How do you save someone from themselves?

Sincerely,
Lifeguard

Dear Lifeguard,

You can’t.  All you can ever do is provide people with answers, but it is up to them if they want to do anything about it.  As the old adage goes, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”  Jesus even warns that we shouldn’t waste time trying to change people who don’t want to change.  He compared helping that type of person to throwing valuable pearls into a pig pen… the pig won’t value the pearls; he’ll just destroy them (Matt 7:6).
If Jesus, the perfect master teacher, couldn’t save everyone, we need to accept that we can’t either.  Anyone can change, but they have to want it for themselves.

What was Israel’s key to success in taking possession of the Promised Land?

Sincerely,
Winning The War

Dear Winning The War,

Israel conquered the land of Canaan for one reason – God was with them.  God told them that if they were faithful (Lev 26:3), He would chase their enemies away (Lev 26:7-8).  If they failed to follow God (Lev 26:14), the Israelites would be terrorized by their enemies (Lev 26:16).  Their success was completely dependent upon their faithfulness and trust in the Lord.

I pray everyday and sometimes feel like I'm sayings the same things, asking for the same things, giving thanks for the same things.  It seems all so repetitive even though I pray from my heart.  I wonder if God thinks the same thing sometimes, and it kind of weighs heavy on my heart.  Can you help me with this?  I can't imagine not talking to Him everyday just because I worry that I'm being repetitive.

Sincerely,
It’s Me Again

Dear It’s Me Again,

Feel free to pray for the same thing as often as you’d like, but avoid lengthy speeches just for the sake of repetition.  If by repetition, you mean that you are saying the same things over and over in hopes that God will listen because you use a lot of words… that is wrong (Matt 6:7).

But if you are praying meaningfully for the same things consistently, that isn’t wrong at all.  Jesus gives the example of the widow and the unrighteous judge as the standard for repetition in prayer.  In Lk 18:1-7, we are told to always pray and never grow weary in it.  Samuel said that he would never cease to pray for the good will of Israel (1 Sam 12:23).  Jesus says to pray constantly for our daily bread (Lk 11:3).  Both of these are examples of repetitive prayer.  Lk 11:5-8 explains that prayer is like constantly knocking at a door until the homeowner gets up to answer.  As long as we preface our wishes with a willingness to submit to God’s will (1 Jn 5:14-15) – we should keep on praying.

     In tracing the apostles’ calling, one of the gospels says Andrew was with John the Baptist and then went and found his brother Simon Peter to tell him.  Another book says they both were in their boat when Jesus called them.  Please explain.

Sincerely,
Two Places At Once?

Dear Two Places At Once,

If all we do is read Matt 4:18-20, it is easy to get the impression that when Jesus told Andrew and Peter to leave their boat and follow Him that it was the very first time they had met Jesus, but that wasn’t the case.  By the time Jesus called those two men to leave their fishing and become “fishers of men”, they were already well-acquainted with Jesus, and they knew exactly who they would be following.

In Jhn 1:35-42, we see the very first encounter that Andrew and Peter had with Jesus.  As you said, Andrew was told about Jesus because he had been listening to John the Baptist preach, and Peter found out because Andrew told him.  This happened right when Jesus first began to preach and teach… He hadn’t even performed a miracle yet (we won’t see that miracle until Jhn 2:1-11).

When we read in Matt 4:18-22, Mk 1:16-20, and Lk 5:9-11 of Peter and Andrew leaving their boats and following Christ – this was a totally different level of commitment that happened later.  Peter and Andrew knew who Jesus was at this point, and now Jesus was calling them to not just listen to Him, but to help Him in His preaching.

     So, I have a question about hell.  A preacher at a congregation is saying that through his studies, he is starting to believe that hell is not the traditional "fire and brimstone" that Christians think, but instead, it might just be "death of the person's spirit".  I haven't gotten a chance to ask him for the verses that he says support his belief (he did mention Isaiah).  He believes people have been leaving out these verses over the years.  I am pretty sure what I believe about hell – that there is an eternal punishment – considering I have been praying over the subject and studying; also, I thought that Matthew 25 and the parable of the sheep and goats was a very good answer to the question of what hell is.  Anyways, I was wondering if you have heard this argument before and might know what verses he is referencing; also, I would love to hear your opinion and any other verses concerning hell that you might have.

Sincerely,
Hesitant About Heat

Dear Hesitant About Heat,

There are several very clear texts that deal with what happens to lost souls when they die.  Mk 9:47-49 says that hell is a place where “the worm never dies, and the fire is not quenched” – the exact opposite of annihilation.  Jesus also told the story of a rich man that died and went to torments (Lk 16:22-23).  In torments, the rich man was in constant burning anguish without relief (Lk 16:24).  Abraham told the rich man that he would remain in anguish and that there was a great gulf eternally fixed between those in Paradise and those in torments (Lk 16:25-26).  Four times in the book of Matthew, hell is described as a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt 8:12, Matt 22:13, Matt 24:51, and Matt 25:30).

In order to take an annihilation point of view, you would have to take every verse that deals with the torment, suffering, and pain associated with hell and somehow explain how they are all figurative… this includes the story of the rich man and Lazarus found in Luke 16.  If the rich man didn’t literally descend into torments, then we must also say that faithful Lazarus wasn’t literally escorted into Paradise.  Taking that story as figurative cuts both directions.

The verses in Isaiah that are often referred to as “proof” of annihilation of the wicked are verses like Isa 26:14 and Isa 43:17.  However, these verses are taken out of context and deal with physical death (in which case, the person’s body does cease to have life – our physical bodies aren’t eternal).  The fact is that nobody talked about hell more than Jesus, and Jesus always talked about it as a physical place that was reserved for the wicked (Jude 1:13).  Yes, the wicked will be destroyed – their souls will forever be separated from God in a place of burning and pain.  Though some good brethren believe that hell is not an eternal location and that the wicked are destroyed at death, we don’t believe that this holds up to biblical scrutiny.