Sin is against an infinitely holy God so the punishment is also infinite
Sin is against an infinitely holy God so the punishment is also infinite. But thank the Lord Jesus Christ, in His great love for sinners, came to fully absorb the wrath of God for us upon His own Person; the wrath that sinners like us deserve, so that all who are united to Him will receive His bountiful mercy. This doctrine is perhaps the most sobering in the Bible, but it also teaches us to love our enemies, to do good to those who hate us, to bless those who curse us, and pray for those who abuse us. Because God was kind to ungrateful and evil men like us, so we should likewise be merciful, and extend our love to enemies, even as our Father was merciful to us when we were His enemies. (see Luke 6:27-36).
Regarding eternal punishment Jonathan Edwards once said,
"The crime of one being despising and casting contempt on another, is proportionably more or less heinous, as he was under greater or less obligations to obey him. And therefore if there be any being that we are under infinite obligation to love, and honor, and obey, the contrary towards him must be infinitely faulty. Our obligation to love, honor and obey any being is in proportion to his loveliness, honorableness, and authority. . . . But God is a being infinitely lovely, because he hath infinite excellency and beauty. . . . So sin against God, being a violation of infinite obligations, must be a crime infinitely heinous, and so deserving infinite punishment. . . . The eternity of the punishment of ungodly men renders it infinite . . . and therefore renders it no more than proportionable to the heinousness of what they are guilty of.” (Jonathan Edwards - “The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners."
How is Christianity different than other religions? It is vastly different on many levels. How? Most world religions essentially rely on the testimony of one single individual having claimed to have some kind of revelation from God. Islam and Mormonism, for example, both have the testimony of one man claiming to have had a talk with an angel. The followers basically have to believe the word of one man. Other religions, such as Hinduism, rely on subjective mystical feelings derived from mystical practices developed in obscurity... but Christianity relies on the testimony hundreds of witnesses to the events surrounding the Person of Jesus Christ. Most importantly, the resurrection, the pivotal event in human history. It relies on real history, and real events witnessed by significant number of people - 100s. People willing to die if they had to for believing it - and many did. And the 66 books of the Bible from different authors from different eras all tell the same unfolding, consistent, overarching story.
Jesus Christ: The Interpretive Key to the Scripture: Five Examples of Doctrinal Errors that Arise When this Key is not Used.
Visitor: Faith + Works [heresy?] = Faith + Sanctification [works is essential !] = Justification, Sanctification, Glorification = Salvation?
"Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you" - 1 John 3:13
Evan May recently did a five-part class for his church interacting with three typical objections to Christianity that arise from our secular culture. Each lecture contains MP3 audio and a helpful pdf outline.
We cannot ascribe our repenting and believing to our own wisdom, humility, sound judgment or good sense, but, rather, to Christ alone. We turn our trust from ourselves to Christ only because He first opened our eyes, unplugged our ears and turned our stoney heart to a heart of flesh (Ezek 36:26) that we might believe the gospel. (Deut 29:4, 30:6) Arminian prevenenient grace actually begs the question - if two persons receive the same prevenient grace, why does one man believe the gospel and not the other? What makes them to differ? It is obviously not grace which makes them to differ since both had grace so all that is left is some native good will or good inclination that the other did not have. But who makes the will good? Where does the wisdom or humility to come to Christ come from? No man is naturally willing to submit to the humbling terms of the gospel. The Bible declares it: Jesus says, "the Spirit quickens, the flesh counts for nothing...that is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me grants it." (John 6:63, 54). and just before this Jesus also declares "All that the Father gives me will come to me" (John 6:37)
Any church which teaches that we can trust in our own righteousness; that God favors us, and not others, because we are somehow better ... and/or teaches that Jesus' main mission was to be a moral example that we are to follow, can no longer be considered remotely Christian. On other other hand, those churches which adopt the culture's sexual ethic and teach that any call to obedience to God's commands is needlessly injuring people, has also completely abandoned the faith. The gospel is neither moralism nor license, nor is it some balance between the two but something entirely different ... something new. Sin comes in many forms but moralism and antinomianism are the most prominent temptations in the church. That is one reason the author of Hebrews declares, "But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." (Heb 3:13)
There are more and more Christians in the US now being forced out of a job because of their convictions ...(e.g. Brendan Eich (Former Chief of Mozilla Firefox), Kelvin Cochran (former Atlanta Fire Chief) & The Benham brothers (HGTV, Flip it Forward) and many other similar examples ... but we are not called to retaliate in kind. We do not use illiberal tactics to further the Kingdom of God, but proclaim the truth in good conscience and continue to do good to those who wish to harm us. Many in the world have a dualistic, Manichean worldview, in which those who share their views represent the forces of goodness and light while those who don't share their views represent the forces of evil and darkness. But we do not wage war as the world does. (2 Cor. 10:3-5; Rom. 12:14, Matt 5:44). Our war is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places which blind them and take them captive (Eph 6:12; 2 Tim 2:26). We can have empathy for those in the world who are against us because we are like them and we were one of them, but for the grace of God. And we now know that the gospel message of Jesus Christ (which we have been entrusted) is their only hope to be rescued out of it. We do this, not by browbeating but we persuade men (2 Cor. 5:11)