Originally posted by Bardock42
I love Chick Tracts
Me too.
Father: Son, if you love me then obey me.
Son: But what if I don't?
Father: Well, then you won't have any discipline or character and you will probably end up in prison--for life.
Son: So if I don't do as you say then I'm going to jail?
Father: Not necessarily, but you will increase the likelihood of that.
Son: Are you threatening me?
Father: No, but I am wiser than you son, and more experienced. I know many of the pitfalls that exist, and I'm trying to prevent you from making wrong choices by giving you proper home training now, before you become an adult. I don't want anything bad to ever happen to you because I love you.
Son: I understand. You can see the big picture because of your wisdom and experience. In short, you know more than I do about life.
Father: Exactly.
Just as in the illustration above, God knows the big picture. He sees the end at the beginning. He knows all of the trouble that's out there. So when God tells a person that if he sins he will die, He's just being a loving Father. Operating counter to God's Word leads to death because all of His ways are holy, good, just, righteous, and perfect.
Just as nothing good ever comes from disobeying your parents, nothing good ever comes from disobeying God. The wages of sin is death because God is Life. When we break away from Life the alternative is death. When we keep God's Word we stay connected to Life. When we sin we reap death. It is a natural consequence just like cause and effect.
So God is not threatening anyone with Hell for not worshiping Him. Just as parents bring a child into the world for the express purpose of having a relationship with that child, God created humanity for the express purpose of having a relationship with Him.
Because God never dies, this relationship was intended to be forever. There is no emancipating yourself from the One who created you like teenagers do to their parents now. God loves you with an everlasting love that warns you of the consequences of sinning against Him, and breaking His laws.
Unlike sinful parents when you break God's law it leads to death, first spiritually and then physically (that's why we die). God told the first man and woman what would happen if they chose to disobey His law. He loved them so much that He gave them the ability to choose to obey Him or choose to disobey Him, and warned them of the consequences of choosing the latter.
Hell was originally prepared (i.e. created) for the devil and his angels, but has since become the abode of all those who sin (i.e. break God's law). Remember: the wages of sin is death because sin separates us from God Who is holy. It is not God's will for anyone to suffer eternally in Hell that's why He sent His Son Jesus to die. Jesus Christ died to pay the wages of our sins so that we could be set free from its eternal consequence (i.e. separation from God in the lake of fire).
Anyone can avoid the consequence of sin by simply putting their faith (or trust) in Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior, and receive eternal life, righteousness (which is right-standing with God), and life in Heaven with God.
Anyone who rejects God's solution for their sin problem has chosen by default to spend eternity in Hell because there is no other place for their eternal spirit to go when they die physically. There is no purgatory. There is no limbo. There is only Heaven or Hell.
http://www.killermovies.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=454267&pagenumber=32#post14421866
http://www.killermovies.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=422284&pagenumber=11#post14420849
http://www.killermovies.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=453885
http://www.killermovies.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=448058&pagenumber=427#post14420317
A picture is worth a thousand words!
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0006/0006_01.asp (Somebody Loves You)
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1018/1018_01.asp (Unloved?)
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0085/0085_01.asp (A Love Story)
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0001/0001_01.asp (This Was Your Life)
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0055/0055_01.asp (We Descended From Apes?)
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0020/0020_01.asp (Am I A Fool?)
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1021/1021_01.asp (What?)
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1002/1002_01.asp (I Do Know It All)
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0061/0061_01.asp (Mormonism)
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0093/0093_01.asp (Masonry)
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/5022/5022_01.asp (Masons)
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0016/0016_01.asp (Buddah?)
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0042/0042_01.asp (Islam?)
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1004/1004_01.asp (Islam??)
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1011/1011_01.asp (Islam???)
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0070/0070_01.asp (Hinduism?)
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0026/0026_01.asp (Jehovah's Witnesses?)