Are you ready for the return of Jesus Christ? Have you been cleansed by His blood?

[TheWay]

Not according to the bible.   That 'asleep in the grave' is phenomenological language.  
The bible says that everyone who is 'dead' is very much awake, aware, and active.

Sirach 48:12-14  

"Then Elisha, filled with the two-fold portion of his (Elijah's) spirit, wrought many marvels by his mere word.  During his lifetime he feared no one, nor was any man able to intimidate his will.  Nothing was beyond.  his power; beneath him flesh was brought back into life.  In life he performed wonders, AND AFTER DEATH MARVELOUS DEEDS".

Sirach is not part of God's word in the Bible. It is is part of the Deuterocanonical books, which are included in the Roman Catholic Bible.

“At that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of your people; and there will be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. At that time your people will be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine as the brightness of the expanse. Those who turn many to righteousness will shine as the stars forever and ever. (Daniel 12:1-3 WEBPB)

But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 WEBPB)

The final judgement:
I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them. I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11-15 WEBPB)

[greymagick]

This may be a stupid question: But when you say "cleansed by his blood", do you mean literally Jesus blood, or like some sort of metaphor, or like red wine or grape juice?  I don't get it...

[TheWay]

Nope.  The exact opposite is true.  The Catholic church is the original Christian church and it follows scripture to the letter.   AND ... it was the Catholic Council of Carthedge in 397AD that put the bible together ... taking Jewish texts and Catholic documents ... Catholic men deciding which were of God and which were not ... and the Catholic Pope putting the final stamp of approval on it.

Thanks for playing, but you lose.  

Come out of her FlyersFan!

He cried with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and she has become a habitation of demons, a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hated bird! For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality, the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from the abundance of her luxury.” I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, that you have no participation in her sins, and that you don’t receive of her plagues, for her sins have reached to the sky, and God has remembered her iniquities. Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix to her double. However much she glorified herself and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen, and am no widow, and will in no way see mourning.’ Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burnt with fire, for the Lord God who has judged her is strong. The kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived wantonly with her will weep and wail over her, when they look at the smoke of her burning, standing far away for the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For your judgement has come in one hour.’ (Revelation 18:2-10 WEBPB)

[TheWay]

Example ... Noahs Ark.   In addition to being completely false, it's a massive insult to a loving Father-God whom the Christians believe in.   Why it made the cut to get into the bible .. I'll never understand.   Makes God out to be a cruel destructive monster.

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually only evil. The LORD was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. The LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground—man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky—for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favour in the LORD’s eyes. (Genesis 6:5-8 WEBPB)

Why do you blaspheme God? Every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was continually evil. Was it not just for God to destroy them?

[TheWay]

I was going to guess that or 7th Day Adventist.
Same kinda rhetoric.
He just quoted a 7th Day Adventist in another thread.
So I'm going with that he's one of them.

No I'm not a Seventh Day Adventist. Ellen G. White was a false prophet.

Within each Christian denomination or sect there is truth mixed with error and man-made doctrines and traditions, with some of these biblical truths often being stigmatised with a particular denomination or sect. Unfortunately, this tarnishes the credibility of these truths. Adding to their members’ deception, certain denominations and sects claim to be the only true church and the sole authority on truth, disciplining those who dissent. In some cases, this authority is vested in a single individual or group, often regarded as prophets, which further discourages their followers from exploring and embracing biblical truths that may be emphasised in other denominations and sects.

We must be very careful about what we hear and believe, verifying everything against God’s word in the Bible, for many false prophets, teachers, and brethren are in the world and among churches, like wolves in sheep’s clothing. But fear not, for God is greater and with us always.

[andy06shake]

Hi Andy, this isn't about chasing feelings or finding some sort of "meaning". It's about finding the way, the truth, and the life; Jesus Christ. It's about transitioning from death to life, from blindness to sight, from darkness to light. It's about knowing your Creator and being in an intimate relationship with Him for all eternity. It's about escaping the clutches of sin and wickedness, and learning what true love, joy, peace, kindness, self-control, goodness, gentleness, patience, and faithfulness is.

Your main problem is that psychological research shows that virtues like love, joy, and patience, can be cultivated and learned through secular practices without necessarily invoking religion.

And concepts like "sin" and "darkness" are interpreted differently across cultures.

Respecting personal faith is important TheWay.

But presenting one belief system as the singular path overlooks the diversity of the others.

[TheWay]

Phenomenological language.
Christian fundamentalists use it as well.
'Asleep in the grave'.  
Even though the bible says just the opposite in many places.
Sirach 48:12-14 is one of my more favorite verses showing people awake and active after death.
Revelation 6:9-10 is another good one showing 'dead' people aware of what is going on ...

9And when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony they had upheld. 10And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?”

Ironically it is you who are confusing which scripture is literal and which is the phenomenological. Sirach is not part of the Bible.

For to him who is joined with all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten. Also their love, their hatred, and their envy has perished long ago; neither do they any longer have a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 9:4-6)

[quintessentone]

Your main problem is that psychological research shows that virtues like love, joy, and patience, can be cultivated and learned through secular practices without necessarily invoking religion.

And concepts like "sin" and "darkness" are interpreted differently across cultures.

Respecting personal faith is important TheWay.

But presenting one belief system as the singular path overlooks the diversity of the others.

It also rejects other means of finding God through spirituality through one's personal relationship with whatever they deem to be the creator and not religion, or scripture that serves only to control the masses to fit one narrative.

[andy06shake]

This may be a stupid question: But when you say "cleansed by his blood", do you mean literally Jesus blood, or like some sort of metaphor, or like red wine or grape juice?  I don't get it...

The "blood" represents Jesus sacrificial death.

Pretty much him dying on the cross to atone for our sins.

[TheWay]

@TheWay

"There are some things in the scriptures that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction."

Every religion has two kinds of adherents; those who try to achieve gnosis and cult followers. The latter outnumber the former. Hint: you're the latter.

Every post you've made in this thread screams of cult indoctrination. I read it and have this perverse vision of a sadistic Lord of annihilation who has to brainwash his devotees with repetitive messages of impending doom and gloom because they are too slow-witted to read in between the lines or understand the meaning of an allegory.

Thank you for your words, Anna. It is not new revelation that the truth in God's word is in fact considered to be foolishness by most unbelievers. But it is not foolishness; if you put away all filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, and receive with humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

For the word of the stake is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.” Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe. For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Greeks, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God; because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, and not many noble; but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world that he might put to shame the things that are strong. God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that don’t exist, that he might bring to nothing the things that exist, that no flesh should boast before God. Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, that, as it is written, “He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:18-31)