Anglican

Does Hell Exist? Pope Francis Says ‘No’ . . . the Bible says . . .

Does Hell Exist? Pope Francis Says No

This is what the Bible says:

Matthew 5:22
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Matthew 5:29
If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

Matthew 5:30
And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

Matthew 10:28
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Matthew 18:9
And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.

Matthew 23:15
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.

Matthew 23:33
“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?

Mark 9:43
If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.

Mark 9:45
And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell.

Mark 9:47
And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,

Luke 12:5
But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

James 3:6
The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

2 Peter 2:4
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;

#FF @Christian_aid ‘Follow Friday’ Haiku – Life before death

Believing in Life
Praying to end poverty
Feeding dignity

Christian Aid’s essential purpose therefore is to expose the scandal of poverty, to help in practical ways to root it out from the world and to challenge and change the systems that favour the rich and powerful over the poor and marginalised.

We contribute our passion and experience to the broad movement of people who use their faith, talents and energies to fight for a better life for all.

Life before death resources

Thy Kingdom Come

Spiritual scales fall
From my mind’s eyes
Revealing God’s truth
Sparking my imagination

Divine inspiration
Transcendent dreams
Messenger missives
Heavenly visions

Lord, thy kingdom come

written following the Daily Post’s daily prompt for today, and inspired by the Church of England’s ‘thy kingdom come’ call to prayer leading up to Pentecost

#FF @ACOffice Faith Unlocked’s Friday Haiku #ACCLusaka

LOGO-acc16

Shared discipleship
In a world of differences
Be intentional

The 16th Anglican Consultative Council begins today in Lusaka, seeking to engage with issues around the wider Anglican Communion.

Pray with me:
– for God to be at the ever at the centre,
– that He give the delegates wisdom, and
– that were they disagree, that they do so well and with love.
Amen

A Vision for Britain

’15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.’
– Ephesians 1:15-23

This is the third in a series of posts on summarised Lessons from New Wine – United 2014. @stevemclifford, Director General of the Evangelical Alliance UK spoke on this topic in Week 1 of the conference.

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The Prime Minister used this year’s Downing St Easter event to describe the UK as ‘a Christian country’. Question: is it? Is it an important question? The UK is a nation where it’s okay to disagree; where we defend people’s freedom to choose any faith or no faith. So how does the excerpt from Ephesians 1 make us feel about that?

Bishop James Edward Lesslie Newbigin was a British theologian, missionary and author who said, ‘The way we understand human life depends on what concept we have of the human story.’ Bishop N. T. Wright has said, ‘The whole point of Christianity is that it offers a story which is the story of the whole world – it is public truth.’

How does the Christian world narrative impact issues such as human trafficking, and debt. Trafficking offends Western secular morality, and is abhorrent to the average person, but what about society’s attitude to the root causes such as the sex trade, or sweatshops creating cheap goods in the developing world? Managed debt feeds the western economies, and we seem to have blame culture for those people in debt rather than blaming our own society for the greed which crashed the world economy to begin years of austerity which hurts the lowest incomes the most, or for societal priorities which can feed debt – our obsession with consumerism, with image, and celebrity.

We, the church, are called to be a hope-filled people, and that should be our vision for Britain [and beyond! – FaithUnlocked].

Desmond Tutu said, ‘Hope should not be confused with optimism. Hope is a choice. Hope believes despite the evidence and then works to see the evidence change.’

To paraphrase Ephesians 3:10, “It’s about the church, stupid!” We must not cave in to the media stereotype that the church is irrelevant, homophobic etc; God is to fazed by the rise of secularism, or other faiths: His will, will be done. Wec may be living in the ‘good’ of the prayers of the 80s and 90s – the church has got out of its buildings and is doing some amazing stuff – street pastors, foodbanks, marriage guidance, debt counselling, and more . . . ecumenical unity movements are seeing different denominations working together as the church of Christ. The church may be smaller, but stronger – more passionate, more involved; challenging the prevailing secular narrative, praying for revival, taking responsibility, being salt and light.

We have a hope for the future of our nation [and the world] which is not based on political, economic, or human factors, but on God’s plan and care for His people. “God wants to change stuff, and he tends to do it through people.”

We are called to leadership of, and ministry to our neighbourhoods, our workplaces, our world. Leadership requires discipline, commitment, and training: turn up, be courageous, do what we say, get to know people, ask ourselves, “How can I lead change today?” The Holy Spirit will power, equip and guide us to make every day an act of worship.

[Amen!]

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‘Spiritual renewal will only happen when local congregations renounce an introverted concern for their own life, and recognize that they exist for the sake of those who are not members, as sign, instrument and foretaste of God’s redeeming grace for the whole life of society.’
– Lesslie Newbigin

#FF @NewWineEngland @NewWineWorship ‘Follow Friday’ Haiku #nwunited14

New Wine for new skins
Full bodied, best of the crop
Poured out ev’ry day

by @faithunlocked

dedicated to @NewWineEngland @NewWineWorship