Ok, my turn to rant:
My next door neighbour died last Saturday morning after a few months' fight with cancer. He was 85.
I emailed a mutual acquaintance with the news today. None of us were particularly close, so my email was by way of just being polite and sharing the news since there was no funeral or memorial service of any kind.
The response I received?
"That is very sad about Russ but at least he is not suffering now!"
The woman who wrote the above quote professed Christ many years ago, but is not living for Him, so it's uncertain as to whether or not she actually is saved. But regardless, she's heard plenty of Bible preaching and gospel messages, so she knows, intellectually anyway, that after death it's either Heaven's peace or Hell's eternal suffering!
And as far as any of us know, Russ wasn't saved, so my conclusion is that he's probably suffering more now than he did with his cancer.
It bothers me when people who should know better buy into the deception of eternal rest for all. To me, it's a cop-out to allow them to conveniently overlook Hebrews 9:27 - And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Sister, I understand your feelings about this. I know of other professing Christians who say "Oh, he's in a better place now" or "He's with the angels" when there was no evidence or profession of salvation by the deceased.
I'll add to your 'rant'..in the next post.
An additional small rant:
I want to yell and scream, sometimes, at how the world handles death.
I knew an elderly man who had been a martial artist. When he died, everyone who knew him talked about him "going to the dojo in the sky". :hairpull: He was not a believer, and I'm sure was roasting in Hell at the time. It really upset me to hear them wax happily over his new 'state'.
I've also heard, countless times, about how grandma is looking down at us from Heaven, or that Uncle Bob is an angel now. It's not Scripturally correct, far from it: unbelievers have an excuse, but those who claim to be born again should know better. What lies they promote when they cling to worldly ideas about God and Heaven.
When Hell is mentioned, the unbelievers I have met insist that it's just one big party, where they will sit with their dead friends, and "suck down some brewskies". 
My unsaved father-in-law told me point blank that all his friends were probably in Hell, he might as well go there too. 
It's frustrating, aggravating and enough to make anyone scream. You can't get these people to understand, of course, but the cavalier way they talk about death and Hell gets to me, sometimes. :frown:
Thanks for listening...
"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." (2 Corinthians 4:4)
(02-26-2010 07:02 PM)Laura Wrote: [ -> ]Ok, my turn to rant:
My next door neighbour died last Saturday morning after a few months' fight with cancer. He was 85.
I emailed a mutual acquaintance with the news today. None of us were particularly close, so my email was by way of just being polite and sharing the news since there was no funeral or memorial service of any kind.
The response I received?
"That is very sad about Russ but at least he is not suffering now!"
The woman who wrote the above quote professed Christ many years ago, but is not living for Him, so it's uncertain as to whether or not she actually is saved. But regardless, she's heard plenty of Bible preaching and gospel messages, so she knows, intellectually anyway, that after death it's either Heaven's peace or Hell's eternal suffering!
And as far as any of us know, Russ wasn't saved, so my conclusion is that he's probably suffering more now than he did with his cancer.
It bothers me when people who should know better buy into the deception of eternal rest for all. To me, it's a cop-out to allow them to conveniently overlook Hebrews 9:27 - And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Excellent point,if he wasn't saved he'd be suffering more now than he did from cancer.
I don't know why christians have become like that lady Laura,thinking his suffering ended with his death even if he's unsaved.But then,I have heard a small number of christians say Hell is a state of seperation from God,not a place and fires can't burn forever.
(02-26-2010 08:15 PM)Here Am I Wrote: [ -> ][color=teal]
When Hell is mentioned, the unbelievers I have met insist that it's just one big party, where they will sit with their dead friends, and "suck down some brewskies".
My unsaved father-in-law told me point blank that all his friends were probably in Hell, he might as well go there too.
My husband has a friend who said that exact same sentence your father-in-law said.Neither of us had ever heard anyone actually say that before and we were just stunned.
"That is very sad about Russ but at least he is not suffering now!"
I have heard that a lot in the past. When I heard that, it seems like one person says it and after that, it is their common response to everything. The sad thing is that they believe it. Hey, if the deceased is saved, more power to them...but I have heard it more from lost people.
(02-27-2010 05:34 AM)MrsHayseed Wrote: [ -> ] (02-26-2010 08:15 PM)Here Am I Wrote: [ -> ]My unsaved father-in-law told me point blank that all his friends were probably in Hell, he might as well go there too.
My husband has a friend who said that exact same sentence your father-in-law said.Neither of us had ever heard anyone actually say that before and we were just stunned.
Makes you think about why they both have the same lie, where it came from, hmm? 
"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." (John 8:44)
This was a good rant, Laura, and the responses have been good. This phenomenon is partly human nature: wanting to believe the best of our loved ones, and not wanting to consider that things might be unpleasant after death. But part of it is Enemy Action: the Enemy whispering in our ears, "All is well, there is no Hell, God is love," etc.
Even the noblest among us are prone to this. I don't want to sound hard-hearted, but Reagan's very moving speech after the Challenger 1 disaster made me want to scream. He quoted the poem "High Flight" by John Magee Jr:
The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.'
I wanted to scream at the television, "No they didn't, you dummy! If they didn't know Jesus Christ, they didn't even see the face of God: they're burning in a place that makes the explosion of their shuttle look like a half-struck match-head!"
Of course, Reagan was speaking for the nation, to comfort the nation. But it was still a lie.
I hate this kind of thing.
The world believes everyone goes to Heaven when they pass. After all a loving god would not send anyone to Hell no matter how they lived.