God created everything perfect and said, "It is good," (Gen 1). In this perfect environment, God placed perfect man and perfect woman and gave them the gift of freedom. To make the freedom real, God gave the man and woman real choices - Gen 2:16,17. The serpent tempted Eve, and she makes a half-hearted attempt to defend God, but in doing so she misquotes Him (Gen 3:3)- introduces ignorance of the Word of God in the world. Adam and Eve sinned. As a result of the fall, all hman beings are born spiritually dead - Gen 2:17; Col 1:13; Ro 6:23. There are 7 kinds of death in the Bible.

entering now to see if this will show up before it gets lost again...more to come

-- i'm just the messenger (bygrace@thru.faith), July 16, 2000

Answers

Another brainwashed Moron,early in Life.The Days of the "virgin Mary" and "the Earth is flat" and the "infallible Pope" are long gone,Simpleton!!

-- jesus Christ (loitering@mount.olive), July 16, 2000.

If God made the perfect place ( Eden),then why didn't he make Adam and Eve perfect? Did God screw up? You are carrying the wrong message.You should save yourself dissapointment and not believe everythng you read.God did not write the Bible.Man did.And man is imperfect.Can you understand that?

-- Dan Newsome (BOONSTAR1@webtv.net), July 16, 2000.

How serious is sin? Sin is so terrible that the angels who sinned will never escape the Lake of Fire. Sin is so terrible that one act of Adam and Eve brought degeneration and depravity and unfathomable suffering to all humanity. Sin is so terrible that the perfect Son of God suffered to an infinite degree on the cross to redeem all mankind. God's solution for sin is the Lord (deity) Jesus (humanity) Christ (God-man) dying for our sins - 2 Cor 5:21. The Bible's first promise of a Savior - Gen 3:14,15. Jesus is God - John 1:1,2,10,14; Is 9:6. He was born to die for us - 2 Cor 8:9. He became human to identify with us. He as here; He knows what it's like; He understands - much more than we ever could - How can the imperfect comprehend the perfect? the fallable the infallable? the finite the infinite? And what He gave up for us - Phil 2:1-11 - to pay our price and set us free, He gave up for us so that He could give us the free gift of salvation. The gift can only be accepted by reaching out and laying hold of the grace of God by faith - Jo 3:16; 1 Cor 5:3,4. Believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, that He was buried and was raised on the third day. The gift cannot be earned. If someone buys me a gift i wouldn't try to pay them for it. I did not earn it; I cannot deserve it; it's a gift. What Jesus Christ suffered on earth was nothing compared to what He suffered at the cross. In fact, Jesus did not fear the physical pain of the crucifixion. He told His disciples not to fear such things - Mt 10:28, and prophet Isaiah tells us that thru all the physical affliction, the Lord Jesus never uttered a whimper - Is 53:7. Fear originates in death (spiritual), which He was never confronted with before. He had never known fear. On the cross, Jesus had to pay the penalty for the sins of the world. That penalty is spiritual death - Gen 2:17; Ro 5:12; Ro 6:23

-- (bygrace@thru.faith), July 16, 2000.

To you, Hell is a lake of fire.For the Eskimos, hell is a very cold place with no heat at all.For the Arabs in the desert, hell is a place with no water.Hell for me, is readin the drivel that you post.Have you no compassion for your fellow man?

-- Dan Newsome (BOONSTAR1@webtv.net), July 16, 2000.

Ecc 3:11 says - "He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." Ro 2:14,15 - our conscience testifies to our condemnation. Creation testifies of the Creator - "clearly seen" - Ro 1:19,20. Ro 1- God has given man ample light so that if they follow the light that they have, they will be led step by step into a full understanding of the way of salvation. "You must be born again," Jesus tells Nicodemus ( a Pharasee - who were, at that time, required to have first 5 books of Old Testament memorized) - Jo 3:3. Jesus Christ is saying to the ruler of the Pharasees - all of your religionm devotion, good works, sacrifices, have not gotten you one bit closer to heaven. As He tells us - "You must be born again." Death offers no second chances.

Things in the physical realm are reversed in the spiritual realm - see Mt 5:1-12 - the beattitudes. We say - no is not the poor who are blessed. God says yes it is. We say - the weak aren't blessed, it's the strong who survive. God says no, it's the weak. In the spiritual realm, we must believe first and then we see. Faith based on signs is shallow andd superficial - see Exodus generation in Ex. Time after time, God proved His love and faithfulness (as He still does today), yet they grumbled, murmured and complained. They certainly didn't trust Him (well, 2 out of about two and a half million did trust Him and they got to enter the promised land...but that's another story). They knew God's work; they had ample proof, yet they didn't know God's ways. God can be known only by who and what He is, not by what He does.

-- praying for you all (bygrace@thru.faith), July 16, 2000.

Dan, Lets see, we have the wisdom of Solomon, the compassion of Jesus Christ, all in writings that have withstood the test of time. Then we have your impromptu thoughts in TB2000U....what to choose, what to choose, lol ;)

-- FactFinder (FactFinder@bzn.com), July 16, 2000.

Hi Dan!

I'm not sure that hell and lake of fire is the same thing - Rev 20:13-15. (If anyone has any knowledge on the difference, I'd like to hear.) But the Bible teaches that all unbelievers end up in the lake of fire. Yeah, that's bad news. But the good news is - it's our choice to end up in heaven. All we have to do is choose to believe.

-- (bygrace@thru.faith), July 16, 2000.

(bygrace@thru.faith), when you get to Heaven (sic) say hello to Al-d for me. The other place is sounding better all the time.

-- Ra (tion@l.1), July 16, 2000.

Ten Punishments (Let's post these in the schoolroom!)

1. Ex. 22:20: He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed.

2. Lev. 24:16: And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death.

3. Ex. 31:15: Whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

4. Ex. 21:15: He that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.

5. Ex. 21:17: He that curseth his father or his mother, shall surely be put to death.

6. Ex. 22:19: Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death.

7. Lev. 20:13: If a man lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have com-mitted an abomination: they shall surely be put to death.

8. Lev. 20:10: And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.

9. Mark 16:16: He that believeth not, shall be damned.

10. Mal. 2:1-4: And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. If you will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name, ... behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces.

Compiled by Jyoti Shankar, Bubbles Online Magazine

-- Debra (??@??.com), July 16, 2000.

Religion is like having an insurance policy that never has to pay off.You can pay the premiums all your life,but what for?If Heaven did exist what would one do there?Sit on a cloud and play a harp? Walk down the streets paved with gold? Not one person who has ever died came back and say,Yes heaven is everything they said it would be.Factfinder if you beleive any part of it,I have a Bridge that I would like to sell to you.The price is right,only downside is you can't take possession untill after you are dead.Just give me 10% of your wealth and it's all yours.

-- Dan Newsome (BOONSTAR1@webtv.net), July 16, 2000.

Hi Debra

The only one mentioned that still stands in this age is the only one in the New Testament - Mark 16:16, "He who believes and has been baptized (baptism of God the Holy Spirit - also 7 different baptisms mentioned in the Bible in the original Greek) shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be comdemned." Ro 6:14 - "we are not under the law, but under grace." In John 8 the religious rulers bring to Jesus the woman who was caught in the act of adultry. They tell Him the law tells them to stone her. He replies, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." All the people left but Jesus and the woman. Jesus is the only one without sin, and therefore allowed judgement. Instead He shows mercy. Grace He gives us by giving us what we don't deserve. Mercy He witholds what we do deserve.

Hi Rational

I believe we are both praying we'll see you in heaven

-- (bygrace@thru.faith), July 16, 2000.

Dan, you said,

For the Arabs in the desert, hell is a place with no water.Hell for me, is readin the drivel that you post.Have you no compassion for your fellow man?

The big difference is that Hell is where you're put by someone else and can't leave, while you on the other hand can leave whenever you want. Since you're still here, it can't be as bad as you imply (or else you *really* have some issues to work through).

Not one person who has ever died came back

I think what you mean here is that it hasn't yet happened to *you*. It has been recorded however, but a few people don't want to believe :-(

I have a Bridge that I would like to sell to you.

I'd kind of like to invest in your bridge. Can you give me some proof (such as a signed letter from the Governor of your state) that you actually own the bridge, or were you fibbing to make a humorous point? I'd probably believe the latter, but would highly doubt the same for the writers of the Bible.

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), July 17, 2000.