Praise God!!!! Keep praying.

Debs, I agree absolutely. You cannot realize something without in some way understanding what the absence of that something is. We cannot really love until we recognize and put aside our fears, we cannot truly understand beauty without at some point knowing what it is like to be devoid of it.

I doubt if we can realize heaven without knowing, in some way, hell. And as heaven (whatever that is or will be) is linked inextricably to the presence of God, hell must be that state in which we are apart from God.

Is it a punishment prescribed by God? Or is it just an inevitable consequence of our pushing God away? Is it something that happens to some of us later or has hell been happening all around us, since man became man?

But it’s good to know that, as the creed says, that Jesus descended into hell to set us free. That there is no place we can go that is so low, so despairing, that God is not there for us.

A recent symposium in chicago talked about conversion this way:
1. Conversion is about transformation.
2. Conversion is a process, even when it appears to be more instantaneous and dramatic.
3. Conversion is adoption of (or incorporation into) a new master story. For Christians, it is an initial and ongoing experience of death and resurrection.
4. Conversion involves activity on the part of the one being converted, God, and the community into which conversion is happening.
5. Conversion does not necessarily mean a change in “religion.”
6. Conversion is a radical reorientation, not only to God, but also to others.

As far as the 1 Peter scripture… Holy means to be separate. As they apply it to God it is talking about His transcendence… He is above His creation and distinct from it. He is totally separate from sin. So when He calls us to holiness, we are to be set apart from the world of God, separate from all sin… great so how can we ever hope to be holy? Three ways actually. When we put our faith in Him initially we are set apart to Him. We have a progressive sanctification as we grow in holiness, a process that won’t end as long as we are here….. (Galatians 5:16 and Romans 8:13), and then when we meet the Lord we will be perfectly sanctified like Him. (1 John 3:2)

“How are we to be holy? What does this look like?”

Ton of scripture on this. =) It begins with the mind…. What you think determine how you live. So, dealing with sin in the thought level, confessing them and replacing them with thoughts of Him and His Word is a good thing. Taking our thoughts captive is important.

You need spiritual alertness… Being sober…. is a favorite word for Peter…. it means not drunk but also has a spiritual application which is to be alert and self-controlled. It is talking about clarity of mind and good judgment. We obviously live in enemy territory, so if you continually feed your mind on worldly garbage and not on God’s Word, there is a huge chance you are going to struggle.

Holy living, for me anyway is motivated by God’s grace. Peter tells us to hang on through the trials and focus on the fact that God is going to bless you beyond what you can imagine. Obedience is another one. Not “being conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance….In Romans 12:2, the word conformed is used again, to not be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of your mind….

Those are just some things I think about when we talk about living a holy life….

Actually, I do. I think they are reasonable and rationale and they call themselves Christians so I should assume that they are part of the Christian tradition. I don’t agree with what they are saying nor how they are saying but at one time I would have.

The problem is that they cannot be lumped into the same group with Robertson, Falwell and Franklin Graham, who have said similar things, much less people like the nut you have exampled. This kind of talk is not confined to those most people would discount as being “religious crazies”. These kinds of things are regularly being said by people sitting in the pews next to you.