Booth laid out 6 areas that concerned him most:
1. Religion without the Holy Spirit 4. Salvation without regeneration (being Born Again)
2. Christianity without Christ 5. Politics without God
3. Forgiveness without repentance 6. Heaven without Hell
There are times when my friend sends articles or posts on which I really stop and think hard. I know that she and I share some very important beliefs and thoughts, and that we are neither of us very mainstream. Iron sharpens iron! I love our deep conversations. There are other times when I am able to reply without having to work to hard at all -- it's just one of those answers that is a given. This particular article about Booth's points of concern was neither an easy reply nor a sit and think long and hard.... but it was a deep one.
In her analysis of Booth's list, she made some valid points and brought up some probing questions. Ouch, I thought! This was good stuff. :-) I decided to put my own thoughts about each of these six points down and share them with her.
She asked her audience these questions to generally consider in response to Booth's concerns (as well as the points she quoted from Booth and her own analyses)::
Do I take part in or believe in
...Religion without the Holy Spirit?: I pray not. I know I need Him. I know I am lost without His intercession and without His guiding me and living within me, acting through me to accomplish that which my Father has for me to do. Do I really know what the Holy Spirit is capable of in my life? I don't think so. I think I have been taught lies, I have personally stymied his work within me and my life in my ignorance and I've just simply been ignorant and unknowing. Some of that is sin in true ignorance and some of it is in rebellion now that I know.... I'm working toward a better understanding and allowing Him to control and live through me.
...Christianity without Christ?: Absolutely not! Without the Messiah, Yeshua, Jesus, the Christ, Savior, God made flesh, the Living Water, the Bread of Life, the King of kings, Lord of hosts, and Protector and Defender of the weak, what else is there? Nothing! I thank YHWH above that His son died for my sins and rose again and is with the Father in heaven and will be coming soon to right the wrongs, and make good on the faithful, eternal promises we find in the Written Word about the Word made flesh Who is the Great I Am!
...Forgiveness without repentance?: T'shuva - to repent, to return [to YHWH], to turn from that which is not in YHWH God's direction, and to agree with God that to face anything but Him is sin and wrong. LORD GOD, my Abba, I am not worthy of all that you have given me, but I repent and return to You relying on your promises to cleanse me and forgive me as your child. Father, bring those things to mind that I have not forgiven, so that I may begin to process through that, even though it may not be easy, pleasant or received well by them. Thank you for forgiving me for my sins!
...Salvation without regeneration?: Salvation without regeneration is like trying to breathe without air, or sustain life without blood. It is useless, worthless, impossible, dead. I am a new creation in Christ Jesus, Yeshua Messiah, because of Yeshua my Messiah. This body is a living sacrifice, the temple of the living God, a pleasing and holy sacrifice presented in proper worship and praise to Him. May I please Him with my all and may I recognize the regenerative, formative power of His life in me daily.
...Politics without God?: Galatians 1:10 - For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? For if I were still pleasing men, I wouldn't be a servant of Christ.
...Heaven without Hell?: The Bible says that when we die, we are dead, unconscious, not knowing day from night, light from dark, when time passes, we return to dust, until the Messiah comes back and we live again, some unto eternity, some unto the second death. Nowhere does the Bible say that our loved ones are up in the heaven looking down on us, watching us, knowing what we are doing, etc. The Bible says even David is in the grace. Even Solomon and Abraham are in the grace. No one has ascended into heaven except the Son of Man -- Yeshua/Jesus. John 3;13
Revelation 21 says that the Kingdom on God will be here, on a new earth, with a new heaven. We will live here, in a perfect place, as it was before the fall, and the Lord will dwell in our midst. That is the heaven I am looking forward to, not the one we have learned about in churchianity, the one filled with harps and clouds and cream cheese bagels and St Who and St Which One at the pearly gates. The new heaven and new earth will be beyond our comprehension except that we will see them and live in them along with our Father!
The LORD says repeatedly in His Word that those whom He does not know will DIE, they will cease, they will be destroyed, annihilated, gone, they will no longer exist. They, along with the beast and the dragon, will be thrown into the lake of fire and burn up at the second death. The Bible never talks of eternal, never ending torture in an actual place called hell. Mercifully there is always an end to the pain and tears and suffering and sin -- the end is total and utter destruction and annihilation. That is a merciful God.
God didn't want us to live in pain and suffering and sin here on earth. From the very beginning He knew Jesus had to come, so why would he want people to suffer eternally afterward? The Bible never talks of flames burning and people knowing they are burning eternally, or them knowing that their loved ones are in heaven, as we have been taught in church. The Bible also never talks about those people who are supposedly in heaven knowing their loved ones are suffering in eternal misery and torture in hell, as we have been taught in church. What kind of mercy and what kind of heavenly place would that be if we knew our unsaved loved ones were suffering in an eternal place called hell, with no hope of ever getting free of it? (The story of Lazarus that many point to in this regard is a parable, not to be taken literally).
The hell I believe in, the one that keeps me from walking on the wide, open, lust- and sin-filled path, is knowing that I would be forever dead, gone, destroyed and not live eternally with my Father in His Kingdom. The reality of that is far scarier to me than anything ever taught in churchianity. Because I truly love the Father, I want to {strive to} please and obey and honor Him, just as my kids love and want to please, honor and obey me - out of love.