You were made for eternity. This means that you can never cease to exist, and because you were made in the image of God, you are only 25% physical.
We learned that the Definition of Life is the ability to repair. Why does the Bible talk about "eternal life" even though we are going to die?
DOCTRINE #55: ETERNAL LIFE
Everyone will spend eternity in one of two places: the new Jerusalem or the lake of fire. Eternal life is the ability to repair for eternity so that every moment in the new Jerusalem is better. Eternal death is the inability to repair for eternity so that every moment in the lake of fire is worse. Every moment in the new Jerusalem is the best moment a believer has ever experienced. Every moment in the lake of fire is the worst moment an unbeliever has ever experienced.
Question: Do you believe God desires everyone to spend eternity in the new Jerusalem?
Next Doctrine: Doctrine #56
Table of Contents
If you need it, here is the support from the Word of God...
SCRIPTURE
"10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire.
15 And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:10-15)
(The devil deceived: gave a Right WHAT with a Wrong or No HOW/WHY. The devil, those that were deceived, and hell will be put in the lake of fire for eternity where they will be tormented forever. God created everything, only God is Good, and that means we will exist forever because it was God's Will that all would know Him and spend eternity with Him. People will choose to follow after their flesh and be deceived. No one can escape from God. It is a FACT on Judgment Day there will be two judgments. Everyone will be judged based on their righteousness (books of works) which results in reward, and they will be judged based on if they allowed God's Righteousness to direct their actions by grace through faith (which is the book of life) which results in salvation. There are two places where people will spend their eternity: the new Jerusalem or the lake of fire. We are Predestinated (limited in advance) to one of those two places.)
"1 And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb,
2 in the midst of the street thereof. And on this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruits, yielding its fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." (Revelation 22:1-2)
(This was the last chapter of the Bible. Even in heaven, we will need fruits and leaves for healing... for eternal life. The water will give us the ability to repair. The trees and the leaves will give us the ability to repair. Even though we will be profitable in heaven we will still grow and be pruned by God so that we can produce more fruit. We will spend eternity REPENTING. We will spend all of eternity going the opposite direction of death!)
"41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 for I was hungry, and ye did not give me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink;
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not." (Matthew 25:41-43)
(The lake of fire is where people will be with the devil and his angels. There will be people who God will Rightly and Justly send to the lake of fire because all have been given free will to choose to Think as God or continue to think as men. The devil and his angels think as animals and these people will spend eternity thinking as animals because while they were on earth, they chose not to think like God. They will not be able to create for eternity. We create when we think. The only way to prevent these people from creating is for them to be in torment to the point they aren't able to think like God. Jesus calls us to DO. He stated that these people didn't love Him and others by giving to them. It is not enough to SAY. Our belief is based on our actions, on our HOW/WHY.)
"6 And angels that kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation, he hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, having in like manner with these given themselves over to fornication and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire." (Jude 1:6-7)
(The people and the city of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire because of the evil that they chose and they will suffer an eternal fire.)
"13 Wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness hath been reserved forever." (Jude 1:13)
(Others will also have eternal punishment. There has been a place reserved for them. Some people believe that those who don't go to heaven will cease to exist or will only be in torment until they repent. The Bible stated these people will experience an eternal fire that prevents them from choosing to repent. Also, we've seen that once a being is judged, they are unable to act apart from their nature. People who end up in the lake of fire will have a sinful nature for eternity, which also prevents them from repenting.)
"8 And if thy hand or thy foot causeth thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from thee: it is good for thee to enter into life maimed or halt, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire." (Matthew 18:8)
"43 And if thy hand cause thee to stumble, cut it off: it is good for thee to enter into life maimed, rather than having thy two hands to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire.
44 where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." (Mark 9:43-44)
(Jesus stated people will be in an eternal fire. These people will not cease to exist; they will still exist. They will be unable to repair, and therefore not have life! Definitions are so important. Jesus was talking about short term vs. long term thinking. It is better for us to destroy a part of ourselves, than for us to try and keep a part of us (remain comfortable) and go to an eternal fire. Our flesh is something that we ought to be destroying so that God's Spirit can direct our lives. Do we try to maintain all parts of us and justify ourselves, instead of being humble and killing our flesh?)
"1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ;
2 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We are bound to give thanks to God always to you, brethren, even as it is meet, for that your faith growth exceedingly, and the love of each one of you all toward one another aboundeth;
4 so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which ye endure;
5 which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God; to the end that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
6 if so be that it is righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you,
7 and to you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire,
8 rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus:
9 who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
10 when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believed (because our testimony unto you was believed) in that day." (2 Thessalonians 1:1-10)
(It is Righteous to eternally punish these people, not only for what they did to God but what they did to believers. God will have His vengeance upon the people who were evil with the love God gave. God will reward you if you handle the abuse well that these people did towards you. This ought to cause us to rest and have confidence in the persecution and affliction that we take. We have to believe that God is Right and Just for us to not even out the abuse that we endure from those who are unbelievers. When we forgive those that abuse us (unbelievers) God will reward our righteousness.)
"24 The Son of man goeth, even as it is written of him: but woe unto that man through whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had not been born.
25 And Judas, who betrayed him, answered and said, Is it I, Rabbi? He saith unto him, Thou hast said." (Matthew 26:24-25)
(If Judas was eventually able to go to heaven, it would be good he was born. We learned that God is not responsible for people being born, it is the free will of their parents. God was responsible for only one birth... Jesus'.)
"6 Set me as a seal upon thy heart, As a seal upon thine arm: For love is strong as death; Jealousy is cruel as Sheol; The flashes thereof are flashes of fire, A very flame of Jehovah." (Song of Solomon 8:6)
(The definition of death is "the inability to repair," it is the opposite of life. How can love be as strong as death? How can we use what we have learned to understand this passage? The definition of love is "giving without expecting from the person to whom you have given". Death is "the inability to repair". Love is as strong as death because giving is able to repair. If you do not give, you are taking, and actually making something less, not more. When you give, you are creating something more, which is the principle of repair. Repair involves a DO, not simply a SAY. Repentance is a DO, it is an action. When you repent you GIVE more than what you took, and the abuse has actually turned into something profitable!)
The Bible was filled with these non-contradictory definitions for the words we build our faith on. What would happen if you took a comparative, comfort-driven, traditional worldview and made a religion out of it? Do you think people would follow it? What if it didn't make sense, do you think people would still follow it? What if words were left undefined, and the more complicated the doctrine got, the more people would try to prove that their contradictions were actually TRUTH?
Can people be so deceived they celebrate deception?
