Something important I think the board needs to hear to help keep this war in perspective:
T total depravity: we are inherently sinful
U unconditional atonement: we need to pay nothing for forgiveness (indeed we cannot)
L limited atonement: not all are saved
I irresistible grace: once called, your eyes will be open, you won’t be able to shut them anymore
P perseverance of the saints: we will face difficulties in this world, since our enemies consist of our own selves, other sinners and the devil himself.
I say this because fixing our government (even permanently) does not solve the God sized hole in our hearts, and there’s no good within ourselves apart from God. This is important to remember as we continue the battle, to know none of us earned salvation or righteousness so we ought to show grace for those not yet awake.
And that, my friends, is true strength.
“Hell is the absence of God.”
Psalm 139:8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
Rev 14:10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb
God is “All in all”; there is no absence of God anywhere. How can you even preach the gospel to people if you don’t believe Jesus actually atoned for them? Do you add a maybe Jesus died for you, but maybe not?
Sheol is not hell. Because Samuel a prophet of God is in Sheol when Saul calls him forth from the dead. So not misinterpreting the Bible is key. Sheol is the place of the dead. After death and prior to Jesus’ second coming.
We don’t know for whom Jesus Christ died for, I have no assurance that you are saved, but I also don’t know you’re condemned. I’m left with preaching and teaching in hopes that you are saved. Each person knows their own heart though. So this has to do with people cannot read minds, whereas God can. I’m not constrained in presenting the gospel to only those I deem to be saved. The gospel is for anyone and should be freely offered to all. To withhold the gospel is to violate it. You then teach them to trust that Jesus died for them, you wouldn’t teach them insecurity in hopes that they learn security, but you teach them security in God in hopes that they hold fast to it. You equip them with knowledge and faith, not one or the other.
Now I may have taken the same liberty I argued against earlier but I’m not too big to admit when I’m wrong. As iron sharpens iron…
Ephesians 2:12
[12] remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
This may appear at the forefront to be saying God is not present in hell, but appears to be saying more along the lines of saying that there’s no common grace of God to those in hell. So on earth, the feeble lives we live are far more blessed than we deserve because of God’s common grace (it rains on both the righteous and the unrighteous). Whereas those in heaven enjoy not only common grace, but what I would call specific grace, as God specifically had called them out of darkness and into his marvelous light.
Edit: I don’t mean that first paragraph as an attack, I hope you don’t take it that way. It’s very easy to misquote or mistake the meaning of scriptures and when we are wrong we admit it and ask God for forgiveness. I’m not saying you are of the ones who change the scriptures spoken of in Revelations by any means. I’m 100% sure I know not all of the truths of the Bible and there are places I could be corrected. And you sir found one of them, thank you for that.