I would suggest that a parent that does not discipline their child from wrongdoing does not love that child. The same would apply to a parent that never forgives and endlessly punishes a child for one single misdemeanour. The Psalmist tells us that God’s ”anger is but for a moment”. His timing is perfect.
I noticed Sala was using humour to distract us – nothing offensive, but using that Pacific Island giggle to try and brush off the seriousness of what we were trying to portray. Thankfully we were able to keep focus enough to get him to agree that he would not end up in a good place on judgement day based on his own goodness. From what we could tell, God did not soften his heart, but we pray that the seeds of doubt would claw at his heart. We passed Sala later. I threw a checking question at him, but he was back to his giggly self. All we can do is keep him uplifted in prayer.
Like all of us, he failed the good person test miserably. His response was that God is forgiving. This is a natural fall-back for those who understand little about how justice works. You would never expect a judge to just forgive someone for their crimes. God should be the ultimate example of a perfect judge, well, because He is the perfect God!
If Jesus says God will provide – and my trust is in Him – then He will provide for me. I need not be anxious, because if he cares for a little bird who does not have a home, then He will definitely provide for me as well.
His heckles went up, and his self-righteousness flared at me when he knew he was in trouble. He said who was I to judge him I said I wasn’t, I was just telling him what the Bible said. We went back and forth a bit, and he was getting angrier. His partner sensed this, and grabbed his arm. At this stage I thought it was better to diffuse the situation and let them go – but not without asking him to read the Bible, specifically the Gospel of John. He mumbled something I didn’t hear and walked off in a huff.
This is the most frustrating part of evangelism – endeavouring to convince the listener they have a terminal disease, and the wrath of God hovering over them. Why don’t they understand? Because they are hypnotised by the gloss of this world, distracted by its’ allure and pleasure. This convinces them that everything is just fine – “nothing will happen to me. I don’t need Jesus; I have everything I need, and I’m just fine by myself thank you very much.”
"We hugged, and when we separated, I just held onto his arms and implored him not to throw away his eternity just because he couldn’t believe in an ‘unjust’ God. He will still have to give an account to him on judgement day regardless. He said he would consider it, and I pray he does."
No amount of pleading with him regarding how bad hell was could sway him. He didn’t really care. His attitude was “no thanks!” when he walked away. God had chosen not to soften his heart via my words today. All I could do was ask God to show mercy on him before it was too late.
It was necessary for Nicodemus to come and ask all these questions of Jesus, so that he (and us) could hear the Gospel; being that Jesus Himself must be lifted up on a cross and be crucified in our place, in order for sinners like Nicodemus, like you, and like me, to trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins – to be born again, and to be saved.
The first was Ernest from Jamaica. He had it in his head that asking for forgiveness means that all his hell punishment would magically disappear. I had to reiterate that the justice system didn’t work like that. When I explained it, he said it made perfect sense. And when I told him how Christ offered to take His hell punishment for him, he placed his faith in Him straight away!