The Strand Study Bible

ROMANS 1850 Written From Corinth During Paul’s Third Missionary Journey Exo 20:11 ). Man was not God’s first free-willed creation, and we need to view ourselves before God as David viewed himself (Psa 8:1-4). * God did not create Hell as a judgment for humanity. God created Hell for the punishment of the devil and his angels (Mt 25:41) who sinned against great light ( Heb 2:16 ). Human beings were created to spend eternity with God in Heaven, not Hell (Titus 1:2 and Jn 14:1-3). Thus, the place God created for man is Heaven, not Hell. Remember: God is not willing that any should perish (II Pet 3:9 and Jn 3:17 ). Conclusion: God does not send men to Hell; they send themselves ( Gen 4:7 , Acts 1:20,25 and Rom 9:22 ). This would lead us to conclude that God never intended Hell for men. If men go to Hell, it’s because they choose to reject God’s way of getting to Heaven ( Jn 14:6 ). Therefore, each of us is ultimately responsible for the course we choose (Rom 10:13), and those who wish to establish a relationship with God certainly can (Acts 10:1-6). Those who accept whatever light is given them and seek God will receive the necessary information on which to make a decision (Acts 8:26-39 and Jn 6:25-29). * As parents, we chose to have children knowing full well that there is a good possibility that one of them (if not more) will use their free will to not follow our way of thinking, and yet we have them anyway. Are we bad parents because we chose to have children that may or may not break our hearts? Because of free will we understand the chances we are taking (and yes, we may end up with having regrets – Gen 6:5-6), yet it is worth the risk to us to have those relationships. The only difference between God and us parents is that we don’t know when our kids are going to disappoint us, whereas God does. (4) God will only judge men based on the sin they know (Rom 14:23 and Jms 4:17) This would lead us to conclude that God alone knows the heart (I Ki 8:39), and we ought not to play God. While it is true that no man is ever in total spiritual darkness (Psa 19:1-4 and Acts 14:17), and that all men are to some degree enlightened (Rom 2:14-15 and Heb 1:2 ), only God truly knows the heart of men ( I Sam 3:13 and Rom 1:21a ) and where they stand with Him within the light He has given them. For more information on the subject read Don Richardson’s book called Eternity in Their Hearts 7 (Acts 17:23). 2. died before an age of conscious understanding ( II Sam 12:23 ) 3. are mentally insufficient Just as man excuses the deeds of those who are not mentally stable (insanity is a successful plea for absolution of almost any crime, if the insanity can be established), so God will excuse those who have never mentally grasped the Gospel. Our Gospel will not judge those who have mental deficiencies and/or live in parts of the world where the missionary has not gone ( I Sam 3:13 ). They will be judged solely on the “light” ( Heb 1:2 ) that they were given. 1:21b Dr. David Noebel in Understanding the Times quotes the aforementioned atheist (Corliss Lamont) from his own book called Philosophy of Humanism in which Lamont admits:

There is no place in the Humanist worldview for either immortality or God in the valid meaning of those terms. Humanism contends that instead of the gods creating the cosmos, the cosmos, in the individualized form of human beings giving rein to their imagination, created the gods. 11

Like Satan, whose wisdom was marred by his own brightness (intellectual pride - Ezk 28:17), brilliant men, in professing themselves to be wise, have become “fools” ( and their foolish heart was darkened ). Psalm 14:1 says, “ The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. ” Henrietta C. Mears in What the Bible Is All About notes:

No wonder that when men, because of spiritual blindness (Ephesians 4:18), reject God’s revelation in this peerless record of beginnings, they worship chance as the creator, beasts as their ancestors, and fallen humanity as the flower of natural evolution! 12

1:26 Common sense would tell us that, even without the aid of God’s Word, alternative lifestyles just don’t match up ( that which is against nature ). In fact, without the aid of test-tube science, procreation between same sex partners is non-existent. Alternative lifestyle people may be humanly brilliant, artistic and talented, but, according to God, they lack basic common sense ( Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools - vs 22 and Gen 13:13 ).

1 Tehabi Books, Billy Graham: God’s Ambassador , San Diego, CA, W Publishing Group, 1999. Print. 2 Willmington, Harold L. Doctrine of the Trinity , Lynchburg, VA, Liberty Home Bible Institute, 1977, 1985. Print. 3 Strong, A.H. Systematic Theology: a Compendium and Commonplace-book Designed for the Use of Theological Students , Rochester, NY, E. R. Andrews, 1886. Print. 4 Tozer, A.W. The Knowledge of The Holy ,New York, N.Y. HarperCollins Publishers. 1961. Print. 5 Gills, James P. Exceeding Gratitude for the Creator’s Plan , Lake Mary, FLA, A Strang Co., 2007. Print. 6 Richardson, Cyril C. The Doctrine Of The Trinity , Nashville, TN, Abingdon Press, 1958. Print. 7 Bruce Demarest and Lewis, Gordon. Integrative Theology , Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan., 1987. Print. 8 Morris, Henry M. William W. Boardman, Jr., and Robert F. Koontz, Science and Creation , San Diego, CA, Creation-Science RC, 1971. Print. 9 Groulach and J. Edison Adams, Plants: An Introduction to Modern Botany , New York, NY, John Wiley and Sons, 1967. Print. 10 Richardson, Don. Eternity in Their Hearts , Ventura, CA, Regal Books, 1981

11 Noebel, David. Understanding the Times , Eugene, OR, Harvest House Publishers, 1991. Print. 12 Mears, Henrietta C. What the Bible Is All About , Glendale, CA, Regal Books, 1953. Print.