I don't think many atheists stop by this blog, but if any do ... perhaps they would receive benefit from the video I found today at The Real Issue by Rob Lundberg (link). There are a few minor quibbles I'd have with the explanation of the allegory, but it makes the point that needs to be made.
-TurretinFan
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
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Wow, just today I invited a friend out for lunch and our discussion centered around these verses:::>
Joh 16:8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
Joh 16:9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;
Just recently the Holy Ghost opened up to me something about those verses. It is this. Anyone of you reading this might have been a jurist called to jury duty? I have. I have sat as a judge five times. Three times I went the distance and ended up in the deliberation room and each of those three times we found the person charged, guilty. Each of those times the defendant answered "not guilty" to the charges counted against them.
One time a defendant pled out as guilty to a lessor charge, declared their guilt in open court and was sentenced to serve some time in prison for their guilt.
The fifth trial I was only an alternate so I never got to deliberate and never followed through with the outcome once the case was submitted to the jury. As I recall that defendant pleaded his innocence though.
In the verses above, the conviction comes to those "who do not believe" they are guilty before God. These folks are the good folks who believe they have done nothing wrong and are worthy on their merits to be acceptable before God now in this life and in the life to come.
Their "conviction" will be upheld in God's Courtroom and they will be convicted and sentenced to an eternal relationship with God in what we who believe call "hell", the everpresent wrath full anger of God's Holy Presence! Their pleading that they are "not guilty" will not help them. They will be doomed to an eternity in the lake of fire believing they are not guilty weeping and gnashing their teeth!
On the other hand, as the Scripture further shows:::>
Joh 16:10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer;
I and all True Believers believe we are guilty as charged by God, as He says: "there is none righteous, no not one" and because we have pled guilty before God when He came to reveal Christ to us, He and His Elect Angels about Christ's death, burial and resurrection. Because Christ is now at the Right Hand of God, His righteousness is conveyed upon our guilty soul and we are released from the certain "punishment" that we deserve though we are just as guilty as those who pleaded their innocence before God!
The "free" Gift of Eternal Life is not "free". It is freely given to us who believe and receive it. It cost God everything. It cost God the utter humiliation of seeing Our Beloved, Innocent, Pure, Righteous and Holy Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ suffer for our guilt and shame so that we do not have too!
Why?
Because we believe!
This too is a mystery. No one comes to the Father but by Christ. No one knows the Son except the Father. No one knows the Father except the Son and to him Whom He wills to reveal Him!
Mat 11:25 At that time Jesus declared, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children;
Mat 11:26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.
Mat 11:27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Mat 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
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