tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28281841.post115107186197886650..comments2023-07-04T04:14:54.338-05:00Comments on Graff Paper: Heaven & HellUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28281841.post-40244668419409736372010-11-23T21:05:54.967-06:002010-11-23T21:05:54.967-06:00I, of course, a newcomer to this blog, but the aut...I, of course, a newcomer to this blog, but the author does not agreegeneric cialishttp://www.agir-galiza.org/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28281841.post-79042761012372252632009-03-30T11:13:00.000-05:002009-03-30T11:13:00.000-05:00Hi, I know this comes to you years later from this...Hi, I know this comes to you years later from this post. I had googled trying to find the obituary on Darryl Barkley brother of Charles Barkley and found this post while looking. Darryl was a very good friend of mine and only after couple years later from this post. When I met Darryl, he had a copy of this book you speak of by Cahill, I read parts of it only cause he insisted. (This post that speaks of him is posted 3 years after he changed his life and started living life for God) However, Darryl shared with me a website, and actually a CD that had a interview with him on it that left me in tears. Darryl didn't believe in God until he was at what would of been the end of his life. As those days grew closer and he met with the Dr.s at UAB, and he realized what a mess he had made out of his life. He changed his life around and realized if he only had a little time left he would try to give back and knowing that only God could save him now. He had made the hospital his home, but Darryl as a changed person and not the person who was knocking on hells door was a larger than life person and to know him, would be to love him. His smile brightened many peoples lives. So, as those days grew closer he spent his days visiting kids in the hospital that either had a transplant or needed one. He could make kids laugh and smile. The day came and he only had about a 24 hour span of life left, the Dr.s came in and told him that they had found a heart for him. I met him in clinic at one of his Dr's visits 5 years later.<BR/>We became good friends. I loved to go visit the kids at the hospital when he would go and do activities like Dreams on Wings. He had such a impact on many and didn't let anyone go by and not know his life changing story. So, I leave you with his website www.heartchange-heartexchange.com/index.html to see for yourself. <BR/>Darryl passed away March 20, 2009. With the change of his life and his love for God, he was able to enjoy 6 more years of life with his friends new and old, his family and sweet daughter.Hollyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14363320201384303610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28281841.post-1151449430819111052006-06-27T18:03:00.000-05:002006-06-27T18:03:00.000-05:00I wouldn't say there were no issues in early Chris...I wouldn't say there were no issues in early Christianity regarding theology - just that they weren't as involved as they are today. One early chruch father, Origen, believed that damnation was only temporary and many vilified him for that view. However, it's important to note that the first church division occured sometime in the third century in Egypt, and this was over discipline - not doctrine. It took another century or so (my memory isn't exact on the timing here) before you started to see divisions within Christianity regarding church doctrine. More specifically, once Christianity was no longer severely persecuted, discipline took a back seat to doctrine.<BR/><BR/>It's also important to note there's a difference between doctrine and dogma. Dogma makes or breaks Christianity - doctrine is typically a lesser issue. Thus, when early Christianity saw it's dogmas challenged (like the Gnostics attacking the divinity of Christ), of course you see contention. The point is, early Christian believers didn't really care about things like whether God predestines or man freely chooses, or whether man is a dichotomy (body & soul) or trichotomy (body, soul, spirit). Ultimately, whether or not heaven and hell are permanent states does matter, but it doesn't really challenge the essential dogmas of Christianity - not on the level that the divinity of Christ would. It's not my own view, either - that's a commonly held perspective in (conservative) Biblical scholarship. I don't doubt that this issue was a fertile breeding ground for Gnosticism, but Gnosticism was largely declared a heresy on matters greater than this.<BR/><BR/>Besides, if we all end up in heaven (which is the essential nature of the "prayers for the damned" theology), then a human being is treated as a means to an end. The point is that even if someone did want to spend eternity in hell, they couldn't because God wouldn't let them (because it's just not loving?). God, then, denies us in the end the one thing He granted us from the start - our free wills. Do we then really have free will? Or is God worshipped in heaven by automatons or, worse yet, people who don't want to worship him but are forced to? I don't argue that God doesn't want anyone to go to hell - 2 Peter 3:9 and, of course, John 3:16 shows that God loves everyone. We just have to remember that not everyone loves Him. <BR/><BR/>Pardon the cliche, but there are those who say to God, "thy will be done" and there are those to whom God says (in the end), "thy will be done"...Graffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15756915317510337260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28281841.post-1151359593119639492006-06-26T17:06:00.000-05:002006-06-26T17:06:00.000-05:00I would have to contest your assertion that early ...I would have to contest your assertion that early Christians didn't have issues of theology. I think the Gnostic collection from Nag Hammadi challenges that assertion. As to the authenticity of the Apocalypse of Peter, I think you probably have a good point. That's why, when I sent you the question originally, I asked that you discount that part. I realize that, to modern conservative Christians, the Bible's theology isn't up for much debate. After all, how can one debate absolute truth? At best, one can only debate whether mankind truly understands it properly.<BR/><BR/>I still contend that, all archeological concerns aside, a doctrine of forgiveness from Hell is more theologically defensible in light of Jesus' depiction of God. Moses depiction, certainly not, which helps outline the differences between the two Testaments that helped give rise to Gnosticism.<BR/><BR/>Just as a heads up: I have some questions brewing concerning pseudo-Pauline scripture; the Pastoral letters and such. I'm doing some reading now but I'll be sending it your way soon.<BR/><BR/>By the way, hope your baby boy's giving you some rest!Samurai Samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13874504160316803215noreply@blogger.com