 |
| Barcelona-trekearth |
From work yesterday...
Was he asleep or just enjoying Thanksgiving as I walked by twice?
Daily Mail October 12
Cited
American horror story: Ohio homeowners at war with ghost hunters after learning 'portal to hell' is located in their backyard
According to urban legend, the 'portal to hell' is located in a storm drain in Blue Ash, Ohio
It is also located on private property, and homeowners are not a fan of the noise when visitors check out the area '
A group of Satanists supposedly used to meet there in some type of altar room and conduct their rituals,' says blogger Rick Fenbers Cited To God's chamber:
Some believe that the portal to hell...is located in a storm drain in Blue Ash, Ohio
Cited
The folklore surrounding the site dates back a few decades, to when some claim that those who worship the man down below practiced their religion in the area.
'A group of Satanists supposedly used to meet there in some type of altar room and conduct their rituals,' says Creepy Cincinnati blogger Rick Fenbers.
'They must have been pretty good, because the legend claims they managed to open a doorway to hell.'
Cited
As a result, people report hearing screams, seeing floating faces and having contact with apparitions when around this spooky setting.
End citations
Fictional and urban legend.
Based on a Biblical worldview, demonic beings can at times influence or even posses human beings or animals.
Still under God's sovereign rule.
I am making no claims whatsoever of actual demonic activity in regard to the portal, however. I am simply responding to the claims of apparitions and related.
The following is from a lecture I presented on hell on my other, original blog; four views on hell.
Crockett, William V. and Stanley N. Gundry. Four Views on Hell. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing, 1996.
THE LITERAL VIEW-John F. Walvoord states that many theists who believe God is loving reject everlasting hell; however, he believes that Scripture clearly teaches everlasting punishment. He agrees that Sheol usually represents the grave in the Old Testament.
However, he did explain that scholars such as Shed saw Sheol as equally Hades before the resurrection of Christ. In other words, Sheol/Hades would contain all the dead, some in the heaven part and some in the hell part.
He quotes Psalm 73:24 as example of a verse that highlights the Old Testament idea of everlasting life. The writer of that verse is trusting God's council and expecting God to take them to glory, with God after death. Walvoord dealt with Jesus teaching on hell. In Matthew 5:29 and 30 Jesus talked about someone being cast into Gehenna, and in Matthew 22:33 he warned the Pharisees of hell. In Luke 12:47-48, Jesus warned of the degrees of punishment in hell. This seems to indicate something other than annihilation, but actual different degrees of suffering.
Walvoord states Revelation 20 points out the devil, the beast and the false prophet, are thrown into the Lake of Fire along with unbelievers, and this is listed as going on forever and ever. Walvoord believes that the nature of sin against God is infinite, and thus it demands infinite punishment. I disagree and think that only God is infinite, but resurrected everlasting rebellion seemingly deserves everlasting punishment.
THE METAPHORICAL VIEW- William V. Crockett suggests that his view is similar to that of John Calvin, and that eternal fire texts are better understood metaphorically. Crockett pointed out that metaphorical language was used throughout the New Testament, for example, heaven as a city was described in first century terms, a city surrounded by walls and gates.
Today that type of metaphorical language would be obsolete. Crockett also pointed out that hell is described in places like Matthew 8:12, 2 Peter 2:17, and Jude 14 as a place of darkness. So if it were a literally fiery hell, it would not be a place of darkness. Crockett believes that hell is a place of everlasting punishment, but that it is described metaphorically in the New Testament. Crockett noted that Hades is a temporary resting place for the unsaved, until they are thrown into the Lake of Fire, which is Gehenna.
THE PURGATORIAL VIEW - Zachary J. Hayes noted that the idea of purgatory was the interim period that attempted to explain what happens to people when they die. He stated that there is something incomplete about the situation about those who have died before the end of history, before the 2nd Advent and final judgment. The notion of purgatory is that everlasting destiny is decided at death as either heaven or hell, but not everyone seems bad enough for everlasting hell, and most do not seem good enough for heaven. Therefore, purgatory is a cleansing process postulated between death and the entrance into heaven. Hayes points out that Roman classic tradition, Christians never dealt solely with scripture for developing doctrine. So through years of reflection and experience, tradition could develop further doctrine such as purgatory. Hayes listed a verse from 2nd Maccabees Chapter 12:41-46. However, it is not accepted in the Protestant Canon or Hebrew Bible.
For a New Testament example, he lists 1 Corinthians verse 3, and in 3:11-15 Paul states that there will be a day when each person's life works will be judged by fire, and Hayes suggests that it could be describing purgatory. However, contextually, final judgment seems to be the context, as Hayes submits many see it that was. In fact, Hayes admits that there is no clear textural proof of a doctrine of purgatory in scripture. Also, as Walvoord pointed out, the 1st Corinthians 3 discussion of things being burned up, could relate to rewards after judgment, and not one's salvation.
THE CONDITIONAL VIEW - Clark H. Pinnock states that the traditional orthodox view of God torturing people forever is very disturbing and needs reconsideration. He favours annihilationism which allows the wicked to finally perish. Pinnock believes that terms such as everlasting punishment need not be taken to be endless torment, but rather can be defined as meaning a judgment which cannot be reversed, that leads to everlasting death. In his notes, that the concept of everlasting destruction in regard to sinners, is used throughout the New Testament such as in 2nd Thessalonians. 1:9 and Galatians 6:8, God states he will destroy the wicked. In 1st Corinthians 3:17, and Philippians 1:28, and also Romans 6:23 states that the wages of sin are death. Pinnock believes that the soul is not necessarily a mortal, but rather verses which describe soul in the New Testament, are not to be taken plain literally. Rather, human beings were created mortal and would only be immortal if resurrected by following Christ. He claims that Greek philosophy heavily influenced the Christian belief in the immortal soul.
Pinnock argues that human sins are not infinite because they are committed against in infinite God, and I agree. However, sin can be everlasting and require everlasting punishment. Pinnock suggests that evil would not be defeated if it existed in hell, and that a cosmic dualism would exist. This is a good point, however, for all intense and purposes, after final judgment, evil would no longer be a problem in God's creation as far as the universe and planet earth, which he originally created perfect and would be restored to that perfection without the problem of evil. Hell would simply be everlasting hell, and would be a special place designed for rebellion; it would not have a negative impact on God's original creation. Concerning Gehenna, as in Mark 9:48, Pinnock sees unquenchable fire as not being everlasting, but rather continuing until all the dead bodies are destroyed. This would not be everlasting punishment but would be everlasting death. He defined Luke 16:23-24 which describes Lazarus as a rich man, as metaphorical. Walvoord pointed out that Hebrews 9:27-28 notes a persons dies and then is judged.
So the wicked exist, in his view, after death. He also points out that Revelation 20 shows people who, in Hades, being cast into the Lake of Fire, again showing that at least they exist as souls, if not soul and body. John Stott is noted to tentatively, and not dogmatically hold to an annihilationist position. He has four reasons according to Peterson.
Firstly, the use of the word destruction in the NT is often used in regard to death, as in destruction. For example from John 3:16 those who will not believe in Christ will perish mention, everlasting hell. However, one must wonder why the Bible uses hell terminology which certainly confuses the issue, if there were no everlasting hell, and simply death. For those who will die outside of Christ, would it not be better to convey the idea of simple physical death as final judgment without facing God, or physical death, followed by judgment by God and then final death? The use of everlasting and for ever language certainly does not seem to simply convey death, although I admit that this is a possibility.
Secondly, Stott views the use of the eternal fire imagery as pointing out that this will lead to the ultimate destruction of the dead outside of Christ, not their everlasting punishment.
Thirdly, as did Pinnock, Stott thinks that everlasting hell is not just punishment for finite, temporal sin.
However, as I pointed out in my MPhil and here tonight unbelievers whether existing in soul alone, or as it appears from Revelation 20, resurrected body and soul, will still willingly, and everlastingly reject God, and thus everlasting punishment would not be unjust. They had lived their lives apart from God, and the only reason they had experienced before their initial death, any peace and happiness at all was because God withheld his judgment in grace. Once the grace is removed and judgment proceeds, in my view hell is just punishment and an allowance by God of human beings to oppose God and live. God is a sense is lovingly allowing his creatures to freely, to some degree live apart from his rule forever, although they are being punished simultaneously.
Fourthly, he shares Pinnock's concern that evil will not really be ultimately defeated if hell exists in some form. I think that annihilationism is philosophically reasonable, and Biblically possible, although the argument from Scripture for everlasting punishment seems stronger.
As well, if annihilationism is true, and a non-believer does not face God after death, there seems to be a lack of justice. The sinner never is really faced with the trueness of his/her sin, and the foolishness of rejecting God. If one is annihilated after judgment facing God, one must wonder how God can make one sinner's punishment worse than another person's? Everlasting death would seemingly be equal punishment for all.
Lecture
 |
| Daily Mail |
MONKS SECRETS
ReplyDeleteA man is driving down the road and breaks down near a monastery. He goes to the monastery, knocks on the door, and says, "My car broke down. Do you think I could stay the night?"
The monks graciously accept him, feed him dinner, and even fix his car. As the man tries to fall asleep, he hears a strange sound; a sound like no other that he has ever heard. The next morning, he asks the monks what the sound was, but they say, "We can't tell you because you're not a onk.."
The man is disappointed but thanks them anyway and goes about his merry way. Some years later, the same man breaks down in front of the same monastery.
The monks again accept him, feed him, and even fix his car..
That night, he hears the same strange mesmerizing sound that he had heard years earlier.
The next morning, he asks what the sound was, but the monks reply,
"We can't tell you because you're not a monk."
The man says, "All right, all right. I'm dying to know.
If the only way I can find out what that sound was is to become a monk, how do I become a monk?"
The monks reply, "You must travel the Earth and tell us how many blades of grass there are and the exact number of sand pebbles. When you find these numbers, you will become a monk."
The man sets about his task. Some forty-five years later, he returns and knocks on the door of the monastery. He says, "I have travelled the Earth and devoted my life to the task demanded and have found what you had asked for. There are 371,145,236,284,232 blades of grass and 231,281,219,999,129,382 sand pebbles on the earth.
The monks reply, "Congratulations, you are correct, and you are now considered a monk.
We shall now show you the way to the sound."
The monks lead the man to a wooden door, where the head monk says, the sound is behind that door.
The man reaches for the knob, but the door is locked. He asks, "May I have the key?"
The monks give him the key, and he opens the door.
Behind the wooden door is another door made of stone.... The man requests the key to the stone door.
The monks give him the key, and he opens it, only to find a door made of ruby.. He demands another key from the monks, who provide it. Behind that door is another door, this one made of sapphire. And so it went on until the man had gone through doors of emerald,...
...silver, topaz, and amethyst.
Finally, the monks say, "This is the key to the last door."
The man is relieved to be at the end. He unlocks the door, turns the knob, and behind that door he is astonished to find the source of that strange sound. It is truly an amazing and unbelievable sight ....
... But I can't tell you what it is because you're not a monk.
An Irish man is stumbling through the woods, totally drunk, when he
ReplyDeletecomes upon a preacher baptizing people in the river. He proceeds into
the water, subsequently bumping into the preacher. The preacher turns
around and is almost overcome by the smell of alcohol, whereupon, he
asks the drunk, "Are you ready to find Jesus?" The drunk shouts,
"Yes, I am."
So the preacher grabs him and dunks him in the water. He pulls him
back and asks, "Brother, have you found Jesus?" The drunk replies,
"No, I haven't found Jesus!" The preacher, shocked at the answer,
dunks him again but for a little longer. He again pulls him out of the
water and asks, "Have you found Jesus, brother?" The drunk answers,
"No, I haven't found Jesus!"
By this time, the preacher is at his wits end and dunks the drunk
again -- but this time holds him down for about 30 seconds, and when
he begins kicking his arms and legs about, he pulls him up.
The preacher again asks the drunk, "For the love of God, have you found Jesus?"
(get ready for this)
The drunk staggers upright, wipes his eyes, coughs up a bit of water,
catches his breath, and says to the preacher,
"Are you sure this is where he fell in?”
The Fairy & The Immigrant Muslim
ReplyDeleteA beautiful fairy appeared one day to a destitute refugee claimant
outside the Ottawa Immigration Offices.
'My good man,' the fairy said, 'I've been told to grant you three
wishes, since you've just arrived in Canada with your wife and seven
children..'
The man told the fairy: 'Well, in Pakistan where I come from we don't
have good teeth, so I want new teeth, maybe a lot of gold in them.'
The fairy looked at the man's almost toothless grin and -- PING !!!
He
had a brand new shining set of gold teeth in his mouth!
'What else?' asked the fairy, 'two more wishes to go'.
The refugee claimant now got bolder. 'I need a big house with a three
car garage in Toronto with eight bedrooms for my family and the rest of
my refugee relatives who still live in my country. I want to bring them
all over here.'
PING ! - In the distance there could be seen a beautiful mansion with a
three car garage, a long driveway, a walkout patio with a BBQ, and a
sparkling inground pool and a Hummer, full of his nephews playing their
music.
'One more wish left for you', said the fairy, waving her wand.
I want to be Canadian with Canadian clothes instead of rags, and a
baseball cap instead of this shawl and I want to have white skin like
the Canadians.'
PING ! - The man was transformed, wearing worn out jeans from Best for
Less, a dirty Wall-Mart T-shirt and a greasy baseball cap. He had his
bad teeth back and the mansion had disappeared from the horizon.
'What happened to my new teeth?' he wailed. 'Where is my new house?
Where's my Visa Gold Card?'
THE FAIRY SAID
'Tough luck. Now that you are a Canadian,'
You're entitled to
"Sweet bugger all like the rest of us."
And she disappeared...........
I just love that fairy, don't you?
Excellent, what a webpage it is! This blog presents helpful facts to us, keep it
ReplyDeleteup. www.thehonoluluroofer.com
Hello ! My name is Ekaterina. I'm 30 old
ReplyDeleteI the young, romantic woman, also I am very single.
I very much like to travel, get acquainted with new people.
I want to get acquainted with clever and kind the man to connect our destinies.
I hope to find the real, pure love.
I have found your profile, it is interesting to me,
and want to find out more about you!
Write to me if you have interest.
I hope to have pleasant acquaintance.
I can send my photos.
I wait for your answer.
Ekaterina.
Sent to various email addresses. Not even using bcc...
ReplyDeleteIt's clean & funny.
ReplyDeleteA girl asks her boyfriend to come over Friday night to meet, and have dinner with her parents.
Since this is such a big event, the girl announces to her boyfriend that after dinner, she would like to go out and make love for the first time.
The boy is ecstatic, but he has never had sex before, so he takes a trip to the pharmacist to get some condoms. He tells the pharmacist it's his first time and the pharmacist helps the boy for about an hour. He tells the boy everything there is to know about condoms and sex.
At the register, the pharmacist asks the boy how many condoms he'd like to buy, a 3-pack, 10-pack, or family pack. The boy insists on the family pack because he thinks he will be rather busy, it being his first time and all.
That night, the boy shows up at the girl's parents house and meets his girlfriend at the door. "Oh, I'm so excited for you to meet my parents, come on in!"
The boy goes inside and is taken to the dinner table where the girl's parents are seated. The boy quickly offers to say grace and bows his head. A minute passes, and the boy is still deep in prayer, with his head down.
10 minutes pass, and still no movement from the boy.
Finally, after 20 minutes with his head down, the girlfriend leans over and whispers to the boyfriend, "I had no idea you were this religious."
The boy turns, and whispers back, "I had no idea your father was the Pharmacist."
Condom sex always seemed unnatural (hypothetically) to me. Never interested me for various reasons.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, I desire to in Christ, wait for marriage.
Up to God, primarily.
I'm impressed, I must say. Seldom do I encounter a blog that's both equally educative and amusing, and without a
ReplyDeletedoubt, you have hit the nail on the head. The issue is an issue that not enough
folks are speaking intelligently about. Now i'm very happy I came across this during my hunt for something regarding this.
Paraphrased
ReplyDeleteMe: Any thoughts if Ebola, which is looking a bit like the Black Plague in scope, hits BC and kills thousands?
S/O From Iran: I hope it hits Africa, and then kills all the radical Muslims.
We both LOL.
Use HeatSync for free, forever!
ReplyDeleteWe have been overwhelmed with the amount of positive feedback for latest version of HeatSync. Many of you have been requesting us to create a free, no-cost package that still gives plenty of value and allows you to track your websites and competition. Well, now we have it.
Starting today, we have updated your account to the free, no-cost Starter package. This package has no strings attached, will never expire, and never cost you anything; we promise!
If you used HeatSync in the past, all of your websites are still there with updated analytics ready to view. Simply log in again to start using HeatSync.
Click here to log into the HeatSync dashboard now
Thank you,
HeatSync Team
Need Help with HeatSync?
support@heatsync.com
Do you know Toronto Maple Leafs, Stephen Harper and The Globe and Mail on Twitter?
ReplyDeleteThe Leafs, 1967 since the Cup, well-known...
ReplyDelete'Walvoord believes that the nature of sin against God is infinite, and thus it demands infinite punishment. I disagree and think that only God is infinite, but resurrected everlasting rebellion seemingly deserves everlasting punishment.'
ReplyDeleteIn today's Briefling, Dr. Mohler discussed the conditional view. He stated a point similar to Walvoord.
Again it should be remembered, that sin has a beginning and therefore is finite not infinite as is God. Even so, Christ was perfect man and infinite God to outlast sin and no person can do so, other than Christ.
Oct 15
Something BAD is hiding in your intestines
ReplyDeleteALIEN?
ReplyDeleteI enjoy, result in I discovered exactly what I used to be having a look for.
ReplyDeleteYou've ended my 4 day long hunt! God Bless you
man. Have a great day. Bye
I urgently needed a few days off work, but, I knew the Boss would not allow me to take leave.
ReplyDeleteI thought that maybe if I acted 'Crazy' then he would tell me to take a few days off.
So I hung upside-down on the ceiling and made funny noises.
My co-worker (who's blonde) asked me what I was doing.
I told her that I was pretending to be a light bulb so that the Boss might think I was 'Crazy' and give me a few days off.
A few minutes later the Boss came into the office and asked, 'What in the name of goodness are you doing?'
I told him I was a light bulb.
He said, 'You are clearly stressed out.' Go home and recuperate for a couple of days.'
I jumped down and walked out of the office...
When my co-worker (the blonde) followed me, the Boss asked her, '..And where do you think you're going?!'
(
She said, 'I'm going home, too. I can't work in the dark.
Serbia v. Albania
ReplyDeleteNaymz
ReplyDeleteRussell,
We checked the web for Russell Murray and found 19 new items.
Tend to your reputation
Cheers,
Tom & Tony
ReplyDeleteGreate post. Keep writing such kind of info on your site. Im really impressed by it. Hi there, You've performed a fantastic job. I'll certainly digg it and individually suggest to my friends. I'm confident they will be benefited from this website.
ReplyDeleteI'm really enjoying the design and layout of your blog. It's a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more pleasant for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a designer to create your theme? Great work!
Japanese Mr. Rogers
ReplyDelete21,676
ReplyDeleteGifted and Giving
ReplyDeleteDoes autopilot income exist?
ReplyDeleteSurprising Cause of Hair Loss...
ReplyDeleteHey - I need your advice! (its urgent)
ReplyDeleteWhere to travel now
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDelete21,676
My last cheque...
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteGifted and Giving
So true.;)
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteDoes autopilot income exist?
Krashed...
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteSurprising Cause of Hair Loss...
Barber...
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteHey - I need your advice! (its urgent)
Change careers...
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteWhere to travel now
Work...
Hi, i think that i saw you visited my site thus i came to “return the favor”.I'm attempting to find things to enhance my website!I suppose its ok to use some of your ideas!!
ReplyDelete