Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Debelak
Thanks for responding, Sam.
As I said before, I don't have particular comment on your UFO discussion. Rightly or wrongly, I just don't have much interest (to my detriment, perhaps).
I did hone in on your desire to reach certain people with a particular ministry. Paul did make him self a man for all men. To the Athenians, he argued from a philosophical base. To the Jews, he even had his companion circumsized, just to fit in.
That said, I wonder the value in our age in doing so. Unlike Paul's time, the message of Christ is not rare. Our public message perhaps falls on tainted ears, even to targeted audiences who we are catering to.
Instead, I wonder if the message is best carried by how we live our lives, and how we engage with our fellows.
I did notice in your YouTube that you have a particular concern for the afterlife. Can I ask you, I all sincerety, how come? I know this is an odd question, given the stakes at issue in the afterlife (heaven or hell). But I am curious why the afterlife theology takes precedence over how to live richly today (if you don't think these are incongruous, tell me so). Of course, they might not be contradictory. I'm open.
What do you think?
Peter
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The Lord dealt with me for being so obsessed about my own salvation because it got to a point where it was clearly unhealthy. He's put an end to it because I suspect he wants me to move on in ministry unhindered.
That said I'm not ashamed of being concerned about my eternity and I point to Ecclesiastes 3:11 for this: "he has put eternity into man's heart"
After my born again experience I noticed I started caring less for the world and more for things of eternal value. Paul tells us to focus our mind on the things above and not on the earth below. It's because as the Apostle John stated the world is passing away with it's lusts but he who does the will of God abides forever. All the money and material things we work for in this age isn't going to make it with us for eternity. However people's souls that we save will make it with us. That's why Jesus told his disciples to be fishers of men, but to let the dead bury the dead (eg let those going to hell go there anyway, but preach the gospel so that the elect can be saved). This is why I still consider myself an evangelical because I often frame how I live my life in terms of the gospel.
Regarding my own fear, this may be hard to relate to for someone from an LC background, but once I disbelieved in free grace from my heart, the fear of hell overcame me.
But since then I've been concerned not only about my own eternity but those of others.
If you are interested in how I came to leave free grace and believe in Lordship Salvation, I have a website here that compiles my thoughts:
http://eternityinourheart.com/salvation
And also my blog:
http://nodustybunnies.blogspot.com/