument to support his doctrines of grace. Rather, I would propose it here, this doctrines of grace, this concept of unconditional election, this irresistible grace, these are doctrines by the demons to detract people who want to follow Christ. St Paul espoused a doctrine so different from Christ I wondered whether he dreamed this it up all by himself. Because in him, we find this doctrine of faith and justification by faith alone. This concept of grace, that one needs to accept the Lord and believe in his heart God raised him from the dead. It is not a teaching by Jesus of Nazareth. and when I asked Barry Donnelly to come up with a teaching by Jesus of Nazareth, a quote or something, he could not. I was dead earnest to ask him since he is the one who posts it here and tells everyone they deserve hell unless, they are chosen and elected by God with gives them this grace. This Calvinian teaching and the foundation of the Reformed Church has erred. I merely asked a question, is this the teaching of Christ, and they would not and could not answer me.
This type of teaching erred from the ancient Christian faith by Jesus while he was alive. It destroys the will of anyone who comes into this faith to live a good life as defined by him. There are no changes before and after, the person of faith justifies his own action by attending church, and that is it. No change or reformation of characters, or taking care of the poor, or loving those illegals (strangers on the land), the sick. homeless, or the hungry. Their faith solely is into themselves. They make it sound intelligent and so seminary grants doctoral degrees, they congratulate themselves. they are fatten calves, ripe for slaughter as in the Parable of the Marriage feast. Which part of the gospel do you fail to understand that this doctrine of eternal damnation is not of God nor of Christ our Lord? If anyone 'deserved' hell, it would be these preachers who failed to follow Christ, or live his message of love and mercy to their fellow humans. If there is hell, that is it. Their 'eternal' damnation is here on earth.
