God's grace is amazing

I started bible college 3 weeks ago... And i'm really really really enjoying it.



Something that i've just been so reminded by is God's incredible grace.



We've been looking at how God can be known. Last week we looked at approaching knowledge of God by human means and i've learnt how we really can't know anything about God by our own reason or logic or even experience. It is by God's grace that He reveals Himself to us by his word!



I mean even our own experience is very subjective - different people have different interpretations. But the gospel of Jesus Christ is also historical and can be tested and attested to by many people as is seen in the bible.



I guess what really blows me away is the fact that only God can reveal Himself to us. And that He has chosen to do it so we can know Him and be saved. His revelation is an act of grace that is just so amazing!!

Did Jesus go to hell??

I had this discussion with a friend the other night. 



So the way I know how to answer it is in a very round-a-bout way.

Firstly, the concept of hell. Many people say that hell is "where God isnt". If heaven is where God dwells with His people, then hell is where God removes Himself. I dont agree with this view and I dont think it's necessarily biblical. If God is omnipresent then why would he not be in hell too.The problem is seeing things from a locational view and not a relational view.



I believe hell is where God's judgement is exercised. And I think that this is a view more supported by the bible. John 3:36 says "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." (NIV)Here we see two options and outcomes. The first is believing in the Son ie. accepting God's grace and method for salvation and the outcome is eternal life. The second option is to reject the Son and then being subject to God's wrath.



The key is the response to the Son (Jesus). Through the gospels, Jesus himself warns against rejecting him and ultimately rejecting God's grace and means for salvation. If you reject God then the outcome is God's wrath in judgement which I believe is what hell is about.



So... now looking at Jesus. Romans 3:21-25 and Col 2:13-15 talk about God's salvation. Romans talks about Jesus' death as an atoning sacrifice and Colossians talks about God being able to forgive our sins because the punishment was taken away on the cross. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." The way we can come to God is because of what Jesus has done on the cross. The bible says that Jesus was punished for our sins.



So did Jesus go to hell?? Well I would argue 'yes' because Jesus experienced God's wrath and was punished for our sins. 

Studying Theology

How do we know anything about God??



The Wesleyan quadrilateral contains 4 parts - Reason, Experience, Tradiotion and Scripture. These are 4 sources of knowledge of God.



Now reason is a good thing because God did create us to think and reason but if we base our knowledge of God on reason then there can be no consensus because everybody has different approaches.



If we base our knowledge of God on experience then there's always the problem of interpretation.



Tradition is good but what if tradition conflicts with scripture which is the word of God?



Scripture is the word of God... God actually speaks to us and it's written down in the bible!!

Serious Blogging!!

Ok... now for some more serious blogs....

I decided that this is a good place to share what i've learnt or been challenged by as a Christian.