~The Debate At Bible Study~

@CRk109 Yeah it was a crazy evening. Most of them sounded very unGodly and judgmental when we are all sinners. We should help others, be an example for them, and witness to them. Not judge them and make them stay farther away from God.

@LovingMyBabies I've never understood the sense of screaming judgment at people. That doesn't seem to make anyone a more loving person at all. It just pushes them away. Jesus never acted like that around sinners. Well, not most of the time, anyway! Even he had his moments! lol

@enlightenedpsych2 If we never had a definition of sin, it wouldn't mean anything and if we committed any sins, we probably wouldn't even know it.

@enlightenedpsych2 The problem with name calling, which leads to bullying, is that the person isn't really considered. They look at the problem the person has, and consider that the problem is the person. This kind of name calling and bullying has been going on forever. Jesus ate with Publicans and Sinners. In the eyes of the Pharisees there was a difference. Publicans were tax collectors and were the most hated people in Israel. By eating with Publicans and Sinners, Jesus was differentiating the person from the sin. The Pharisees and other members of the ruling authority could not see past what the person did and therefore the identity of that person was lost in his or her reputation. So now let's look at this from today's perspective. We still have people engaged in the same social identities. And people still associate the person with the activity they choose, and fail to see the person beyond what they are involved in. We are nobody's judge as @LovingMyBabies said. God is the only Judge. We are to love the person, no matter what their lifestyle is. Nor does it matter whether we agree with that lifestyle or not. People are so ready to throw out the baby with the bath water. They do not take into consideration that the person they are condemning has feelings and emotions just like they do. God told us we are to do two things. This is the law on which the entire Ten Commandments stand - Love God - Love your neighbor. There are no strings or conditions on that command.

@celticeagle Yeah it kind of shocked me that at Bible study people were acting that way.

@LovingMyBabies ...People are people. They have fears and are ignorant of things like all of us. It is rather sad. Love and goodness should envelope all, not just a selected few.

@annierose Yeah I have a relationship with Jesus, I'm not part of a certain religion, I just love the Lord. That's the way I like to keep it. =)

@LovingMyBabies I can see it from you. Keep on being like that and always spread the love.

@marguicha Thank you! =)

@quantum2020 That is what the Bible says to do. And God says to love all.

@Drosophila If people do not know that they are sinning and going against God, How are they to know that they are in need of a Savior. One of the biggest problems and the reason evil is taking over is that the fear of God is gone. if people do not know what could happen to them why should they want to learn the rest of Gods word. Jesus taught much about Hell. He did so out of love--to warn us not to reject Him which would result in us going to Hell for eternity. The world hates God's Pure Word. If Christians dilute God's truth a little and some will tolerate that watered down version. Unfortunately, too many Christians today prefer "a soft Gospel" and "soft Doctrine. Jesus did talk about the reality of hell — in fact, He talked about it more than any other person in the Bible. He warned, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). Did He say this simply to scare us? The reality of hell should frighten us, because not one word in the Bible about hell would ever make you want to go there — not if you take it seriously. The Bible speaks of hell as a place of absolute loneliness and despair and hopelessness. It calls it a place of “darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 22:13). Jesus taught about the reality of hell. Is this teaching that hell is forever or are the condemned simply burned up and annihilated? Jesus didn’t talk about hell just to scare us. He talked about it instead because He wanted us to know that God has provided a way of escape! Listen: God doesn’t want you to be separated from Him forever. He loves you, and He wants you to spend eternity with Him in heaven. Unlike hell, heaven is a place of joy and peace and freedom from all the fears and pains of this world. Who wouldn’t want to go there? Mark 9:43, 48-49 “And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire…where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ For everyone will be salted with fire.” Jesus describes hell as a reality and He spoke on hell three times as much as He ever did on heaven, thereby signifying the importance on believing in such a place.

@Dlr297 Well I didn't want to put it this way but they were bashing anyone who they personally knew who was gay and saying they are going to Hell. We are ALL sinners-THATS why we have no right to judge anyone else!! God said who without sin can cast the first stone? NOBODY could do it because nobody is sin free. God's word also says ALL sin is equal. That lie you told the other day is just as bad to God as that rapist or the homosexual! I didn't say sharing God's word is judging I said they took things too far by screaming and yelling at each other in God's house. I do know someone who is gay and I have told her what God says about it too. It is judging though to bash someone else when we ALL sin just as much as everyone else.

@dlr297 I politely disagree, the only message Jesus wanted us to go and tell each other is one of love and forgiveness. He didn't say we should go and point out to others how they are living in the sin and are going to the pits of hell. In fact, didn't he specifically say not to do that? ""Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" Matthew 7:3